Amazon sets its sights on reviving MGM classics Robocop, Legally Blonde, and more

[Canada]

Amazon is reportedly eyeing (re)development plans for film and TV adaptations of Robocop, Legally Blonde, Stargate, Fame, Pink Panther, and more.

Source: AV Club

If it ain’t broke (and honestly, even if it is) reboot it: that’s the Amazon way. Per Deadline, Amazon Studios has been piling up its plate with existing MGM IP since acquiring the studio for $8.5 billion in March 2022. So far, the streamer has set its sights on roughly a dozen titles of interest for film and/or television development, including Robocop, Legally Blonde, Fame, Stargate, Barbershop, The Magnificent Seven, Pink Panther, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

Although so far, no projects appear to have moved beyond the inquiry stage, plans for each title differ; some are being shepherded towards TV adaptations (Fame, Barbershop, and The Magnificent Seven), other towards film (The Thomas Crown Affair, The Pink Panther), and Poltergeist towards a reboot nebulous enough to only be described as a “project” that’s a “possibility down the road.”

A few big-ticket items are slated to get the universe treatment and span both film and television. Amazon is reportedly in early conversations about a Legally Blonde movie (separate, it seems, from Mindy Kaling’s long-in-progress Legally Blonde 3) and television series. Stargate and Robocop are also being prepped for both treatments, with a Stargate movie and Robocop TV show kicking off each franchise reboot, respectively. Amazon had already announced plans to expand Creed across film and TV alongside franchise staple Michael B. Jordan; the studio also has a first-look film and TV deal with Sylvester Stallone that could include expanding the overarching Rocky franchise.

None of this, obviously, is new territory, but just how well-tread the IP Amazon’s interested in serves as an instructive temperature check for the industry right now. Robocop, Poltergeist, and Barbershop have all seen multiple sequels, while The Pink Panther and The Thomas Crown Affair have each been rebooted before. Stargate stretched an initial 1994 Roland Emmerich film into an entire universe, including Stargate SG-1, one of the longest-running science fiction shows to ever air on American television. Fame and Legally Blonde have both been turned into stage musicals; The Magnificent Seven (which itself is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai) has spawned three sequels, a remake, and a TV series.

With so much lined up, Amazon is clearly banking on the belief that audiences aren’t too stuffed to enjoy some second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) helpings of these Hollywood classics. Here’s hoping Amazon’s eyes aren’t too big for its stomach.

[BluBonnet]

I would totally watch a show where Robocop took down the Legally Blond lady.

[Torgon]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

I would totally watch a show where Robocop took down the Legally Blond lady.

I don’t know, that chin can be dangerous. He might have a tough time.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by Torgon

I don’t know, that chin can be dangerous. He might have a tough time.

I'll take those odds

[kevin87]

Don't think Legally Blonde would work as a TV show, that's something where it relies on her defeating the odds and everybody's expectations. Drawing that out won't work.

If they just mean going ahead with Legally Blonde 3 as a movie then sure.

Robocop could work more serialized.

[BluBonnet]

Originally Posted by kevin87

Robocop could work more serialized.

That's a pretty bold take!!

[akaun6899]

I'd be down for a film adaptation of Legally Blonde: The Musical.

[steve_dave]

Reese Witherspoon refuses to make a legitimate Legally Blonde sequel without Jennifer Coolidge.

https://ew.com/movies/reese-withersp...ifer-coolidge/

With Amazon pushing for a TV adaptation, it will either end up like Disney+’ Turner & Hooch with the legacy main character being mentioned only or like CBS’s True Lies with a rewritten origin story. Both of these shows did or do not click with audiences.

We already had a few Robocop series so a new one can be refreshing. As long as it sticks to exploring the same themes as the films. Of course, most Millennial and Gen Z writers can’t do that. The Xennial writers would just clash with those groups over story ideas.

[BluGalaxy]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

That's a pretty bold take!!

It basically would be a police procedural, as you know it's been tried before but it didn't work because it was aimed at kids like Robocop 3 was. If it kept the same gritty violence as 1 then it could be great

[Chedwiggen]

Thought Reese was already working on a third film. Oh well.

[Farerb]

Originally Posted by Chedwiggen

Thought Reese was already working on a third film. Oh well.

They've been "working" on a third film since 2018. I don't think it's going to happen at this point unfortunately.

[Canada]

‘Legally Blonde’ Spinoff Series In Works At Amazon From Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine

[LexInHD]

Stallone is 100% out of future ROCKY productions and won't participate in any further CREED productions, but he'll definitely be open to working with MGM/Amazon, simply because they have nothing to do with either of those, beyond financing and distribution. His beef is with the producer and owner of the ROCKY IP, Irwin Winkler, whom banked on Stallone way back when, to do the original ROCKY film. As for RoboCop, we have been promised things for years and none of it ever materialized, so I'll believe it when I see it, same with Stargate.

[Metalbeast]

I'm curious if they are going to do another Outer Limits series.

[mwynn]

Reese Witherspoon Shares Update On Prime Video Prequel Series ‘Elle’

https://deadline.com/2025/02/reese-w...te-1236275091/

[Zombo]

I'd be interested in a new set of Stargate films.