MGM was once the most powerful studio in Hollywood. The makers of The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind once even had their own police station on the studio lot. But although the name MGM might not carry the same weight it once did, the company still exists, and Amazon recently acquired them. Now, according to Deadline, Amazon is looking to expand those MGM IPs into series and films for Prime Video and theatrical. Among them are beloved sci-fi franchises like Stargate, RoboCop, and many more.
Stargate, already a long-running sci-fi franchise with multiple series, is looking to hit the reboot button for both film and streaming television. The same goes for Robocop. Whether these will be full-on reboots are legacy sequels is still up in the air. We think Peter Weller returning as Alex Murphy/Robocop would probably get a lot more traction than another remake. Legally Blonde is another movie franchise that Amazon is looking at for both film and TV. Other titles named include Fame, Barbershop, The Magnificent Seven, Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair. Although TV seems to be the place for most of these. .
The one we’re most potentially excited (and nervous) about is a potential Poltergeist project. The 1982 film is one of the most seminal horror movies ever made. Neither the first two sequels nor the remake were ever really worthy of the original Tobe Hooper film, which Steven Spielberg wrote. But a series picking up forty years after the original (and maybe ignoring the sequels) could be very interesting. Last year, Amazon acquired MGM for a staggering $8.5 billion. So expect to see lots of old franchises dusted off and given a 21st-century shine in the coming years. Even some deep-cut ones you may never have heard of before.
