Amazon Doesn’t Regret Giant Phoebe Waller-Bridge Deal — but Is Moving to a ‘Very Performance-Based Model’

Amazon Studios chief Jen Salke would like to see an audit of every Hollywood overall-deal misfire, she told Variety.

Amazon had to raid its (very sizable) safe to bring Phoebe Waller-Bridge in-house — but at least Prime Video will (eventually) get “Tomb Raider” out of their giant, extended deal, Jen Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, wants to remind everybody.

In 2019, Waller-Bridge, the “Fleabag” star and creator, signed a three-year deal at Amazon worth a reported $20 million annually. The deal was renewed with very similar terms in 2022. With “Tomb Raider” taking forever, a “Sign Here” adaptation still in development, and Waller-Bridge bailing on the “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” series (she was replaced by Maya Erskine), Amazon has exactly nothing to show for its gigantic investment. But Salke recently told Variety that she does not regret the overall deal with Waller-Bridge.

“When we look at a longterm commitment to a creator like Phoebe — we’re so happy now that we retained her because she’s obsessed with and grew up playing Lara Croft/’Tomb Raider,'” Salke said. “So the fact that she’s the creator and bringing this character to life, we think it’s going to be a huge franchise for us.”

Consider Waller-Bridge’s overall deal more of a holding deal, we suppose.

Salke called the “Tomb Raider” project “really exciting,” adding that Waller-Bridge is “well into” the process. She had no updates on “Tomb Raider” beyond that.

“She went off to do a movie, there are things that happened — if people want to go take an accounting of what deals they were able to get value out of or not, there’s still probably a lot to do there,” Salke continued.

The movie Salke is referencing there is likely the fifth “Indiana Jones.” OK, but technically Waller-Bridge left “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” over creative differences with Donald Glover. Even Waller-Bridge says that.

But Salke is right to demand a recount on overall deals across Hollywood. What auditors would find, however, is that the Waller-Bridge deal was definitely among the worst given the size of the investment and $0 value. A company like Amazon, though, can chalk it up as a costly learning experience.

“I think we’re looking at converting a lot of those deals to a very performance-based model, based on what they accomplish,” Salke said. “And that’s been received very well because you’ve got to change with the times.”

With an ROI of “N/A,” it is clear that budgets could be better spent elsewhere. When asked by Variety if Amazon, a top-5 richest company in the world, would be interested in potentially acquiring Embracer Group (which is definitely not), Salke gave the tried and true: “We’re always talking about those opportunities but I don’t have anything to share.”

While that is the usual non-response response, the proposal would make sense for the global streamer, which is the home to the “Lord of the Rings” series and now the owner of its UK studio, to own the TV rights to much of J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium, outside of the actual “Lord of the Rings” book trilogy. Read into it what you will.

Warner Bros., is currently working on a new “Lord of the Rings” movie. In 2022, Embracer Group acquired the rights to “The Hobbit” and (the actual) “Lord of the Rings” books by purchasing Middle-earth Enterprises, the holding company that owned the rights, from The Saul Zaentz Company for $395 million. Hell, Amazon paid like two-thirds ($250 million) of that sum just for Bray Studios, where “The Rings of Power” is produced. All told, Amazon is well-over $1 billion into the franchise — without owning the rights.