MGM has the largest back-catalog of movies in Hollywood – musicals, James Bond, Ben-Hur – you name it, MGM has it stashed in a vault somewhere. They have over 4,000 movies. Just imagine the amount of DVDs they could release and re-release and… you see what I’m getting at.
In the past several years they haven’t been too lucky: They were bought out by Sony and became a little more than a distribution company… but recently they’ve been getting back into the producing sector.
They have Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie in the pipeline, but hey – who needs an original idea when you can remake an old film or bleed a franchise dry.
MGM has set its sights on RoboCop and Fame remakes as well as more Bond, more Pink Panther films, and maybe more than two Hobbit films and possibly, possibly – another Rocky!
Yes you read that correctly.
Another Rocky film.
MGM honchos Mary Parent and Harry Sloan recently talked about the company’s future at the
American Pavilion, where Sloan stated:
“Ultimately MGM needed to stand on its own. We needed to go into original production. Films like ‘The Hobbit’ are immense opportunities.”
Parent went on to say:
“The library is a treasure chest. There is a great deal to pull. ‘RoboCop,’ possibly in 3-D. ‘RoboCop’ would be great in 3-D, as would something we’re hoping to announce soon.”
With regards to The Hobbit she said :
“There’s 80 years between the end of ‘The Hobbit’ and the beginning of ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Think of the franchise.”
I think that the sound you just heard was J. R. R. Tolkien spinning in his grave.
Mary Parent also mentioned the possibility of another Rocky film, however when she broached the idea to the crowd, they didn’t seem too enthused by the idea. I wonder what Sylvester Stallone thinks?
I can live with Bond sequels, to be honest with you – I can’t get enough of them. I love Rocky, but please leave it alone. You ended the series in a high note. Don’t sour it.
As for The Hobbit – I don’t much care about the Lord of The Rings films, but making more than two prequels is really milking that cash cow, and you could destroy the good faith of the audience.
The only MGM film that I’m looking forward to (besides Bond) is The Topkapi Affair, the follow-up to 1999’s The Thomas Crown Affair. There hasn’t been much news since we heard that original RoboCop helmer Paul Verhoeven signed up to direct the Pierce Brosnan starrer. A shame.
What do you folks think? Artistic rebirth or crazy cash-in?
