Amazon plans to invest more than $1 billion a year in producing theatrical movies

People familiar with the matter revealed that the American e-commerce giant Amazon will invest more than 1 billion US dollars in movies released in theaters every year.

Amazon's goal is to produce 12-15 movies a year for theatrical release, the people said. It will be one of the most ambitious investment plans for theatrical movies by Internet companies.

Currently, Amazon is competing with streaming media rivals such as Walt Disney, Apple, and Netflix. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The financial report shows that Amazon’s net sales in the third quarter were 127.101 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15%; net profit was 2.872 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 9 %.

Amazon is ramping up investment in movies even as net income falls and the company is cutting costs. In March of this year, Amazon also announced the completion of the acquisition of MGM Studios for US$8.5 billion.