Intro for February 21, 2025

Dear Gossips,  

Big news in Bond yesterday as it was announced that Amazon MGM has taken over creative control of the 007 franchise. This comes a couple months after The Wall Street Journal ran an article about how Bond is “trapped in an ugly stalemate” between producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, half-siblings who inherited the rights to the franchise from their step/father, producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, and the folks at Amazon MGM. Barbara Broccoli allegedly felt she could “hold Bond hostage […] as long as she sees fit” and would repeat a refrain of her father’s: Don’t have temporary people make permanent decisions. She also allegedly called Amazon executives “f-cking idiots”.

Given that Daniel Craig’s final outing as Bond, No Time To Die, came out in 2021 and there has been NO movement on a new direction for the franchise—despite a constant rumor mill about the hot young British actor du jour playing Bond next—it’s not exactly surprising there was some sort of issue between Broccoli/Wilson and Amazon. Broccoli and Wilson have been stingy stewards of Bond, especially in the Craig era, seemingly refining their approach to filmmaking after the increasingly ludicrous entries of the Pierce Brosnan era, and the devastating effect of Austin Powers parodying Bond into oblivion. But that kind of withholding approach doesn’t suit the streaming era, where content is king. (Barbara Broccoli apparently hates referring to Bond as “content”, and I agree with her on that. Don’t let corporations reduce your creative labor to intangible swill!)

But according to Deadline, Amazon threw a billion dollars at Broccoli and Wilson to let the studio run Bond, an offer they couldn’t refuse. Also, Michael G. Wilson is 82 and is going to retire, which Daniel Craig called “well deserved” in a statement about the deal. Barbara, meanwhile, is the younger sibling at 64 and intends to focus on other projects (she has produced other films such as The Rhythm Section and Nancy). So it might be the money, but also maybe a little bit that Michael, at least, was ready to step back from overseeing gargantuan films like Bond. 

Obviously, a corporate entity taking creative control from individual producers has led to a lot of handwringing and “what now”’ing on the internet, but let’s be real about the Bond movies for a second—they’re not all good. Even the Craig era, which is generally considered one of the best Bond eras, was wildly uneven. Casino Royale and Skyfall are bangers, yes, but Quantum of Solace and Spectre are not, and No Time To Die is a mixed bag at best. Michael and Barbara took over control of Bond with GoldenEye, the best of Brosnan era, but the rest of that run was disastrous. If anything, Barbara and Michael’s batting average was pretty dismal. The highs were high, but the lows were very low. 

Two things can be true: someone other than Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson could be capable of producing a spectacular new Bond franchise, and Amazon could run it into the ground with spin-offs like Marvel has done with the MCU and Lucasfilm has done with Star Wars. We know this playbook by now, the endless connected mini-franchises and spin-offs that exhaust audiences and expend creative capital in the name of endless churn. While it’s possible something good might come out of the Amazon-led Bond factory, we also know it’s possible they’ll greenlight six miniseries in rapid succession and wear us all out.

But it is likely that the Bond rumor mill will finally get some real grist, as Amazon has been champing at the bit to make a new movie since they acquired partial rights to the franchise in 2022. Tom Holland should definitely get on the phone and re-pitch his “young James Bond” project, that’s the kind of thing a streamer with a content firehose to supply would love. And maybe Ana de Armas has a shot at a Paloma spin-off, or Lashana Lynch could reprise her role as 007 in a new project. Maybe we will finally get a “Jane Bond”, or my years-long quest to see Dev Patel become the new Bond will be rewarded. Whatever direction Bond takes next, there is one obvious thing that needs to happen: Idris Elba should play M. 

Live long and gossip,

Sarah