SUMMARY
Considering the quality, quantity, and diversity of films distributed under the Amazon Studios banners, GLAAD has given Amazon a GOOD grade.
The slate of Amazon Studios and its subsidiaries included several high-profile LGBTQ-inclusive films such as GLAAD Media Award-winning raunchy comedy Bottoms, and GLAAD Media Award nominees biographical drama Cassandro, romantic comedy Red, White & Royal Blue, and satire American Fiction. These stories all put LGBTQ people front and center, and spanned a number of different genres, with many of them having nuanced and interesting queer people of color at the forefront. While other films released by Amazon had smaller roles for LGBTQ people, it is exciting to see over a third of Amazon’s releases include the community. Amazon is also one of the only studios tracked in this study that did not see a decrease in the percentage of LGBTQ representation year over year.
HISTORY
Amazon Prime Video and in-house Amazon MGM Studios (previously Amazon Studios) have distributed original content since 2013 and original films since 2018. Amazon reached a multi-year deal with Universal Pictures in 2021 to bring their films to Prime Video and Amazon Freevee (previously IMDb TV) after a window on Universal-owned Peacock. In 2022, Amazon finalized its acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), allowing MGM to continue operations as a label alongside them. Amazon shut down United Artists Releasing in 2023 and folded the distributor’s operations into MGM. Later that year, Amazon Studios merged with MGM Holdings—reflected in the new name Amazon MGM Studios—and created Amazon MGM Studios Distribution, an international film and tv distribution unit for Amazon and MGM projects.
Previous LGBTQ-inclusive films from Amazon consist of GLAAD Media Award winners Transparent: Musical Finale (2019), Uncle Frank (2020), and Anything’s Possible (2022); GLAAD Media Award nominees Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019), Everybody’s Talking about Jamie (2021), and My Policeman (2022). United Artists Releasing’s past inclusive films include GLAAD Media Award winner Booksmart (2019); GLAAD Media Award nominees Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) and God’s Own Country (2017); in addition to Every Day (2018), Anna and the Apocalypse (2018), Valley Girl (2020), and more.
American Fiction is part satire, part family drama, and follows author Thelonious Monk as he writes a book under an alter ego that caters to what his white publisher thinks white audiences want. The film also features Monk’s family, including his brother Cliff who recently came out as gay after his wife caught him in bed with another man and left him. Cliff’s struggles with his mother are illustrated as well, as she suffers from dementia and makes a homophobic remark toward him. 
This buzzy film follows Oliver, an allegedly poor student who falls in with the handsome, popular, and wealthy Felix, eventually summering at his family estate, the titular Saltburn. 
Bottoms is an irreverent teen comedy that focuses on two lesbian teenage girls, Josie and PJ, who lie about being in juvie and start a fight club to impress their crushes, Isabel and Brittany respectively. The fight club ends up drawing in a crowd of girls, including Hazel, a more awkward student who knows that Josie and PJ are lying. 
Cassandro depicts the true story of Saúl Armendáriz, a Mexican lucha libre wrestler, who begins to fight as an exótico, a wrestler who performs in drag. Under his alter ego Cassandro, Saul sets out with the goal of actually winning matches, as exóticos are always set up to lose. As Cassandro, he receives homophobic hate from the audiences, especially because Saúl does not hide his own identity as a gay man. The film also delves into Saúl’s personal life, showing him flirting with men, and his relationship with Gerardo, another wrestler, who is deeply closeted and married with kids. Saúl is also close with his mother, who accepts him, but sadly passes away during one of his biggest matches. His father, on the other hand, was absent for most of his life, and is extremely homophobic toward his son. Though Saúl goes through these hardships and obstacles, he still proves to be a powerful force and role model in the exótico world. The film ends with Cassandro winning his matches as the crowd cheers him on, a stark contrast from the boos from when he first started.
Based on the best selling novel of the same name, Red, White & Royal Blue centers on a romance between Alex, the son of the president of the United States, and Henry, the Prince of England. The two start out as annoyances to each other, but when forced to spend time together for PR, they develop a close friendship which grows into romance. Alex’s feelings for Henry also lead to a further sexual awakening as a bisexual man, reframing his ideas of his own sexual experiences in the past. The relationship between the two deepens, and the film does not shy away from depicting the intimacy between the two men, and their physical and emotional bond. When Alex’s mom, the president, finds out about the relationship, she is very accepting of her son’s sexuality, but worried he is in a relationship he has to keep secret. Eventually, Alex and Henry are outed by a reporter who Alex has a history with, and they must live with the consequences. After much agonizing, particularly on Henry’s part, as he belongs to an historic and conservative family, they choose to live out in the world as a couple.
This film follows Ally, who runs into her ex-boyfriend, Sean, and rekindles old feelings. However, Sean is about to marry Cassidy, who is both younger and cooler than Ally, and also happens to be bisexual. Much of the film involves Ally trying to sabotage the wedding so she can get together with Sean, but eventually she bonds with Cassidy and realizes Sean and Cassidy are great together. Cassidy’s sexuality is presented casually, though it is a plot point that her parents are not invited to the wedding because they did not accept Cassidy when she came out. It is refreshing to see a bisexual character’s identity not erased, even when the film is about her marrying a man. There is a brief moment toward the end of the film when Ally is telling Cassidy how wonderful she is after a fight with Sean, and Cassidy kisses Ally. The kiss is never discussed after, and Cassidy proceeds to marry Sean. It was an odd choice to include the kiss, as Ally is portrayed only as straight and it does not hold relevance for the rest of the film.