It's time to really scream and shout for joy because on Nov. 10, the same day when creator of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (MST3K) Joel Hodgson implored everyone to keep circulating the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the Kickstarter campaign he launched to crowdfund a new season of the cult show, Shout! Factory also announced that it finally acquired the rights to MST3K. That's right, the home video and music company that re-releases all those films the not-so-young generations grew up with.
It didn't take long after Joel Hodgson announced that he's launching the Kickstarter Campaign to bring back MST3K for a full 12-episode season to get the pledges coming and the social media buzzing. Not only that, Shout! Factory closed the deal after negotiating for proprietary rights, intellectual property included, to the franchise.
It has been asked why Hodgson waited 15 years before trying to revive the show and the creator finally explained the reasons behind the delay. "Until now, we couldn't bring MST3K back... I've been thinking about ways to re-animate MST3K for over a decade... and over the last 15 years, I've met thousands of you who said that you wanted MST3K back too. But two things have finally changed that make this the right time," he wrote. He then went on to explain how the rise of crowdfundng to get cancelled shows back made MST3K's revival a possibility and that they had to work through several legal issues in order to acquire all the necessary rights that will enable them to resurrect the show.
What does this mean for the show? It means Shout! Factory's plans to "create new content, digital media initiatives, live events, merchandise licensing programs and content syndication to international territories" is a definite go and we'll be seeing a lot more from Hodgson because the project is definitely alive again.
"We're living up to our own motto of staying dedicated to what we grew up on, but never outgrew," Shout! Factory President Garson Foos wrote on its website, and with the acquisition of MST3K, we all know that those words are true.
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