It was previously reported that Amazon was expected to have been in negotiations to purchase MGM Studios. While these reports remained unconfirmed at the time, it has now been revealed that they were in fact accurate. As revealed today, it has been officially confirmed that Amazon has now purchased MGM Studios aka Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios for a total sum of $8.45 billion. This is a massive acquisition, one that is akin to Disney purchasing Fox. And it will no doubt have just as much of an impact on the entertainment industry going forward.
As revealed via THR, it’s been stated by Mike Hopkins, senior Vice President of Prime Video and Amazon Studios:
“The real financial value behind this deal is the treasure trove of IP in the deep catalog that we plan to reimagine and develop together with MGM’s talented team. It’s very exciting and provides so many opportunities for high-quality storytelling.”
This essentially means that we can expect many of MGM’s classic properties to be both rebooted and/or continued under the supervision of Amazon. With properties like James Bond, RoboCop, Rocky, The Hobbit, The Addams Family, Candyman, Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, and Pumpkinhead, just to name a select few – the possibilities really do seem limitless. And that isn’t even mentioning the properties that are produced under MGM TV for television. Obviously, we can expect plenty of big announcements for properties like these in the near future.
It even goes much further than that, as MGM also owned the premium pay TV network Epix and the recently-restructured Orion Pictures. Clearly Amazon will have plenty to work with under this new purchase, and it’ll be exciting to see where things go from here. While some of these properties have still been quite active over the years, it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for the properties that haven’t been touched by MGM in ages. Amazon could bring plenty of new life to a lot of beloved classics.
As such, stay tuned to ScreenGeek for new developments now that Amazon has successfully purchased MGM. There will more than likely be plenty of new announcements in the near future.