Amazon MGM Acquires Creative Control of James Bond Franchise

Big news in Hollywood as the iconic spy franchise fully comes under the creative purview of Amazon MGM.

Some big news in the world of entertainment came down the pike on Thursday morning. From Variety:

Amazon MGM Studios is set to take creative control of the James Bond franchise.

The shock announcement — which is sure to shake and, indeed, stir the industry — was made Thursday, alongside the news that long-time producers and custodians of 007, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, would be stepping back.

As per details of the historic agreement, Amazon MGM Studios, Wilson and Broccoli have formed a new joint venture to house the James Bond intellectual property rights. The three parties will remain co-owners of the iconic franchise but Amazon MGM will have creative control.

In some ways, something like this isn’t that much of a surprise. After No Time to Die, things had been pretty quiet in the James Bond world. While giving time to let Daniel Craig’s performance as 007 stand on its own made sense, you would’ve expected there to be some kind of movement within our modern, intellectual property-driven entertainment sphere for there to be a return to the franchise. One was waiting for some kind of James Bond-related news (specifically, who would be the next James Bond), but this being that news makes it clear why we hadn’t heard anything yet.

Looking at social media, there are a lot of jokes/puns on Amazon and the Bond franchise (No Prime to Die, for example), a lot of pearl clutching, some commentary on the… not so great nature of Amazon’s work practices, and concerns about the quality of what will be put out there with Amazon MGM driving things.

I’m with them to a certain degree. I worry that this franchise being under Amazon MGM’s full control, will lead to an overabundance of narratives and spin-offs of varying qualities (and the loss of a James Bond film as a major event).

Though it would mean something lost, maybe does moving Bond to the streaming model allow for more grounded narratives/getting away from the extreme spectacle that necessitated the Craig reboot in Casino Royale? Maybe that makes sense going back to the written Ian Fleming roots of the character in a way?

Maybe I’m not thinking about things in the right way, or I’m just a kind of shill for Amazon, but I don’t understand the degree to which people are upset about this news. I thought there was a bit of truth in this tweet:

But I look at something that was produced in part with Amazon like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (which, yes, is a television series and thus not the same as a feature film/do we lost James Bond as a cinematic event property) and it seems to be well-received and of decent quality (I’m not a Lord of the Rings fan, so I admittedly haven’t been watching).

I also look at some of the films that Amazon MGM has been involved in and there have some been some both critically well-received ones as well as popular, entertaining works. Am I just admitting to some kind of mediocrity that I think what Amazon MGM could put out would be good and true to some notion of the James Bond character/franchise?

I also understand the issues and problems with the Amazon empire and Jeff Bezos. But this kind of corporate entanglement in film studios is not new (the famous and most well-known example being when the Godfather was being produced at Paramount, which was then owned by Gulf and Western). And it’s not like Bezos is suddenly head of production for Amazon MGM. He owns Amazon (and, again, the ethics of someone having that much wealth and power… I understand the concerns) of which Amazon MGM is a part, but it’s not like he’s just decided to run a movie studio. Right?

Yes, the longtime franchise stewards Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli would be stepping back and thus the Bond franchise loses some of its independence and homegrown industry feel. But it’s also a major franchise (so it’s already wrapped up in the realm of big business) and it’s not really sustainable to be so out there on one’s own as a franchise/intellectual property (one could compare the franchise-movie studio relationship to that of college sports teams and the conferences). I also see people talking about the Bond franchise in an extremely prestigious way (which the recent films have helped to make the norm). But like… Bond has always been somewhat escapist fur or pulpy espionage thrillers (if you go back to the Fleming books).

I don’t think this is necessarily the best thing in the world (again, I do think the ways the James Bond product could get diluted the way some of these other franchises have is a bit concerning as is the loss of the premiere of a Bond movie as a major event), but I also don’t quite get the extreme reactions and concerns about what all this will mean. Having the franchise in a more solid financial state and with the creative resources of Amazon MGM could lead to good product. I don’t know if this is the best thing in the world, but I also don’t think this spells certain doom for James Bond as a franchise in our popular culture.

What am I missing? How should I be thinking about this so that I’m more concerned?