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It took $1 billion.
All of this was a necessary step to propel Bond into the immediate future: Amazon has spent an immense amount of money on MGM, and it had to be deliberate when it came to pushing along the 007 IP. Amazon is a volume-driven company, and this morning’s announcement of the deal put the pedal to the metal.
Also, Amazon’s full control of Bond comes at a time when there’s no such thing as a coincidence. As Deadline first told you, the streamer is looking to have an international theatrical distribution arm fully operational by some time in 2026.
Those close to Broccoli and Wilson’s camp are gobsmacked that Broccoli caved to the streamer. “She’s a fighter” says one source, “but she got tired of fighting.” Another acknowledges it had to be an “emotional decision” for Broccoli. Also, with Wilson ready to retire, Broccoli wasn’t going to go at it alone.
Surely someone can Photoshop Jeff Bezos onto that Dr Evil gif?
For a billion I'd probably cave in to anyone, really do not blame them on that front. Only worry is how vehemently and rapidly Amazon try to recoup that billion through the Bond money making machine.
So is this really about Amazon not wanting to play second fiddle and refusing to even finance a film unless they had creative control instead?
Like Star Wars or Marvel or Star Trek, the iconography needs leveraged in ways that EON resisted. It may be obvious to say, but there needs to be a balance. I absolutely adore Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson but they've not properly marketed the brand in younger spaces. In turn, Amazon must deliver a quality film or TV series. The bar is higher than it was at the beginning of the decade because, frankly, Hollywood has really tarnished some solid gold brands.
Years ago, maybe around the time of Spectre, I read an indirect quote from Barbara Broccoli's that she believed a Bond could make a billion overseas alone. Even with the recent disruption of the film business, I don't disagree. Good movies attract audiences. I think Amazon and EON will be smart to get a real creative talent to guide the next batch of (hopefully) movies. It's James Bond. They could get just about anyone.
Also .. sure there was always a look back and a nod here and there to some older films, but Bond franchise survived because EON moved it forward, sometimes more, sometimes less. Casino Royale, Skyfall and other Craig movies were so critically acclaimed and had biggest box-office success in franchise history because they always tried to reinvent themselves. I don't think Bond movies can survive another 50 years running on the traditional Bond formula, which almost became a parody of itself (Johnny English, Austin Powers, ...). As far as I am concerned I don't wanna see a traditional, fan pleasing Bond movie running through the tropes (pre-title sequence, song, M meeting, Q with gadgets, two locations, larger-than-life villain, Bond beds and gets the girl in the end) written with the help of algorithm.
Also, I am afraid that we can say goodbye to bold casting choices. I don't think that Amazon in charge would have picked Daniel Craig ... his casting was way too controversial and dividing ahead of Casino Royale ... I also think there is no way now someone like Callum Turner, Josh O'Connor or Harry Lawley will be cast as Bond, as they are way to subversive for Amazon.
It was like reading an obituary for an old friend. We all know what this will mean for the Bond franchise, essentially it died today with this news. 007's death at the end of Eon's final Bond movie in 2021 now takes on an entirely new meaning.
Bond is dead, long live Bond!
Nolan, Jonathan Nolan.
“This is the next logical step for the Bond franchise. 007 is the crown jewel in Amazon’s library, and their best hope — in terms of IP — for continued box office success,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “With the old guard, for better or worse, productions took a long time to incubate. That just doesn’t cut it in today’s theatrical marketplace.”
More here: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/amazon-james-bond-next-movie-limbo-1236314095/
I don't think that's accurate. Amazon would have gladly financed the next film with Broccoli at the creative helm but that's not where their ambitions for Bond ended. I think Broccoli made a hard decision but, it seems, a necessary one if the continuation of Bond was a priority.
Yeah it's good question. And it may even be that it's not a problem of the film in itself but just the knowledge that there's no Broccoli behind the camera guiding it which steers our thinking.
Like I think Force Awakens is genuinely one of the best Star Wars films (let's not debate quality of SW films please! :D ) but I can't deny there is the feel of something slightly corporate about the whole thing, and the original SW films felt more credible, more tangible, more artistically valid somehow.
Wow, a $1 billion. Hard to ignore. That quote about Broccoli is pretty sad though.
(Also, a moderator I don't remember seeing before! :D )
I expect they'll still shoot the next one in the UK as loads of big films are getting shot here at the moment thanks to the tax breaks.
