Move over, Billie Eilish.
Another pop superstar has scored a mega payday from a streamer. Amazon has landed worldwide rights to a Peter Berg-directed doc about Rihanna. Sources say Amazon paid $25 million for the untitled film’s rights in a move that reflects last week’s $25 million Apple TV+ deal for an Eilish doc directed by and produced in collaboration with Eilish’s label, Interscope Records.
Amazon declined to comment.
The untitled doc, which Berg began working on years ago, is dubbed an unfiltered look into Rihanna’s life, providing a glimpse into the evolution of one of the world’s most well-known pop artists. With unparalleled access into the singer’s life and more than 1,200 hours of footage, the doc offers private insights into Rihanna’s personality, sense of humor, work ethic, family and love.
Berg and Rihanna have worked together previously on Universal’s Battleship.
Berg previously gave THR details about the under-wraps project: “That was a fun change of pace…to go travel with Rihanna around Europe, and Rihanna is surrounded by girls. We were in Nice [France]. She was going to do a concert on Bastille Day. And that truck driver who killed all those people plowed through them right in front of our hotel. So even in me trying to do something light, I had a very, very front-row seat to something that horrific.”
Like the Eilish doc, Berg’s Rihanna project was shopped to multiple distributors, with streamers making the most aggressive overtures. Endeavor Content began showing footage in Cannes in May and negotiated the deal with Amazon (WME reps Rihanna and Berg). The move will bolster Amazon’s Prime platform, which has become home to other hot music films like the six-part Grateful Dead doc Long Strange Trip, which was among 15 films short-listed for the Oscar in 2017.
