Amazon starts to ramp new development of its MGM properties
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Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in March 2022 closed on its $8.5B acquisition of famed movie studio MGM, its second-biggest purchase. A year later, after digging through the hefty library of intellectual property, the company is set to speed development of new projects leveraging the purchase.
Taking over MGM (founded nearly 100 years ago) got Amazon access to more than 4,000 film titles and 17,000 television episodes.
Now the tech giant is set to take action on new development and it's identified about a dozen initial titles for new films and TV shows, Deadline Hollywood reported. Those include Robocop, Stargate, Legally Blonde, Fame, Barbershop, The Magnificent Seven, Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair, the report noted.
Those properties will see different treatments, whether heading toward new movies, new TV series -- or both. Legally Blonde, for example, is part of discussions both for a new movie and a new series. (The 2001 film hit grossed $141.8M worldwide and spawned a 2003 movie sequel; it's also previously been turned into a direct-to-video spin-off, a Broadway musical and a reality show.)
As for a couple of the key franchise brands that Amazon got in the MGM deal: It's actively discussing expanding the Creed/Rocky stories into new film and TV, while what's next for the James Bond franchise is still up in the air -- outside of a reality competition series Amazon announced just after closing its purchase.