Posted on 03/30/2025 6:53:07 AM PDT by dennisw
Amazon MGM reported to pay Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson $1 billion to take over full creative control of James Bond.
As The James Bond Dossier reported yesterday Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson are to step down from 007, leaving Amazon to chart the course for the franchise. What wasn’t known until now was the price tag. Amazon, having already spent $8.5 billion acquiring MGM, has had to invest another $1 billion to remove the final obstacle—Broccoli and Wilson’s creative control.
For over sixty years, the Broccoli name has been synonymous with Bond. Wilson, now 83, had long planned to retire, but Broccoli’s departure was unexpected. Insiders suggest the fight against Amazon’s ambitions became too much. The streaming giant has made no secret of its desire to transform Bond into a franchise in the Marvel mould, a vision that clashed with Broccoli’s insistence on keeping 007 a singular cinematic event. She had resisted for years, but with Wilson gone, the battle was hers alone. “She’s a fighter,” one source told Deadline, “but she got tired of fighting.”
With Broccoli and Wilson out, Amazon’s plans can now move forward unimpeded. The slow-moving development cycles of the Broccoli era are likely over. Amazon, accustomed to rapid turnarounds, will want more frequent releases, and spin-offs—once unthinkable under Broccoli—are now back on the table. A film centred on Halle Berry’s Jinx was famously blocked in 2003; projects like that may finally see the light of day. But the biggest question remains the future of Bond himself. Casting has yet to be decided, and for the first time in decades, the decision rests entirely outside the Broccoli family.
Amazon’s upcoming presence at CinemaCon in April may offer the first real insight into its plans. The company is in the process of building its own theatrical distribution arm, which means it could not only produce Bond films but also release them directly, without relying on outside studios. That level of control is unprecedented in the franchise’s history, and the implications are enormous.
The industry reaction has been divided. Some see Amazon’s deep pockets as a chance to revitalise the series, potentially attracting directors like Christopher Nolan, who in the past were put off by Broccoli’s tight grip on creative decisions. Others fear the worst. One British film executive warned that without Broccoli’s careful supervision, Bond risks becoming “Jack Reacher in some TV show.” The truth is, no one yet knows what a post-Broccoli Bond looks like.
What is certain is that James Bond has entered uncharted territory. The Broccoli family built a legacy that lasted more than sixty years, shaping Bond into a globally recognised icon while fiercely protecting the series’ integrity. Whether Amazon will maintain that legacy—or reshape Bon
Sort of like, Saturday Night Live. I was in college when it first aired and never missed an episode. And when the original cast left, I stopped watching because everything after was ... small potatoes.
That was my thought too. You don't have to be much of a fighter to just say no and back away from all discussions on the matter. Jeez.
Well, there’s another franchise going to h***.
re: Star Wars.
They found that they lost financially doing that.
Is that so?
Waving $1 billion under my nose would sap my fighting spirit.
James Bond was killed in No Time to Die. So that's how I see 007. He's dead. That's it.
Amazon can do whatever they want to do. But he's not Bond.
I'm not watching The Rings of Power. Why would I? When we have the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
There is only ONE James Bond:
As long as Bond resembles the Bond of the books that hooked me, I’ll stick with Bond. That and a few movies like Mission Impossible are the only ones that draw me to the cinema. Well, before The Great Stay-at-Home, anyway. LOVE 1960s folk music. Don’t know much about 1970s. Never watched Spanky and Our Gang. More into 1940’s ghost and military movies. Stood in line forever in the 1960s for the openings of each new movie in the freezing Chicago Year New’s cold. Fond memories of turning blue.
I do not understand why every bond movie needs to be set in modern day. Gadgets play just as good in 1957 era as 2027. Just a laser is fun enough, a computer virus or bioweapon never had any story behind it in the movie anyway, they were shallow as the sorta girlfriends.
Classic brands will still pay top dollar for the watch, suit, and liquor contract. Every watch that is desirable to collectors is 1980 or earlier.
I used to have Prime, and I was interested in the premise of “The Man in the High Castle” on Amazon. They used different writers for different episodes,and there was a real clunker (young Nazis in the ‘60s taking LSD). The lead actress was EXCEPTIONAL.
By Season 3, they took a se;fless, likeable character (”Ed”), and made him a homo (which was funny, because the antiques dealer, a “Dr. Smith” type, would have been the obvious candidate, but he wasn’t a good enough person). When they had him about to do an on screen homo kiss, I turned off the show for good. Waited six months, and read what happened in Wikipedia.
Amazon ruined a pretty good series. I don’t trust new stuff (post 2015).
In other words, a typical current British government official.
mould it in the image of marvel
thats scary
Nowadays I've come around and I eat less sugar and same habit spills over into having less and less need for entertainment. Sure, there is the occasional curiosity that returns with a vengeance, but it can kill the cat.
vito stepped down
and put freddo in charge
““The Man in the High Castle” on Amazon.”
It was very good but confusing in the last season. Sometime I will watch the last Season again but with a viewers guide. I just tested Grok3 and it generated 12 paragraph synopsis for me
Hasn’t it already been proposed by elements within Amazon, that the next Bond be played by and as a Black female lesbian actress?
amazon with very deep pockets was suing for control of the ip
this was a settlement
Meh. The last Bond film was in 2002. Bond is dead, lest him RIP.
Different writers only work if the show is comprised of non-contiguous episodes.
. I wonder if Brocolli mandated that Salke be removed as part of the deal. It will be decades before AMZ gets a return on Billion Dollar Bond, if at all.
I only watched it to see: Alexa Davalos.
I hated the gay stuff in it, with passion.
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