A year after the acquisition of MGM, Amazon wants to move up a gear and intends to exploit the incredibly rich catalog of the American studio. The company wishes in particular to resurrect certain licenses on TV and in the cinema, such as Stargate, Robocop, the 7 Magnificents, The Thomas Crown Affair or the Revenge of a Blonde.
Remember, Amazon formalizes the acquisition of MGM in March 2022 for an amount of €7.7 billion. With this acquisition, the American giant becomes the owner of extremely popular and lucrative licenses, starting with James Bond or Rocky.
Enough to allow Amazon to strengthen its weight in the streaming market, while Disney bought Fox in 2021. However, MGM has now belonged to Amazon for more than a year, and for the moment the giant is struggling to exploit the monstrous catalog of the American studio.
Amazon will finally dig into the MGM catalog
But according to our colleagues on the site Deadline, that will change. According to the outlet, Amazon has spent all of 2022 sifting through MGM’s vast catalog. The American giant has identified a dozen licenses appreciated by the public who deserve to do their return to the small and big screen.
Among them is the science fiction series Stargate (The Stargate at home), the saga Robocop, Revenge of a Blonde, Fame, Barbershop, The Magnificent 7, The Pink Panther or The Thomas Crown Affair. Obviously, Amazon intends to adopt a different strategy for each license, the idea being to offer relevant content / formats.
Movie or series? Amazon will decide for each license
Some will return to the cinema, others to TV for Amazon Prime Video. For example, the American company has already started discussions to launch a 3rd film The Revenge of a Blonde with Reese Witherspoon, but also a new TV series. It must be said that MGM has been working for years on the return ofElle Woods.
Re Stargate, a film should first see the light of day. Series could be considered if successful. For Robocop, it would be the opposite, with a TV series in the first place followed by a feature film in the cinema. Next, Amazon Studios would also be working on from the Fame, Barbershop and 7 Mercenaries series.
And to conclude, it would also be a question of a new version of The Thomas Crown Affair, the cult masterpiece starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Note that there was already a remake of this classic directed by John McTiernan (Crystal Trap, Predator) in 1999 with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the two main roles. A Pink Panther animated film could also be put on track.
