Amazon MGM Studios is reviving Jem and the Holograms as a live-action series, partnering with Kilter Films, the production company behind HBO's Westworld and the upcoming Fallout adaptation. Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, who created and executive produced Westworld, will helm the project through their banner.
The series marks a significant pivot from the original 1985 animated show. Rather than staying true to the campy pop-culture machinery of the source material, Amazon is positioning this as an "elevated live-action technothriller series." That positioning suggests the streamer wants to mine the IP for something grittier and more serialized than the Saturday-morning cartoon that followed Jerrica Benton and her holographic alter ego Jem.
Hasbro Entertainment, which owns the franchise, is also producing. The toy company has successfully licensed its properties to major studios in recent years, with mixed results. Paramount's Transformers franchise has grossed billions at the box office, while the 2015 live-action Jem and the Holograms film flopped spectacularly, earning just $23 million globally against its $5 million budget.
Kilter Films' involvement suggests Amazon is betting on prestige-television pedigree to make Jem work. Nolan and Joy have built a reputation for smart, mythology-heavy sci-fi narratives. Their approach to source material adaptation leans cerebral. On Westworld, they took a 1973 Michael Crichton film and expanded it into a sprawling meditation on consciousness and control. The Fallout series, premiering on Prime Video in 2024, adapted a beloved video-game franchise with a post-apocalyptic sensibility.
Whether Kilter Films can crack Jem's retro-futuristic setting