Somehow, the streaming wars continue to heat up, with billions upon billions of dollars being spent on original and exclusive content each year, a great deal of which either instantly falls through the cracks or ends up getting canceled anyway. However, Prime Video has an ace up its sleeve after acquiring the MGM back catalogue, and the company is planning to use it.
As you’d expect when a money-hungry conglomerate inherits a raft of recognizable properties, Amazon has big plans for a bevvy of franchises that have been laying dormant for anywhere between a little and a long time. That being said, the platform’s United Kingdom managing director Chris Bird didn’t appear to get the memo when addressing the future.
“There’s never been a better time to be an audience” when asked about the saturation of streaming services available to consumers. The breadth and selection of content available has never been more pronounced. Everything is available all the time. I think the future is about range and convenience. Services that can provide that will be sustainable.”
If “range” is really at the top of the agenda, then why was Prime Video recently announced to be rebooting the remake of a remake that got 3 sequels and a TV series? Or why is Michael B. Jordan overseeing the ongoing expansion of a brand that kicked off all the way back in 1976? We haven’t even mentioned Stargate, RoboCop, The Thomas Crown Affair, Poltergeist, or Legally Blonde, all of which are set to get new coats of paint under new management.
Convenience, we can understand, but range? That doesn’t make a lick of sense coming from someone in a position of power at a company that’s planning on doing almost nothing but reheating existing IP.