Amazon Reimagining Several IPs, With Series or Movies For ‘Robocop’, ‘Legally Blonde’ and More
Could the Robocop/Legally Blonde mashup you’ve been dying for be coming to streaming soon?
Of course not, and you probably weren’t hoping for that thing we just made up. But Amazon, through its acquisition of MGM Pictures, is looking to revive several of its signature IPs with new movies and/or series.
Deadline reports that Amazon Studios is in active early talks for a Legally Blonde movie and a potential TV series. There already had been on and off efforts to get a third Legally Blonde film off the ground for the past five years. Back it 2020, it was announced that Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor were penning a third sequel with the working title Legally Blonde 3.
The Legally Blonde franchise, which is based on Amanda Brown’s novel of the same name, debuted its first film in 2001 starring Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods. The film was followed by a sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde in 2003 and a direct-to-video spinoff Legally Blondes in 2009.
Robocop also is being talked about for both film and TV, with a TV show possibly first.
Released in 1987, RoboCop was a hit with both audiences and critics. Directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Peter Weller, the film told the story of Alex Murphy, a police officer in a near-future Detroit. Killed in the line of duty, he was revived as the cyborg crime-fighter RoboCop by the sinister Omni Consumer Products corporation.
The film was followed by a number of sequels and spin-offs: two theatrical sequels, 1990’s RoboCop 2 and 1993’s RoboCop 3, the latter of which replaced Weller with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit‘s Robert John Burke. The franchise also spawned two kid-aimed cartoon series, 1988’s RoboCop and 1998’s RoboCop: Alpha Commando, along with a number of comic books, action figures, and video games.
Amazon Studios has similar plans for Stargate, with both film and TV installments are considered, with a movie likely going first, and they are actively developing TV series based on Fame, Barbershop and The Magnificent Seven, sources said.
There are also discussions about a Thomas Crown Affair movie as well as a Pink Panther movie, which could be animated, sources said. A Poltergeist project also is a possibility at some point.
Plans for a Creed universe spanning film and TV have already been announced; Amazon Studios has been discussing the plans with franchise star and filmmaker Michael B. Jordan. The studio also just made a deal with Sylvester Stallone and his Balboa Productions for film and TV projects that my expand the Rocky brand into television may be part of it.
As for one of MGM’s most famous and long-lived IP, so far there are currently no plans for other James Bond series beyond the unscripted competition series announced shortly after Amazon’s acquisition of MGM. Franchise producers are now focused on figuring out the next film installment.