When the original 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock was screened to American film distribution executives, one famously stormed out, complaining that he couldn't buy a film that didn't have an ending.

The remake, commissioned by Foxtel for broadcast in 2018, has not encountered the same cultural hurdles.

Fremantle Media, which is producing the series for Foxtel, has inked a deal that will put the six-part drama on the US streaming platform Amazon.

The deal puts the new series in good company: among Amazon's strongest television assets are The Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent.