This ’80s action remake has become Amazon Prime Video’s biggest ever movie debut

A remake of the famous ‘80s film Road House has become Amazon Prime Video’s biggest ever movie debut.

Amazon have said that the remake of the 1989 action classic has become its biggest global movie launch ever, with 50 million viewers having watched the film since it debuted on March 21.

The remake stars Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role bouncer Dalton – a part first made famous by Patrick Swayze in the original.

Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Darren Barnet and Billy Magnussen all star in the remake alongside Gyllenhaal in the remake.

“The groundbreaking, successful debut of Road House is a testament to the hard work and commitment from the entire Road House filmmaking team and the film’s cast led by the phenomenal Jake Gyllenhaal,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios in a statement.

She added: “It’s great to see the film taking off with both fans of the iconic original as well as a huge turnout from new audiences.”

Earlier this year, Doug Liman, the director of the remake, boycotted the film’s premiere after Amazon Prime Video decided on a streaming-only release.

In an open letter published by Deadline, Liman wrote that he will “not be attending” the film’s premiere in Texas at the SXSW film festival in March.

The Edge Of Tomorrow director wrote: “The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there.”

His letter called out Amazon for the decision saying: “Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon’s Prime.”

“Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures,” he added.

When he initially agreed to direct Road House, Liman signed to MGM, before the film studio was acquired by Amazon for $8.5billion (£6.7billion).

The letter continued: “I’m not opposed to streaming movies. I made one of Amazon’s first original movies for streaming, and during the pandemic sold a streaming movie to Warner Bros. I’m currently making Instigators for Apple.”

Liman continued: “But I am opposed to Amazon gutting MGM and its theatrical business, as I would have been had Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and then gutted its newsroom (he did the opposite).”

The Bourne Identity director revealed that he had initially planned to “silently protest Amazon’s decision to stream a movie so clearly made for the big screen”. But his letter explained: “Amazon is hurting way more than just me and my film. If I don’t speak up about Amazon, who will?”

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