Universal Studio Group Chairman Pearlena Igbokwe Says “Bar Is Higher For Reboots”; Reveals Criticism Of New ‘Fresh Prince Of Bel Air’ – Banff

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Universal Studio Group Chairman Pearlena Igbokwe has said reboots and remakes are here to stay but they need to be “interesting” and have “vision,” as she revealed “we spent a year hearing people tell us how horrible a Fresh Prince remake would be.”Igbokwe said she “understands why people lean in to titles in a world with hundreds of shows where you’re looking for a leg up” but “just saying I’m remaking a show from the 70s or 80s is not enough.”“When someone comes to us for titles in our TV and film library we say ‘tell us your vision for it’,” she added. “The bar is higher when you tell someone you are remaking their favourite show.”To that end, Igbokwe said Universal put up with a year of criticism around the Fresh Prince Peacock reboot from fans of the original cult 90s classic. “And then people watched it and loved it,” she added. “So we will continue to see reboots but the bar is high.”Speaking on a wide range of topics today up in the Rookies, Igbokwe said podcasts and gaming are the next big obstacles that TV producers will come up against when competing for people’s time.She dismissed the notion that the world is reaching “peak TV,” as predicted by FX’s John Landgraf several years ago, but said “people only have a certain amount of time.”“There are a lot of shows to watch and you’re going to come up against things like podcasts and gaming,” she added. “But I don’t think there has been too much pullback yet.

Can there be too much TV? I don’t think so.”On inflated budgets, Igbokwe said “we can’t make decisions based on dollars.”“You have to take creative risks to win,” Igbokwe made a point of telling the Banff crowd, emphasizing her story first philosophy for the global market. “Creativity is not about spending the