‘Café Society’ to be released in the US on August 12 via Lionsgate and Amazon

Deadline : We mentioned in our report on Amazon Studios’ CinemaCon lunch that Lionsgate is releasing the online retailer studio’s Woody Allen film Cafe Society in August. But now Deadline has learned is that the all-star film — which will open the Cannes Film Festival next month — is going wide on August 12, making it the filmmaker’s first wide release since 2003’s Anything Else.

The Hollywood Reporter : Just hours after learning that five of its films will play the Cannes Film Festival, Roy Price’s Amazon Studios revealed in Las Vegas that the streaming service is teaming with Lionsgate to release Woody Allen’s Cafe Society — which opens the festival — in theaters in August.

Price, speaking at CinemaCon, also made it clear the streaming service will give most of its original movies a proper theatrical release, unlike rival Netflix.

“A good robust theatrical run is good for everyone,” Price told the crowd, prompting several rounds of applause. “Therefore, almost all of our films will have full theatrical releases. Our goals are aligned with exhibition.”

Amazon Studios marketing Bob Berney led the lunch presentation. It’s a coup that Amazon was part of the official program at CinemaCon, considering many exhibitors have been leery about Netflix and Amazon’s move into the original movie business. However, Amazon has quickly decided that it’s better for their films to play first in theaters and honor the 90-day window before making them available to Amazon Prime customers. Otherwise, most theaters will refuse to play the movies at all.