Amazon spending 300$ million on a generic spy series helmed by the russo brothers

[Burned Verses]

'Citadel' Is a $300 Million Disaster for Amazon

Executive-produced by the Russo brothers, this globe-trotting spy thriller stars Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Too bad it’s so bland.

www.rollingstone.com

Amazon’s overall business model is in no danger, as its Prime Video streaming serviceis basically a rounding error for what’s primarily an online megastore. Nonetheless, the people behind Prime have very much put the franchise cart before the individual series horse with the new spy thriller Citadel,which even boasts some MCU blood in the form of executive producers Joe and Anthony Russo.


Anthony Russo has said that Amazon exec Jen Salke approached the brothers with the idea of launching a big, multiseries spy franchise from scratch. Citadel is just one of many planned shows set in the same fictional universe, with Italian and Indian spinoffs already in the works, while others are in development. The plan is predicated on the idea that audiences will flock not only to this first series — despite a complete lack of the kind of familiar IP that Hollywood now assumes is required for any blockbuster(*) — but then also be eager for as many related shows as Amazon can make for them. And Amazon has bet big on the idea, reportedly spending around $300 million on the show so far — including extensive reshoots after original showrunner Josh Appelbaum was replaced by Hunters creator David Weil — which would bring it in just behind Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on the list of the costliest series ever produced.

(*) Iron Man wasn’t nearly as well-known as Spider-Man or the X-Men when the first movie came out, but at least some of the moviegoing audience was aware of him.

There is so much presumption involved here than even a transcendent television show could likely justify. And unfortunately, Citadel falls far, far short of transcendence, or even goodness. It is bland, generic, and almost shockingly cheap-looking, given the price tag. There are some minor charms, including the chance to watch stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden look glamorous together, as well as the usual reliability of supporting players Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville, so it’s not all bad. But it’s staggering to look at the finished product and understand why Amazon thought that this would be the start of an exponentially lucrative collection of projects.

Prime Video’s Citadel is a multilevel marketing scheme disguised as a show

Amazon Video’s Citadel, starring Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas of The Matrix Resurrections, is supposed to be the start of a mega-franchise. Unfortunately, it’s barely a show.

www.polygon.com

It’s not apparent from the first couple of episodes streaming on Prime Video, nor in their promotion, but Citadel is the first volley in what’s meant to be an international TV mega-franchise. Citadelis the flagship show, about super spies Mason Kane (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) and Nadia Sinh (Priyanka Chopra Jonas of Bollywood and Quanticofame) teaming up to save the world from certain doom. Down the pipeline there will be other international versions of Citadel, each with its own cast and plot, but all set in the same universe. Again: There’s just about no evidence for this in the first three of Citadel’s six episodes, but it’s very important to know if there’s any hope to understand what you’re watching.

More evidence can be found for Citadel’s troubled production, where behind-the-scenes turmoil caused costs to balloon, fights over creative direction, and eight hourlong episodes to be trimmed down to six 40-minute ones, two of which premiere on Friday. The resulting show isn’t incoherent, but it is haphazard — the narrative flashes backward and forward, characters constantly announce to each other who they are, and cliffhangers tease “twists” that were obvious from minute one.

 

[jwinfield]

Watched the first two episodes last night, had the the entire time.

Then I wanted to watch Cocaine Bear but my girl wanted to do Ghosted so I was for two more hours.

 

[steadyrighteous]

Watched the first two episodes last night, had the the entire time.

Then I wanted to watch Cocaine Bear but my girl wanted to do Ghosted so I was for two more hours.

Damn, breh, that's like 4-5 hours of a slow death

 

[WIA20XX]

Thought this was about The Gray Man

 

[MajesticLion]

Well...that's one way to make a pitch for Indian money.

 

[humminbird]

300 million
thank god they bought MGM because it's crazy hey spent more than a bond film on this

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

I saw the trailer and it just looked like "less cooler James Bond"

Maybe I'll give it a try though. Russos are good with the action sequences typically but ehh

 

[jwinfield]

Maybe I'll give it a try though.

Not even worth some shyt you throw on in the background. The "big" action sequence in the pilot was just eh.

 

[Json]

But Amazon going to come around like “we gotta increase subscription fees to bring you great content!!”

 

[VoxSphere74]

It looks like if ChatGPT was told to come up with a spy series.

Because Chopra isn't it. She's too bland and so is the cac they have.

They should have gotten two leads that work well together.

So for the Russos with spy thrillers they're 0-2.

The movie they were part of though, Extraction, works because it has a straight up simple "merc has to save a person" plot. But of course they didn't even direct that one.

 

[Voice of Reason]

They better not mess up God War

 

[puggle]

Lmao at the title Russo bros swindling Amazon and Netflix with this one and the Gray Man.

 

[Json]

It looks like if ChatGPT was told to come up with a spy series.

Because Chopra isn't it. She's too bland and so is the cac they have.

They should have gotten two leads that work well together.

So for the Russo bros with spy thrillers they're 0-2.

The movie they were part of though, Extraction, works because it has a straight up simple merc has to save a person plot. And of course they didn't even direct that one.

He was apparently good in that Bodyguard series but I don’t think it had a romantic plot for him.

Chopra doesn’t have chemistry with any of the guys they put her with.



Time for the Russos to come home to Marvel

 

[jwinfield]

He was apparently good in that Bodyguard series but I don’t think it had a romantic plot for him.

Spoiler

there was a little bit

 

[Uchiha God]

this shyt is so bad

I watched the first episode and couldn't believe how bad it was. It's just a bunch of "spy" cliches put together with horrible acting and delivery. At some points I felt like I was getting pranked