What’s old is about to be new again – or at least that’s the takeaway from Thursday’s announcement from Morgan Creek, with the newly rebranded studio planning to revive a series of film franchises that peaked in popularity back in the ’90s.
As Deadline reports, Morgan Creek has rebranded itself as Morgan Creek Entertainment Group, with the company that launched in 1988 now “looking to exploit across multiple platforms its library of movie titles.”
Among the 60 or so titles in the Morgan Creek library are such franchise hits as “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”, “Major League” (which spawned two sequels, with another reportedly in the works) and “Young Guns”. Other Morgan Creek hits under consideration for revival include “Diabolique”, “Pacific Heights” and Clive Barker’s “Nightbreed”.
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“Morgan Creek’s globally recognized brand and premium titles are an ideal fit for the extraordinary creative revolution taking place in the television and digital worlds today,” said MCEG president David Robinson, the son of company co-founder James Robinson.
In fact, Morgan Creek’s attempts to reboot its library actually began several years ago, resulting in the so-far successful revival of “The Exorcist” as a TV series, which is currently airing its second season on Fox.
“We figured it was the best, most recognizable title to go out with,” said Robinson of “The Excorcist”, which the company acquired from Warner Bros. “We loved the idea behind it and its prospects, domestically and internationally.”
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Don’t expect to see the stars of the original films reprising their roles; the plan is to relaunch the titles with all-new casts.
Morgan Creek is currently in talks with a streaming service about a “Young Guns” movie and TV series, while discussions are also underway about rebooting “Dead Ringers” (in which Jeremy Irons played twin gynecologists) as a series.
As for reviving “Ace Ventura”, Robinson explained that “we wanted to do a mainstream theatrical production relaunch,” which wouldn’t be a remake of the movie that propelled Jim Carrey to superstardom but a new movie in the spirit of the original, or even a TV series. “Because it’s episodic in nature, about a pet detective, it also lends itself to a traditional single-camera series franchise,” added Robinson.
If these reboots come to fruition, here’s hoping Jim Carrey’s signature catchphrase from the “Ace Ventura” flicks makes the cut.
