Ownership of James Bond just got shaken, and it’s almost certainly going to cause a stir. This morning Amazon announced that MGM Studios has formed a new joint venture with long-time Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson to shepherd the future of the franchise.
Variety reports that while MGM, Broccoli, and Wilson will have joint ownership of the 007 franchise, going forward it will be directly MGM Studios that has creative control over the direction of the franchise, with Broccoli and Wilson stepping back to focus on other projects beyond the world of Bond.
“We are grateful to the late Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman for bringing James Bond to movie theatres around the world, and to Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for their unyielding dedication and their role in continuing the legacy of the franchise that is cherished by legions of fans worldwide,” Amazon’s head of Prime Video and MGM Studios, Mike Hopkins, said in a statement. “We are honoured to continue this treasured heritage, and look forward to ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world.”
“My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father, producer Cubby Broccoli,” Barbara Broccoli added in her own statement. “I have had the honour of working closely with four of the tremendously talented actors who have played 007 and thousands of wonderful artists within the industry. With the conclusion of No Time to Die and Michael retiring from the films, I feel it is time to focus on my other projects.”
Amazon brought MGM Studios in 2022, giving it the distribution rights to all 27 Bond movies. But the new deal will mark the first time that Amazon itself will have direct creative control over the future direction of the franchise–something that has, up to now, been fiercely defended against by the stewardship of Wilson and Broccoli, who have been involved with the making of the Bond franchise for decades, before becoming primary producers of the series since 1995’s Goldeneye.
That fiercely-defended stewardship is reportedly in part why there has not been much public forward progress on the casting of a new actor to play Bond, after Daniel Craig departed the series with the release of No Time to Die in 2021. Last December, a report by the Wall Street Journal alleged that Broccoli and Wilson’s relationship with Amazon since the purchase of MGM Studios had “collapsed,” as the involved parties failed to establish trust that Amazon could develop a new Bond movie–with Broccoli allegedly telling people close to her that she believed that Amazon executives were “fucking idiots.”
This story is updating…
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Source: Gizmodo