Amazon Developing New Titles from ‘Legally Blonde,’ ‘RoboCop,’ ‘Pink Panther,’ More; Following Industry Franchise Trend
Amazon has already done a lot of work to revamp the MGM brand after acquiring the iconic production house for $8.5 billion last spring. That includes a rebrand of the former cable channel/streaming service EPIX and EPIX NOW into MGM+, which is now live in the United States and several European territories.
According to a exclusive report from Deadline, Amazon is far from through making the most of its acquisition of MGM. The company has been exploring MGM’s assets for intellectual property it can develop new movies and TV shows out of. The digital commerce corporation has reportedly identified around a dozen titles to start from, including “Robocop,” “Stargate,” “The Pink Panther,” “Legally Blonde,” “The Magnificent Seven,” and more.
Each of these properties will follow a different trajectory in their return to the screen, according to the report. Some will be developed specifically with Prime Video in mind, while others will make their way to cinemas. A number of these franchises will see both new TV shows and movies developed from them, as well. Amazon will spend $1 billion every year on movies it plans to release theatrically, and has reportedly investigated the possibility of purchasing AMC theaters to further its goals in the cinema business.
These projects are all still in the initial planning stages, and many of them may never make it to production at all. But the fact that Amazon is working so diligently to determine which of the franchises it acquired in the MGM merger would make good future content demonstrates that the entertainment industry continues to be a copycat business.
Warner Bros. Discovery is hard at work on a new series or movie from essentially all of its most popular franchises, including “Harry Potter,” “Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” and several more shows and movies from the DC comics universe.
Disney will also be leaning on its core franchises and brands to help guide it back to financial success. Company executives have promised an enhanced focus on quality over quantity, and announced several new Star Wars movies and TV shows at the most recent Celebration event in early April.
The logic behind the development of major franchises is solidly based. A March survey indicated that as the streaming marketplace becomes more crowded with services, streaming users are likely to use the franchises housed on a service to differentiate them from each other. Having a strong offering of well-known IPs will be key for every streaming service going forward.
That certainly explains Amazon’s move to start developing numerous projects based on recently acquired MGM franchises. How many of them see the light of day is another question, but Amazon clearly wants Prime Video to join its peers in the streaming industry in leaning on its most famous brands to drive revenues up.
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