Netflix is reportedly set to handle a drama series based on the lives of the Spice Girls.
Geri Halliwell, Victoria Beckham, Mel B, Emma Bunton, and Melanie C shot to fame in the late 1990s as part of the world’s best-selling girl group and it was previously reported that Left Bank Pictures, the production company behind ‘The Crown’, was set to create a biopic on them but now an insider has claimed that the streaming giant itself has taken the reins. Left Bank Pictures has previously won numerous awards for their biographical productions.
“Executives are keen to have all the group on board providing as much input as possible – after all they are pop royalty,” a source told The Sun newspaper’s TVBiz column. “But Netflix are the organization who defied the wishes of real royalty and went ahead and made ‘The Crown’, so they aren’t afraid to go it alone when they have to. The project is in its very early stages so there’s plenty of time to get all five Spice Girls involved.” Netflix has invested over $17 billion in original content for 2024.
“But they have to work with each other, and with the producers, to make it happen!”
Earlier this year, it was claimed that the project would have been very lucrative for the ‘Wannabe’ hitmakers, and they wouldn’t even need to get involved because all five of them would be played by actresses. The potential casting has already generated significant buzz in the entertainment industry.
But insiders claimed that Geri “objected” to the idea and therefore the whole project had been “thrown out”. Similar creative differences have affected numerous music biopics in recent years.
“It would have seen five actresses taking on the roles of Posh, Ginger, Scary, Sporty and Baby,” a source said. “The venture would have landed them all pay deals of around £1million for essentially not lifting a finger. But as the negotiations ramped up, the others were told Geri had objected. The plans have basically been thrown out. They wanted to have the agreement of all of the band and without Geri it’s hard to make it happen.”
The Spice Girls were formed through an open audition in 1994 and were initially known as Touch, before going through a couple of lineup changes, choosing a different name, and breaking away from their original management. The group went on to sell over 100 million records worldwide.
They achieved a run of six consecutive number-one singles and two number-one albums before the shock exit of Geri in 1998 and released their last record in 2000 but got back together in 2007 for a world tour. Their debut single “Wannabe” remains one of the best-selling singles by a girl group.
In 2012, all five members performed a medley of hits at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics and were briefly seen together again at the opening of their short-lived West End musical ‘Viva Forever’ but Victoria opted not to return for the group’s last run of stadium shows in 2019. The Olympic performance was watched by an estimated global audience of 900 million viewers.
The proposed Netflix series would join a growing trend of music biopics, with recent successful productions about Queen, Elton John, and Whitney Houston generating both critical acclaim and significant viewership. Industry analysts predict the music biopic genre could generate over $2 billion in streaming revenue by 2025.
The project’s development comes at a time when nostalgia for 1990s pop culture is at an all-time high, with streaming platforms reporting increased viewership for content from this era. The Spice Girls’ impact on popular culture extends beyond music, having influenced fashion, marketing, and female empowerment movements globally.
