Spike Lee: Filmmaker’s ‘Chi-Raq’ will be Amazon Studios’ first original movie

Sweeney, Harry Lennix, Steve Harris, Bassett, Cusack and Jackson. Given that the film is attempting to “shed light” on the violence that’s plagued some areas of Chicago, the title may take on a different meaning when it’s paired with the finished product.

“Spike Lee is one of the most distinct and visionary filmmakers of our time”, said Ted Hope, head of motion picture production at Amazon Studio, in a statement.

Amazon unveiled the news on its so-called “Amazon Prime Day”, Wednesday July 15th, also the 20th anniversary of the compay.

Amazon’s movie arm was launched in January in a bid to produce and acquire original movies.

Chi-Raq will presumably be the first of many movies made by Amazon Studios, as the company revealed earlier this year that it wants to create roughly 12 movies a year, a pretty ambitious goal. In an Instagram post last week, Lee fired back to “misinformed critics”, claiming that during the film’s June 1-July 9 principal photography “There Were 331 People Shot And Wounded Plus 69 MURDERED”. The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon’s aggressive approach may help them with their leading competitor Netflix who has several hit original content films and shows. “A lot of people have opinions about the so-called title of the film”, Lee said. The working title is “Chi-Raq” and it’s being directed by Spike Lee.

Amazon’s first original film is centered around a bold, harsh and all-too-real topic-Chicago’s growing gang violence. “We could not have come up with a better film to launch our division in every which way”.

No release date has been set for Lee’s film, which will join Amazon original series Catastrophe, Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, Alpha House, Betas (above) and Golden-Globe victor Transparent.

With its foray into movie-making, Amazon is looking to make inroads into another lucrative aspect of the entertainment industry.