Entertainment

MGM’s most famous movie franchises, Amazon can revive

Published

3 years ago

May 29, 2021

The entertainment world has faced a new giant with Amazon’s takeover of MGM and the possibilities are endless. Recently, the streaming platform hit the 200 million subscriber mark worldwide, overtaking the current market leader, Netflix, which has 204 million worldwide. Amazon’s latest acquisition, of which CEO Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man, brings not only a veritable library of thousands of movies (classic and new), but also the ability to revitalize popular franchises for the world. time of today. .

With that in mind, since nothing else, we bring in our new article the most famous MGM franchises that can generate a lot of profit for Amazon if they are developed in the right way, whether on the big screen or on its platform. Find out below.

The oldest franchise in the history of cinema has already released 24 official productions and is about to present the 25th feature film in theaters (and who knows now simultaneously on its streaming platform). The pandemic has played No Time to Die from 2020 until this year, and now the premiere is slated for October. This promises to be Daniel Craig’s latest foray into the shoes of cinema’s greatest spy, James Bond, so the way will be clear for Amazon to relaunch the franchise in its own way with a new performer. Be a black actor, maybe a woman, or none of the options.

Rocky – A fighter

The most famous boxer in the seventh art began his career exactly 45 years ago and won the Best Picture award at the Oscars. From there, four more sequels followed until 1990, all performed and written by star Sylvester Stallone, and most also directed by him. In 2006, in a late streak, Stallone dusted off Rocky for another round, already in his middle age. With old age, Rocky (still in Stallone’s form) couldn’t get on the rings anymore, and the solution was to develop a derivative, focusing on young Creed (Michael B. Jordan), and a launch partnership with Warner. Creed 3 is already confirmed for 2022 and will be produced, directed and performed by Michael B. Jordan. Star Sylvester Stallone also claims to have plans for the character outside of the Creed derivative.

The pink Panther

Almost a 007 – James Bond comedy, the Pink Panther franchise debuted in theaters in 1963 and spawned no less than eight sequels, the last three without the participation of protagonist Peter Sellers, who brought the awkward French police inspector to life, Jacques Clouseau. In 2006, a reboot came out, spawning a sequel in 2009. Without the presence of Sellers, actors like Alan Arkin, Ted Wass, Roberto Benigni and Steve Martin took the lead role in the films, without the same success. The story revolves around the aforementioned incompetent cop, but who always saves the day by sheer luck. With the acquisition, Amazon could elect a new Clouseau. The franchise has also spawned a very famous animated series.

It’s another slow franchise, but one that can be reborn and generate good profits for the business. The original film Robocop: The Policeman of the Future (1987), by Paul Verhoeven, became an immediate cult following and wowed adult audiences as well as teenagers and children, although it was an extremely violent feature film. and incorrect. So, Robocop spawned two sequels (in 1990 and 1993), an animated series, a live-action series, and all manner of licensed products including video games and puppets. The character has become one of the icons of pop culture. In 2014, a remake was made by Brazilian José Padilha, but unfortunately it did not meet financial expectations. Now, a new project is announced, which would directly continue the original 1987 film, written and produced by the same Edward Neumeier, directed by Abe Forsythe (Little Monsters), titled Robocop Returns.

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Star Reese Witherspoon is in one of the best stages of her career after moving to the small screen, where she produced and performed three consecutive hits: Big Little Lies (for HBO), Small Fires Everywhere (for Hulu / Amazon in Brazil ) and The Morning Show (for Apple TV). It’s been a while since Witherspoon set to relive one of her biggest movie hits, the Legally Blonde girl power movie “Barbie.” The 2001 feature film got a sequel as early as 2003 and a second with the star only as a producer (with a direct video release in 2009). Legally Blonde 3 has its premiere slated for 2022, will bring Witherspoon back as protagonist and producer, and is directed by newcomer Jamie Suk.

