Last year, Netflix got day-and-date distribution rights to the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel, and also negotiated a deal for four new Adam Sandler films.  Amazon Studios, fresh off picking up Golden Globes for Best Comedy Series and Best Actor in a Comedy Series, is now following into the film business by producing original content and acquiring films for distribution.  According to Variety, Amazon expects to produce 12 films per year.  These movies will be theatrically released for 4 to 8 weeks before moving to Prime Instant Video (Variety doesn't specify if these movies will only be available for Prime members).

Amazon Studios is also moving into the acquisitions game.  Hit the jump for more.

Variety has fewer details on Amazon Studios' plans for distribution, but between Amazon and Netflix moving into film distribution on digital streaming platforms, they could both be major players at this year's Sundance Film Festival.  Plenty of indies are looking for distributors, and the festival provides a wealth of content for VOD with many movies playing at home before moving to a theatrical release.

It will be interesting to see how many movies (if any) Amazon attempts to pick up at Sundance since those films could help boost the service's profile beyond 12 independently produced films.  Furthermore, Amazon and Netflix could provide a new model for VOD distribution where instead of the customer renting one VOD movie at a time, a subscription would allow the customer access to all acquisitions.