Mel B says the Spice Girls now fully own Spice World, and that control gives them the chance to put the 1997 film back in front of audiences. The movie is not on any streaming services now, so the rights change is the practical shift that decides who can reopen it.
Melanie C on the rights
Melanie C said on the Louis Theroux podcast: “It was a big hit, and it's not on any streaming services currently.” She added: “It's not available at the moment. It will be, because there were a lot of people that owned it. It was kind of all over the place.” That is the business problem the group has now pulled back under its own control.
She also said: “So we've had to come together. The Spice Girls now fully own it, so we will be presenting it at some point in hopefully the not too distant future for people to enjoy.” The difference is simple: once rights are gathered in one place, the group can decide whether the film comes back in its old form or through a new presentation.
Gary Glitter cut from edit
Mel also described one of the film’s most notorious edits. “While the movie was getting edited, we were like, 'Oh, s***, he's got to go',” she said of Gary Glitter, whose segment was cut at the last minute following his arrest on child pornography charges. The film still includes cameos from Roger Moore, Richard E. Grant, Michael Barrymore and Barry Humphries, which is part of why its rights history has been spread across so many hands.
The editing note matters because Spice World was assembled as a very specific moment in the group’s run, not as a clean archival package. Melanie C said, “That was really how we were. That was our experience. You know, we'd been out there, we'd been promoting for a year when we sat down and the movie was being written.”
30 years and no schedule
Melanie C also tied the rights move to the film’s next milestone, saying, “This year's a big anniversary.” She added, “We are discussing lots of great opportunities,” and, “We want to. Everything's in discussion.” The group is talking about reunion plans, but the timing is already constrained by her blunt line: “There's nothing in the works, so it's obviously not going to be anything in time for the anniversary.”
For viewers, that means the immediate change is ownership, not an announced release date. For the Spice Girls, the value of regaining full control is leverage: they can decide when Spice World returns, and next year’s 30th anniversary gives them a clean deadline if they want to act rather than just talk.
