Recently, the news came that the United Artists division of Amazon MGM Studios is in talks to pick up the high-profile sequel to Michael Mann’s 1995 crime drama classic “Heat”.
Warner Bros. Pictures was behind the original and was where the sequel was set up, but following Mann and WB reaching an impasse over the project’s budget, Mann shopped the film around and it ended up at Amazon.
Now, appearing today at the Lumière Festival in Lyon, Mann spoke about the shift to Amazon. He says that, unlike some other streamers, they are locking in their exhibition and distribution model with cinema playing a key part.
As a result, he says (via < ahref-"https://deadline.com/2025/10/michael-mann-amazon-mgm-heat-2-ai-us-politics-lumiere-1236591139/ ">Deadlin<.a he expects to get a u.s. theatrical release on cinemas for at least day:>
“Amazon is in transition, which is why they bought Bond. They’re in a transition to become something more than a streaming service. They have ambitions be a major, I don’t want to speak for Amazon, a major figure in exhibition, in theatrical. The potential, because the movie would come out in almost two years from now, the potential of the synergy within Amazon is massive.”
He added that the high cost of making the film, due to lots of location shooting and visual effects, is another key reason the film ended up there.
“Heat 2 is… an expensive movie to make, but I believe it should be made at the proper size and scale. It’s going to shoot in Chicago, Los Angeles, Paraguay, and possibly some parts in Singapore. It’s complex. People make dramas at a certain budget level… because of the costs, Heat 2 is probably double that. So, if it was at a low, low price, I could have made it anywhere. But it’s complex. I can’t get into all the politics of it, but we moved from Warner Brothers to Amazon and United Artists.”
Finally, Mann says he hasn’t used AI yet in filmmaking but is considering it here to support the aging and de-aging process of multiple characters like Detective Vincent Hanna, Neil McCauley and Chris Shiherlis:
“I don’t experiment with technology gratuitously. [If] I have a dramatic need or aesthetic need for it then I go deep into what I need. For example, aging and de-aging will be very important in the film (Heat 2).”
