Amazon has acquired MGM, a film and television studio, for $8.45 billion. Amazon will get its own long-running film series that can compete with Disney Plus (Star Wars and Marvel movies).

First, a little history: MGM was formed in 1924 through the merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Russ B. Mayer Pictures. It is famous for its roaring lions; in fact, eight different lions have been depicted, the most recent being called Leo. However, the current roaring big cat is a computer-generated model based on Leo. This is truly amazing and should be seen in front of the new Bond movie, but due to the delay in its release, MGM has made this available on their YouTube channel.

MGM ran into financial difficulties in the 1980s and sold its renowned film library to Ted Turner's Time Warner. This means that such classics as "The Wizard of Oz" and "Singin' in the Rain" no longer belong to MGM. However, it does own "Robocop" and other films whose libraries were acquired from Orion Pictures, which produced "Dances with Wolves" and "Silence of the Lambs."

And back to Bond, MGM is co-producing a Bond film with franchise owner Eon Productions (which is very complicated for this particular franchise).

MGM also acquired PolyGram's film library of about 1,300 films, including "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Candyman," which will be rebooted later this year.

MGM owns the rights to more than 4,000 films and 17,000 hours of television. This could add a large amount of content to Amazon Prime over the next few years. Some of this content may currently be licensed to other broadcasters and streamers, creating the problem of moving content to Amazon until those contracts expire.

Both "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Vikings" are MGM productions and already exist on Amazon's streaming platform (Handmaid's is available on Hulu in the US). The company also co-produced Fargo with FX.

MGM also owns two production companies founded by TV producer Mark Burnett (current head of MGM Television Group). As a result, Amazon will own shows such as "Survivor" and "The Voice. It also owns "America's Top Dog".

The more one thinks about the content acquired, the more the Amazon acquisition makes sense.

Herein lies a major advantage for Amazon. If MGM has the right titles to be rebooted, revived, or remade, Amazon would potentially have a vast collection of TV and film properties on which to build new content.

One such potential new show would be Stargate, which has long been rumored to be returning to television with a new series. Amazon currently owns SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, and that awful Internet short.

And while Stargate is not exactly an untapped cash cow, Amazon already offers MGM TV as an add-on subscription through Prime Video. The service provides access to MGM's TV library, and Amazon may have data to suggest that there is a lot of money to be made from its back catalog of programming.

"Gateworld" has a story that "Stargate" veteran Amanda Tapping has already been approached to be involved in some way to direct and star in the show. Brad Wright, who created the TV show, has also been talking about a new series for some time. With "The Expanse" ending after the next season, Amazon may be hungry for a new sci-fi show.

They may move MGM TV subscriptions to Prime, or they may continue to offer these shows as additional programming and enjoy additional revenue.

MGM's The Howling Lion is famously attached to the James Bond films, but the studio does not own the rights to this franchise. Instead, the property is controlled by Eon Productions, a private company that exists solely to make money off of James Bond. Founded in 1962 by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the company is now run by Broccoli's daughters, Barbara and Michael G. Wilson.

Bond rights are almost ludicrously complex. Recently, Sony (hence the almost unbelievable amount of Sony equipment used in Daniel Craig's films) and 20th Century Fox have been involved; MGM has distribution rights for home entertainment, but EON has unusual control over what happens to Bond. Variety points out that the company has a lot of control over what happens to Bond. Therefore, it is unlikely that 20 spin-off TV shows will be produced anytime soon.

However, it is likely that Bond, which currently has no streaming home base, will be available on Amazon as a result of this deal. This is great news for fans who want to watch Bond films in sequence.

Amazon is now in a better position to fight the streaming wars with the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if Netflix will be able to compete. Will someone try to acquire Sony Pictures Entertainment? Some interesting food for thought in the coming months.