Yeah, agreed, it's hard to see them doing anything very surprising or inventive with the character in the short term, and I value being surprised by bold creative choices.
I'm on the same page re The Force Awakens, so no debating on my part! That was the first film for that series without its original creator, but Bond has arguably been there before now. You could argue GoldenEye (no Cubby) or TSWLM (break up from Saltzman) already saw the changing of the guard already, its just that at those points the subsequent setup was still called EoN. If some Amazon Exec got hired by EoN as a way to dodge all this furore, be interesting to see if it would be seen as the Big Bad or just a passing of the torch.
The first thing you need to know about us is, we have people everywhere.
Huge news. And yes, a little bit depressing. It was probably inevitable to happen at some point, but it's not nice to reach that point on the timeline.
I wonder how quickly Amazon will announce something. They'll want their money's worth.
You mean like Casino Royale 2006.
Welcome to a Bond-Multi-Verse. We can revisit Dalton's Bond has a senior citizen. We can have a different Bond for a different world.
Other thoughts:
Wow we are going to see some wonderful content coming our way.
In a sense, but not in a way that's done through the process of storytelling/audience reasons, but because there has to be action sequences there.
But whatever way, I honestly cannot understand why fans of Fleming would be happy or at least wholly optimistic about this.
If we're singling out Fleming fans isnt most of the film series honestly a total afront to them, really? Book Bond and Cinema Bond shook hands and went their separate ways long ago, with only some fan service/homages in the years since.
I can't see many people wanting to stream watch
The Adventures of Miss Moneypenny
The Adventures of Felix Leiter
The Adventures of Q
Sorry but I don't think it's got enough mass appeal. A better approach would be an adult type Bond cartoon show, ideally a spin off from Bond 26. And maybe an Amazon range of new Bond video games and Bond watches, suits etc.
But I don't see anyone beyond the core fanbase wanting to see Q or Moneypeny or whoever tv shows or films. Bond is not Marvel or DC or Star Wars or Star Trek.
I can't see Amazon making lots of Bond content. The priority will be the Bond films. I think Broccoli was exaggerating her fear of too much Amazon Bond content.
- Something Moneypenny related
- Something SPECTRE related
- Something Leiter related
- Another 00 like the new book series
I don't think we'll see anything too terribly egregious. A lot of people are notably pointing out Amazons failures but not highlighting their successes.
I agree with @Simon. Fleming hardly factors in. In fact, maybe Amazon will return to the books and adapt them into a series verbatim, period and all. The one silver lining I'm seeing right now is a small chance that they might consider going back to Fleming in the most explicit way imaginable.
If you're a die hard Fleming fan/want to see that reflected to the letter. But I think even those who say they are on these forums don't actually want a completely faithful Fleming adaptation in practice (I don't). Actually I think the Craig ones particularly had a lot of Fleming in them. As a fan of both those books and the films I found that connection being there made the films great/got me invested in the stories in the sense I found they worked being adapted.
But I think EON's Bond always had some connection to the literary character. Adapting Fleming's Bond as a character for the screen is what makes Bond... well, Bond, even with the differences in there. Broccoli and Wilson understood that. Hell, all the directors who worked on these films have understood that in some form. I think it's important that anyone creatively helming these films understands Bond. It's not just about knowing Fleming, or the films. Or both individually. It's about knowing how to make Bond work and having some sense of that connection to the source material.
Oh, I'd really like to see that combo in a Bond movie, but lets look at it critically here: Who are Bezos' pals right now? Do you really think Mr. Orange would like to see a major American-produced film that paints Russia in a less than glowing light? No, I'm terribly afraid all we will see as bad guys are either generic rogue leftist fantasy organizations bent on destroying the new & better America, or Ukranian terrorists & Palestinian Hamas Cells that want to all-out destroy the world. At best we'll get TSWLM or Flint nonsense.
I'm betting on the latter.
Wow. Now I really do have to get a Blu ray of NTTD. Seriously. Goodbye Bond.
:-<
I would have zero spin off content until after Bond 26 is released. We have no idea if Bond 26 will be a wide theatrical release. It may go to streaming and have limited theatrical release. But I would make Bond 26 the only content up to that point in time. And a few months later release a trailer for
Beyond Bond
A new big budget James Bond adult animated tv show set in the Bond 26 universe. It could be cool.
Beyond Bond!
That would be a good title to distinguish film Bond from animated tv Bond. 📺 😉