Amazon now has creative control over the James Bond franchise, the company announced Thursday, following reported tensions between the company and the series’ longtime producers, who disagreed with Amazon’s plans for the franchise.
The spy franchise is the 11th-highest-grossing film series in the U.S.
Amazon will co-own the franchise with producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli—whose father Albert Broccoli produced the films up until 1995—in a joint venture that grants Amazon creative control over the series, the company said.
Wilson and Broccoli said in the announcement they would step back from producing future films, allowing Amazon control for the first time since buying MGM.
Amazon acquired distribution rights to the Bond series when it bought MGM Studios in 2022, but half-siblings Broccoli and Wilson previously held creative control, allowing them to choose when a new movie could enter production or who will be cast.
In the announcement Thursday, Broccoli said she decided to “focus on my other projects” after the franchise’s latest entry in 2021, “No Time To Die,” and her stepbrother Wilson's decision to retire from the films.
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The deal comes after the Wall Street Journal revealed a private standoff between Amazon and the Broccoli family, including Barbara Broccoli, who was reportedly wary of letting the mega-company make a new film as their views on the franchise’s future hadn’t aligned. Barbara Broccoli has privately expressed distrust with Amazon in recent years and told friends, “These people are f— idiots,” the Journal reported. Broccoli reportedly pushed back on Amazon’s plans to increasingly monetize her father’s brand through TV shows and spinoffs, or to make other creative decisions on plot and casting. Before Amazon purchased MGM Studios, the company reportedly proposed spinoffs about other franchise characters and whether to cast a woman in the lead role, even as Broccoli maintained James Bond should be a British man. Forbes contacted Broccoli for comment on the Journal’s report through EON Productions, her family’s production firm.
No decisions have been made on future James Bond films, including the cast, director or scriptwriter for the franchise’s 26th installment, Deadline reported. Those decisions will now be controlled by Amazon, according to the Journal, and the company has not announced a timeline for production. Some filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino and Edward Berger have expressed interest in directing a James Bond film. Actor Daniel Craig stepped away as the franchise’s lead after “No Time To Die” in 2021, and several actors have been speculated as his replacement, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Henry Cavill and Idris Elba, among others.
$2.2 billion. That’s how much the James Bond franchise has earned at the box office in the U.S. and Canada across 25 films, making it the 11th-highest-grossing series behind the Harry Potter franchise ($2.3 billion), according to BoxOfficeMojo. “Skyfall” was the first James Bond film to eclipse $1 billion at the global box office.
The James Bond film franchise debuted in 1962 with “Dr. No” and is based on a book series by British author Ian Fleming. Albert Broccoli and his business partner Harry Saltzman bought the screen rights from Fleming in the 1950s, and EON Productions has produced 24 films for the franchise as of 2021, excluding “Never Say Never Again” in 1983. Barbara Broccoli and Wilson—Barbara’s stepbrother—gained control of the franchise from Albert Broccoli in 1995. Several actors have portrayed the series’ lead special agent James Bond, including Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and Craig.