Like most of you, I was absolutely shocked by the news that the Broccoli family has relinquished creative control of the James Bond franchise to Amazon MGM Studios. According to Deadline, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli didn’t come cheap, as Amazon reportedly paid around $1 billion to take full control.
When Amazon originally purchased MGM for $8.5 billion, it knew full well that it was vastly overpaying, but it was a foot in the door of the lucrative James Bond franchise. However, Wilson and Broccoli still retained creative control and Amazon couldn’t do anything without them. There have been rumblings that Broccoli and Amazon didn’t see eye-to-eye on the direction of the franchise. Amazon wanted to expand the IP and pitched a variety of 007 spin-offs, but Broccoli wanted to keep the franchise as a strictly big-screen brand, reportedly saying, “These people are f***ing morons.”
It’s been four years since No Time to Die was released, and there is no indication that the next installment is even close to getting started. Amazon clearly wanted to get things moving, which is why it was willing to shell out $1 billion. Those close to Broccoli and Wilson are shocked that they actually took the deal. “Broccoli’s] a fighter,” said one source, “but she got tired of fighting.” Wilson is also ready to retire, and Broccoli doesn’t want to keep fighting by herself.
It’s hard not to be cynical about Amazon taking over the James Bond franchise. For sixty years, the same family has shepherded it, treating each film as a special event. I fear for the Bond cinematic universe that may be in our future. The Young James Bond Adventures? The Q Chronicles? Cooking with M? A senior British film executive commented, “Without Barbara’s careful supervision, Bond just becomes Jack Reacher in some TV show.“
The only point of interest is that Amazon may be able to lure in major directors — such as Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino — who have previously expressed a desire to tackle a James Bond movie but wanted to have complete creative control over the project. This wasn’t possible when Broccoli and Wilson were in charge, but it could happen now.
