Latest news with #AmazonOriginal
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Amazon Prime Video India to introduce ads starting June 17
Amazon Prime Video will introduce limited advertisements in movies and TV shows for its India subscribers starting June 17, 2025. The company announced this change via email, stating that it will enable continued investment in content creation. The email to subscribers reads, 'Starting June 17, 2025, Prime Video movies and TV shows will include limited advertisements. This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time. We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than TV channels and other streaming services. No action is required from you, and there is no change to the current price of your Prime membership.' While the current price of Prime membership will remain the same, Amazon will also introduce a new ad-free add-on option for Prime members. This option will be priced at INR 699 per year or INR 129 per month and will be available for sign-up from June 17, 2025. Amazon assured subscribers that the introduction of ads is the only change to their Prime membership. Members will continue to enjoy their existing benefits, including unlimited free delivery on access to a wide library of Amazon Original and exclusive content across various languages, add-on subscriptions to other streaming services, everyday offers, early access to sales, cashback benefits, ad-free access to Amazon Music, Prime Gaming benefits, and Prime Reading. The company emphasised that no action is required from current Prime members. Those with questions or who wish to manage their membership can do so through their Amazon account. Customers can also contact customer care to cancel their membership for a pro-rated refund.
Daily Mail
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE We starred in iconic TV commercial. Over the last 26 years, our catchphrase has helped us through tough times
For many, the iconic 'whassup' Budweiser ad was a cultural hit imitated in parties, bars and school lunchrooms across the US in the early 2000s. For four Philadelphia friends, it changed their lives forever. The 1999 Super Bowl commercial opened with Charles Stone III watching a game on TV while drinking a Budweiser beer before he got a phone call from friend Paul L. Williams, who was doing the same. Then walked in Fred Thomas Jr. wearing a bright yellow jersey, who asked Stone the now-famous line: 'Whassup?' Stone replied the same line, sticking his tongue far out of his mouth, before telling Thomas to pick up the landline phone. The same exaggerated catchphrase was then repeated... well, repeatedly, before he asked: 'Where's Dookie?' The camera then cut to Scott Martin Brooks, who was typing away at a clunky old desktop computer. 'Yo?' Brooks answered, prompting Thomas to call out the inside joke again. A chorus of 'whassup' filled the phone line by the real-life friends, and the rest is TV history. The catchphrase would permeate society deeply with worldwide recognition as people across the globe began doing their own versions of the loud but friendly greeting. More than 25 years later, the commercial has altered the lives - and careers - of Stone, Brooks, Thomas and Williams. 'None of us even imagined it would blow up the way it did,' Brooks exclusively told the 'The day we found out we got the commercial, we just assumed we'd make a nice little chunk of money and go on with our normal lives,' he added. 'I kept working my job for the first couple months!' Stone is still a director and has even directed four episodes of the popular sitcom Blackish and an episode of Friday Night Lights. His most recent work, The Underdoggs, which features Snoop Dogg, is an Amazon Original. Thomas has gone on to become a cameraman for CBS, and Williams now manages a real estate business. As for Brooks, he still does some acting work, but his recent kidney transplant took him out of commission for a bit. The actor was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2016 and received his new organ in February 2024 after years of treatment. 'My kidneys failed in 2023, and I went on dialysis,' Brooks told the 'Kidney disease pretty much curtailed my acting,' he continued. 'I had several week-long stays in the ICU, I was on a bunch of meds that had awful physical side effects, and I had a catheter sticking out of my chest! 'I was offered a couple of roles that I had to turn down because I looked like Chet from Weird Science! I've just spent the last year recovering. I had a few complications, but things are under control now and I'm doing very well.' Prior to his transplant, he made his acting rounds and even hosted a show on ABC. Now, he mainly makes guest appearance spots on podcasts and TV shows, including CBS' Super Bowl's Greatest Commercials special, where their ad was ranked fourth. Brooks still recalls being in Stone's Brooklyn, New York, apartment when Anheuser-Busch called the director to offer them the Super Bowl ad deal. The ad stemmed from a short film Stone had shot using the catchphrase in hopes of moving his career toward making films instead of music videos. 'His manager entered the short into some film festivals, people in the industry saw it, started making VHS copies of it and sending it to their friends, and that's how it landed in the hands of Vinny Warren, an ad exec at DDB Chicago,' Brooks told the 'He showed it to August Bush IV, VP at Anheuser Bush. He loved it, and they made Chuck an offer to direct a series of commercials.' And the crew of boys - who became friends as teenagers in Philadelphia in the 1980s - actually used the greeting in real life back then. Although, they don't use it much anymore. 'Me and the guys stopped saying 'whassup!' to each other years ago as we got older, we came up with other silly ways to greet each other,' Brooks said. 'Some of my friends will say it to me every now and then, mostly to break my stones!' And their friend group still stays strong, with the men talking to each other often, despite living in different cities. 'I talk to everyone fairly regularly, mostly through phone, text and DMs, since we're spread out all over the country,' Brooks told 'We get together whenever we're all in the same city.' And although Brooks wouldn't reveal how much money they've made off the commercial - and the ones that came after - he said they did pretty well. 'Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's impolite to bring up politics, religion, or money! I'm kidding,' he joked. 'We did OK. I'll just say this; we landed on the Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2000! We came in ahead of David Blaine and the Baha Men!' The ad was so popular that Brooks still gets recognized every once in a while. 'I still get recognized from time to time, even with the grey beard! I was at a wedding two weekends ago, and one of the guests asked to take a photo. It's flattering,' he told Whenever the ad pops up again on social media, the comments of the post explode. Understandably, the friends aren't quite ready to let go of their iconic characters. 'We've been trying to pitch the idea to Budweiser, as well as other brands, to see if they'd like to use us in some ads,' Brooks revealed. As for a revival, it may be in the works, but only time will tell if a new generation will be yelling 'whassup' at each other.
Arab News
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Dubai takes center stage in John Krasinski's ‘Jack Ryan' movie
DUBAI: Dubai takes the spotlight in the high-stakes spy thriller 'Jack Ryan,' which stars John Krasinski. The Dubai Media Council confirmed in a statement on X on Thursday that filming in the city has officially wrapped. A post shared by John Krasinski (@johnkrasinski) Krasinski took to Instagram to express his gratitude and thank the people of Dubai for their support. 'So. Good. To be. Back! #JackRyanMovie is off and running!!! HUGE thank you to all the incredible folks here in Dubai for letting us kick off in epic fashion in your beautiful city! Here we go,' he wrote. بدعم من مجلس دبي للإعلام، وتأكيداً لمكانة دبي كوجهة عالمية رائدة لتصوير الأفلام والإنتاجات السينمائية، اختتام عمليات التصوير الخاصة بفيلم "جاك رايان" في دبي، وهو من إنتاج "أمازون إم جي إم ستوديوز"، ومن بطولة النجم جون كرازنسكي، وإخراج أندرو بيرشتاين. — Dubai Media Council (@DXBMediaCouncil) February 20, 2025 Directed by Andrew Burstein and produced by Amazon MGM Studios, the latest installment sees Krasinski return to the role of Tom Clancy's eponymous hero. He previously played the CIA analyst-turned-operative in four Amazon Original series.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
3 rom-coms on Amazon Prime Video you need to watch in February 2025
February is the month of romance, with Valentine's Day right smack dab in the middle. Whether you plan to go out for a fancy dinner with your partner, hang out with pals, celebrate with the kids, or down a pint of ice cream on your own, the best way to end the evening is with a good rom-com. Of course, you don't have to wait until Valentine's Day to watch. These three rom-coms on Amazon Prime Video are available all month, so you can watch them at your leisure. Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+. An Amazon Original anthology series, the great thing about Modern Love is that you can read the recaps of each episode and pick the ones you want to watch. Since it's an anthology series, each episode stands on its own and tells a different and unique story of love. The first, for example, follows Maggie (The Penguin's Cristin Milioti), a single woman in New York who sparks up a friendship with Guzman (Laurentiu Possa), the doorman in her building. He provides dating advice as she navigates various relationships, not all of which he approves. Then there's the one about Sarah (Tina Fey) and Dennis (John Slattery), a married couple trying to salvage what's left of their relationship, or another episode about a middle-school girl named Katie (Lulu Wilson) trying to reconcile her feelings for her schoolmate Alexa (Grace Edwards). Each story is refreshingly different, from sappy to sweet and heartwarming to touching, and the cast list through the two seasons is impressive. Stream Modern Love on Amazon Prime Video. More of a screwball comedy than a romance, Some Like It Hot hits all the right notes of a solid rom-com with some 1950s flair. Joe (Tony Curtis) is a saxophone-playing, impulsive womanizer with a penchant for gambling, and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) is his anxious friend. When they accidentally witness a murder, they flee by disguising themselves as women and joining an all-female band. When Joe and Jerry meet the band's singer, Sugar (Marilyn Monroe), they are both smitten. However, flirting is a challenge since she doesn't realize that they're men and confides in them as female friends. Once they arrive at their destination of Miami, Joe tries to pursue Sugar under a different male persona while an aging millionaire takes a liking to 'Daphne,' who is really Jerry, unaware that 'she' is a man. Plenty of hijinks ensue, and the ride is worth a watch. Some Like It Hot earned six Academy Award nominations and is widely considered to be one of the best movies ever made. Stream Some Like It Hot on Amazon Prime Video. Is there such a thing as fate? I Want You Back explores that as both Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) have been dumped by their respective partners at the same time. They happen upon one another as they grieve the loss of their relationships and become friends. They also help one another try to get back their exes, leading to a predictable plot point that everyone sees coming. But that doesn't matter. I Want You Back is funny, romantic, and silly as the pair attempt ridiculous strategies to get back the person they are clearly not meant to be with, all the while growing closer to one another. Stream I Want You Back on Amazon Prime Video.
