Anais Gutierrez
Apple landed a big deal with Steven Spielberg to revive ‘Amazing Stories.’ The tech giant signed the iconic director to produce 10 episodes of the legendary 80s series.
The deal comes as an Apple effort to create original content. According to reports, the company is also working on an upcoming streaming service to rival Netflix and Amazon.
Striking a huge deal
Seems like we can’t get enough of Steven Spielberg, and why would we? Earlier this week HBO debuted its documentary film, and now Apple signs a huge deal to reboot one of his legendary series.
Apple is set to reboot the sci-fi series ‘Amazing Stories’ from Steven Speilberg’s Amblin Television.
The original series was comprised of a whopping 45 episodes and ran for two seasons on NBC. Nabbing 12 Emmy nominations and winning 5. The family-friendly show featured a new tale each episode.
‘Amazing Stories’ run attracted guest appearances from Kevin Costner, Harvey Keitel, Charlie Sheen, Mark Hamill, and John Lithgow. It also drew directors and writers including Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Robert Zemeckis, and Brad Bird.
At first, a reboot of the series was originally planned at NBC, the home of the original series. However, Apple finally landed the deal.
“It’s wonderful to be reunited with our colleagues Zack [Van Amburg] and Jamie [Erlicht] in their new capacity at Apple,” said Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment.
“We love being at the forefront of Apple’s investment in scripted programming. We can’t think of a better property than Spielberg’s beloved ‘Amazing Stories’ franchise. With the genius of Bryan Fuller at the helm and more exciting creative partnerships to come.”
The revival counts with a $1 billion budget. Spielberg is set to produce 10 episodes of the original series with each having at least a $5 million budget.
And that’s not the only Spielberg-inspired show set to be in the making. Amblin Partners, a company co-founded by Spielberg, is producing a film feature titled ‘Unexplained Phenomenon,’ which will be directed by ‘Power Rangers’ helmer Dean Israelite, and is said to be “tonally similar” to ‘E.T’ and ‘Poltergeist’.
Lurking the original content
‘Amazing Stories’ comes as the latest Apple effort to draw a new audience. The company is planning to spend about $1 billion on original programming during the next year.
Apple already offers two video series through its Apple Music streaming service, ‘Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Carpool Karaoke the Series’, however, neither has created much buzz.
In addition to the new series for Apple, the company is said to be “building out a video strategy that is expected to include a streaming service that rivals Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc., and others.”
Source: FSRO
