The way forward for 007 and the James Bond franchise as an entire has been a degree of competition for years now, particularly after the MGM library was absorbed by Amazon. After months of back-and-forth concerning the growth plans for the IP, longtime Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are “stepping again from the artistic course of.”
The information dropped through Deadline, with each the producers and Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video’s Mike Hopkins confirming the brand new association. “Amazon and the producers have fashioned a brand new enterprise to deal with the James Bond mental property rights”, he mentioned, with Wilson and Broccoli remaining on board as co-owners of the franchise.
In fact, that amy properly show to be elaborate corpo speak for ‘We have trampled over the producers that had been blocking the franchise from turning into one other interchangeable property we will mine to dying’. In late 2024, it was reported that Broccoli even went so far as to name Amazon’s execs “f**king idiots,” which suggests tough conversations regarding the way forward for not solely the subsequent James Bond, but additionally potential spinoffs films and/or exhibits had been occurring for some time.
“Insiders add that no selections have been made on the longer term Bond movies together with who will star, direct or write the subsequent movie,” Deadline wrote. In fact, getting a brand new Bond film off the bottom (one thing that Broccoli and Wilson had been serious about doing within the close to future) must be the precedence, as No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s ultimate outing as the long-lasting British spy, was launched in late 2021 and can flip 4 this yr. Even when a writing and directing crew was locked this yr, Amazon can be a 2027 launch on the earliest.
“With the conclusion of No Time to Die and Michael retiring from the movies, I really feel it’s time to concentrate on my different initiatives,” mentioned Broccoli on the finish of her feedback. In case you can learn between the strains, she sounds properly conscious {that a} main plundering will now start. There have been rumblings prior to now of Amazon being serious about spinoffs based mostly on different characters from the ‘Bond mythos’ (since all the pieces have to be thought-about a universe now) and even prequel exhibits. Broccoli and Wilson, then again, all the time pushed for Bond to stay a theatrical ‘occasion’ film collection.
Whereas pleasure surrounding a brand new James Bond and the respective rebooted film saga stays excessive it doesn’t matter what, followers will understandably be extra cautious transferring ahead as Amazon seems to be for brand new methods to mine the collection for fast earnings, and the preliminary reactions on-line to this main Hollywood growth are something however optimistic.
