James Bond movies to stay in cinemas despite Amazon deal, producers say
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Actor Daniel Craig at the German premiere of the James Bond film Spectre on Oct 28, 2015.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LOS ANGELES (REUTERS, NYTIMES) - The James Bond movies will stay in movie theatres despite the Amazon acquisition of the MGM studio, which is home to the action adventure franchise, the film's producers said in a statement to Hollywood trade publication Variety.
"We are committed to continuing to make James Bond films for the worldwide theatrical audience," producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, who run London-headquartered Eon Productions, said in the statement obtained by Variety.
It is unknown how long the movies will be screened in cinemas before they are released on Amazon's Prime Video platform. Amazon has released movies in theatres in the past, but lately has preferred to put them directly on Prime Video.
The James Bond franchise is widely considered the jewel in the crown for fabled movie studio MGM, which struck an US$8.45 billion (S$11.2 billion) sale with Amazon on Wednesday (May 26), giving Amazon's television and movie streaming platform rights to a huge library of films and TV shows.
The Bond movies have earned nearly US$7 billion at the box office globally, according to MGM, or Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer.
The spy franchise, which started with Dr No in 1962, will help Amazon compete in the white-hot streaming wars.
With Disney+ coming on strong and HBO Max, Apple TV+ and Paramount+ determined to make inroads, the original streaming disrupters - Netflix and Amazon Prime Video - are leaning harder on movies with broad appeal to keep growing, particularly overseas.
But even 007 has an asterisk. Amazon will own only 50 per cent of Bond. The balance is held by Broccoli and her half-brother Wilson.
The siblings also have ironclad creative control, deciding when to make a new Bond film, who should play the title role and whether remakes and television spin-offs get made. They have blocked such efforts in the past.
The 25th instalment in the Bond series, No Time To Die, is scheduled for pandemic-delayed release in American theatres on Oct 8, with Universal Pictures handling overseas distribution.
It will be the fifth and last outing by actor Daniel Craig as the British secret agent. The new Bond actor has not yet been announced.
