The company is no stranger to releasing movies in theaters first, but there's typically been a larger gap. Manchester by the Sea reached movie theaters in November 2016, but it didn't hit Prime Video until May 2017.

Amazon's strategy isn't going to win over critics from the conventional movie business, many of whom see streaming movies undermining the theatrical experience. The Academy still allows this practice, though, and you can be sure that Amazon, Netflix and others will take advantage of those rules to chase awards and draw attention to their movies.