As a part of the history of Culver City, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is unequalled in both influence and outreach. People all over the world know the movies that were made in Culver City from 1920’s through the 1950’s, and MGM’s logo, Leo the Lion, is still a media icon.
That this treasure trove continues to increase in value is not surprising; Amazon has finalized their negotiations to acquire MGM studios, and more than 4,000 film titles. The $8.5 billion deal was first announced in May of 2021, according to Variety.
The completion of the transaction comes two days after the Amazon-MGM deal received clearance from the European Union’s antitrust regulator, which “unconditionally” approved Amazon’s acquisition.
The deal includes the rights to more than 14,000 television episodes, including more than 100 Emmy-award winning shows, and 180 Oscar winning films. It will be added to the Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios collection.
With the sale of MGM’s film catalog, Culver City missed out on $340M in revenues! It’s too bad that we didn’t have a “Reel” Property Transfer Tax on our books.