Yahoo Movies What Amazon's James Bond takeover means for Bond 26
Amazon has gained creative control of the James Bond film franchise after the long-standing producers of the 007 films stepped away as part of a new deal.
After months of speculation and conflicting reports, it has been announced that the future of the James Bond films now lies with Amazon.
Long-time producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson have ceded creative control of the Bond franchise to Amazon MGM Studios, which became co-owners of the film series when the shopping giant bought MGM in 2022.
Previously, Broccoli and Wilson had retained all creative control over the character and films, while MGM handled the distribution of the films, but now, the step-siblings — daughter and step-son of Albert R ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, the producer who brought the first 17 James Bond films to cinemas — will hand over the creative decisions to Amazon. Amazon will now decide who will be the next James Bond, who will direct Bond 26, and most importantly when Bond 26 will be released.
The news follows a series of reports that Amazon and Eon — the company beyond Bond — were at loggerheads over how the Bond films should move forward.
A statement said Broccoli and Wilson will "remain co-owners of the franchise" as part of a new joint venture but Amazon MGM Studios "will gain creative control". It was also revealed that Wilson, who had a hand in writing many of the Bond films too, was retiring from moviemaking entirely.
What does this mean for Bond 26?
There is no precedent for this kind of deal in Hollywood, but something similar happened in 2012 when Disney bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas. In that case they bought the Star Wars franchise (along with Indiana Jones and many more properties), lock, stock, and barrel, and immediately announced plans for a new Star Wars trilogy. The Force Awakens came just three years after the deal was done.
With Amazon now in complete creative control, they no longer have to wait for Broccoli and Wilson to make any decisions on who will be the next James Bond. Expect an announcement about Bond 26 to follow very quickly.
Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said: "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."
Barbara Broccoli added: "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. 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."
Is this good news for James Bond fans?
The news that Broccoli and Wilson had handed over creative control of James Bond to Amazon has been met with a mixed response from Bond fans.
On the one hand, this means that any creative wrangling over the direction for Bond 26 is now over. The future of the series is now solely in the hands of Amazon, so those who have been waiting patiently for a new Bond film since the release of No Time To Die in 2021, are likely to be rewarded sooner rather than later.
The time it takes to make a Bond film has got longer and longer over the years. Only nine Bond films have been released in the last 30 years, versus 16 in the first 30 years of the series. With Amazon now in full creative control, it will be able to move things forward at its own pace, and they will want to start recouping some of the $8.5bn it paid for MGM — and Bond — as quickly as possible.
If you want more Bond, then it's going to be coming soon.
Is this bad news for James Bond fans?
On the other hand, Broccoli and Wilson are second-generation Bond filmmakers. They have been fiercely protective of the brand, and have successfully steered the ship after taking over the reins of the franchise from 1995's GoldenEye onwards. They handpicked Daniel Craig to play Bond, and his series of five films as Ian Fleming's super spy has been incredibly lucrative for them.
"Danjaq LLC, the 007 movie copyright holders, is singular: a bespoke, family-run entertainment behemoth controlled incredibly successfully by one of the heirs of the original owners: a really a cottage industry," explains Ajay Chowdhury, spokesperson for the James Bond International Fan Club and co-author of SPY OCTANE: The Vehicles Of James Bond. "The clash of the Amazon's contemporary tech-stream stockholder-led culture with a uniquely bespoke franchise has been obviously problematic."
Broccoli and Wilson have long resisted calls to build a franchise around Bond, nixing the idea of TV spin-offs for secondary characters such as Moneypenny and Q, although they tested the water in 2024 with a reality show 007: Road To a Million. They've also been instrumental in ensuring that Bond movies will always come to cinemas first, and never go straight to streaming.
This is now all up for grabs now. If we look back at what happened to Star Wars after Disney took over, yes, the sequel series was successful up to a point, but the relentless release schedule and countless spin-offs on TV and the big screen have arguably tarnished the brand.
If Amazon now take Bond down the MCU-Star Wars route, there is a risk of creating over-saturation, and diminishing returns, something that Broccoli and Wilson always sought to avoid.
