Amazon is set to lose a massive £31m on comedy flop 'Late Night'

Amazon Studios could be looking at a staggering loss of $40 million (around £31 million) on its new comedy Late Night, which has tanked disastrously at the box office.

The movie, written by and starring The Office's Mindy Kaling, found Emma Thompson's late night talk show host battling poor ratings and revamping her show with the help of Kaling's character Molly.

But despite decent reviews, it's done terrible business at the multiplexes in the US, where comedy is becoming a harder sell in the changing world of home streaming.

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It took just $11 million (£8.6 million) despite appearing on a robust 2000 screens.

According to Variety, Amazon paid $13 million (£10.2m) to buy the distribution rights to the movie, but then spent an additional $33 million (£26m) on its promotion and marketing.

But it hasn't got bums on seats, and now Amazon could lose as much as $40 million on the ailing project.

Variety reckons that after the flop and also the recent departure of Bob Berney, Amazon Studios' marketing and distribution chief, it's 'left people in the business wondering about the strength of Amazon’s commitment to making movies'.

It's thought that instead it could be leaning more towards its TV programming, most notably its massively ambitious, big budget Lord of the Rings series, which is currently in production.

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Amazon has been producing movies since 2015, beginning with the Spike Lee comedy Chi-Raq, and then signing a deal with Woody Allen to make a number of movies (though Allen is now suing the studio for $68 million (£53.6m) for breach of contract).

It also co-produced movies like Oscar winner Manchester By The Sea, The Big Sick and Luca Guadagnino's remake of Suspiria.

Upcoming film projects include an adaptation of Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch with Ansel Elgort and Nicole Kidman and Shia LaBeouf's Honey Boy, in which the actor plays a version of his own father in an autobiographical piece.