30 years after its release in 2021, Silence of the Lambs is one of MGM’s most valuable properties to end up in Amazon hands. The film is the last Oscar winner of the so-called Big Five (best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay), out of a total of three feature films in history to have achieved such a feat. The studio’s most popular property, the film spawned three sequels: Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002) and Hannibal: The Origin of Evil (2007). The “problem” is that another company has created a very successful character-based show: Hannibal (2013-2015 / from NBC-Universal). On the flip side, MGM wasted no time and alongside its partner CBS, the recent Clarice premiered (released this year) – which takes place shortly after the events of the 1991 film.

MGM’s biggest horror franchise is Poltergeist, the original film of which was released in 1982, directed by Tobe Hooper (The Chainsaw Massacre) and produced by Steven Spielberg. The story tells the story of a family from the North American suburbs and their big houses, terrified by ghostly apparitions and all kinds of hauntings in the place. The reason? His beautiful house, along with much of the condominium, was built on top of an indigenous cemetery without the bodies and coffins having been removed. Poltergeist spawned two sequels in the 1980s and a remake in 2015 (which went blank).

If Poltergeist is MGM’s biggest horror franchise, Toy Killer comes next. Here, however, we have a curious case. The studio banked only the first 1988 film and still has the rights to that work. The direct sequels (in 1990 and 1991) and the first spinoff The Bride of Chucky (1998) were produced by Universal. Chucky’s Son (2004) was funded by Rogue Pictures. And the franchise was returning to Universal through its home video division, Universal 1440 Entertainment, with releases of The Curse of Chucky (2013) and The Cult of Chucky (2017) to watch at home.

Since 1998, Universal no longer has the right to use the title Toy Killer. And so we have two obstacles in this franchise. The first is that MGM recently released its reimagining of Toy Killer (2019) and has yet to comment on a possible sequel to such a movie. Second, Universal, in partnership with the SyFy channel, will be launching a television series this year starring the characters titled Chucky, which will serve as a direct continuation of The Cult of Chucky and the original films, again starring actors Alex Vincent and Christine Elise respectively as Andy Barclay and his adoptive sister Kyle.

Although this classic 1939 production, which is one of the most beloved films in cinema history, is part of the MGM collection, the rights to the feature are currently in the hands of Warner. It turns out that DC’s owning studio in the cinema bought the catalog of all MGM films up to the year 1986. In other words, the most classic productions of the house can be found not on Amazon, but on HBO. Max. some exceptions see the 007 and Rocky franchises, for example. In other words, we are not counting on any attempt to present this timeless universe so soon through the hands of Amazon.

The Wizard of Oz standoff also involves Disney, responsible for the theatrical releases of The Wizarding World of Oz (1985) and Oz: Wizard and Power (2013) – both available on the Disney + platform. It turns out that Mickey’s studio is responsible for the rights to the literary works following The Wizard of Oz, written by the same L. Frank Baum in the universe he created.

Universal Pictures is another giant in the struggle for rights. Alongside the Motown label, he bet his version of the classic with The Unforgettable Wizard (1978), with stars of black music like Diana Ross and Michael Jackson; and launched (alongside its subsidiary NBC) in 2016 the Emerald City series. Apart from that, he is currently developing Wicked, in pre-production, which is adapting the Broadway musical of the same name about Witches of Oz, directed by John M. Chu (Rotten of the Rich) to the big screen.

Blown away by the wind

Just like the colleague in the above article, this is a real classic of historical cinema. Also released in 1939, the work remains among the best of all time on the IMDB and has 8 Oscar status, including Best Picture. The story tells of the American Civil War, in which the United States was divided between slavers and abolitionists. Many may recall that Gone with the Wind was recently canceled. The problem? The film shows the drama and suffering of the characters on the slave side of the battle, i.e. the southern states of the country.

And such a controversy precisely concerned the release of the film on the HBO platform, which proves the domination of Warner over the feature film, the same case above. And Vento Levou should be on HBO Max’s programming schedule – the solution found was to put an opinion before the film on the representation of values in a specific time, which is not in accordance with current thinking. In this context, it would be interesting to see a new project of this universe more in line with today’s egalitarian ideals. Recalling that Gone with the Wind had a sort of sequel with the 4-part miniseries Scarlett (1994), presented by CBS, in which Scarlett O’Hara was played by Joanne Whalley and Rhett Butler received the forms by Timothy Dalton.

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