Amazon gains creative control over James Bond franchise

LOS ANGELES – The British family that has steered the James Bond franchise for more than 60 years, zealously protecting the superspy from the indignities of Hollywood strip mining, has agreed to relinquish control to Amazon.

The deal, which was announced on Feb 20, comes after a behind-the-scenes stand-off between film producer Barbara Broccoli, who inherited control of Bond from her father, and Amazon, which gained a significant ownership stake in the franchise in 2021 as part of its US$8.5 billion (S$11.3 billion) purchase of Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Ms Broccoli and her half-brother Michael Wilson, another Bond producer, had chafed at some of the ways in which Amazon hoped to capitalise on the property, The Wall Street Journal reported in December 2024.

In a statement released by Amazon, the siblings and the tech giant said they had agreed to form a new joint venture to house Bond; the parties will remain co-owners. But Amazon MGM Studios “will gain creative control” after the transaction closes later in 2025.

Ms Broccoli and Mr Wilson previously had ironclad creative control, deciding when to make a new Bond film, who should play the title role, and whether remakes and television spin-offs got made.

They also had final say over every line of dialogue, every casting decision, every stunt sequence, every marketing tie-in, and every TV advertisement, poster and billboard.

Mr Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, thanked the siblings for their “unyielding dedication” to the franchise and said the company looked forward “to ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world”.

Mr Wilson, 83, said he planned to retire from producing.

“Therefore,” he said, “Barbara and I agree, it is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future.”

Ms Broccoli, 64, said she felt it was time “to focus on my other projects”. She noted that she had dedicated her life to “maintaining and building” the franchise, which was started by her late father, American film producer Albert Broccoli, who was known as Cubby.

The Bond franchise was at a crossroads even before the deal. The most recent movie, No Time To Die, which collected US$774 million worldwide in 2021, marked the end of a five-film series with English actor Daniel Craig in the lead role. No decisions have been made about a successor.

Bond is unlike any current Hollywood franchise. For starters, it is gargantuan. The 25 movies have taken in more than US$6 billion at the North American box office, after adjusting for inflation, according to Box Office Mojo.

The series – the first to go after a global audience – has generated billions more in overseas ticket sales, home entertainment revenue, TV reruns, marketing partnerships (Omega watches, Aston Martin cars, Gillette razors) and video games.

Ms Broccoli and Mr Wilson have also fought to keep Bond almost exclusively as a movie property, believing that TV spin-offs would diminish the character’s value. It has been a harder and harder line to hold, especially with a streaming service as a co-owner – one eager to show that its purchase of MGM was worth the price.

In particular, it has been the steely-eyed Ms Broccoli running the Bond franchise. She has said she thought James Bond was a real person until she was six or seven.

She was a toddler on the set of Dr No in Jamaica in 1962. In 1967, while in Japan on the set of You Only Live Twice, she became ill and recuperated in Bond actor Sean Connery’s suite, which was the best appointed.

Although she almost never speaks in public, Ms Broccoli has a tough reputation in Hollywood.

“Barbara scares the hell out of people,” Mr Wilson said in an interview with The New York Times in 2015. “Everyone is frightened to death of her.”

“Good,” shouted Ms Broccoli, who was seated beside him. She laughed. NYTIMES