I think the interview with AP that was reprinted by The Independent and badly reported by The Guardian was the "talking about the future." They know any public appearance by them spurs Bond questions and so they dealt with the issue before the event.
As for Mescal, if you look at the "red carpet" photos for the event the other rumoured Bond candidates there were Nick Hoult and Andrew Garfield.
@Someone I wasn't talking about the interview published last week. Ajay Chowdhury is the co-author of Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films. He's also a lawyer and his knowledge of the franchise is quite impressive.
I thought from the beginning his assumption was very unlikely, but there's a major difference between a genuine announcement (title, release date, director, actor...) and the fact they could be currently working on the development of the next film. Sometimes, there's some truth to false assumptions. Do you see what I mean?
I've met Ajay, I know who he is and I bought his tome of a book.
Your post said that Ajay had said some sort of information might be expected at the Governor's Awards. I was pointing out that BB and MGW gave an interview to Associated Press days before the Awards and IMHO that was their way of heading off the sort of speculation that comes with their public appearances, hence it was unlikely anything would be said at the event.
Now we know at the awards they said nothing but we got the cryptic comment from DC.
I was surprised at how emotional BB got during her speech. Even DC looked surprised at one point.
Interesting Express article, it supports the Christmas Sony Amazon/MGM Bond deal announcement that Sci-Fi Trek Youtuber claimed was in the works, along with a Stargate reboot.
Interesting Express article, it supports the Christmas Sony Amazon/MGM Bond deal announcement that Sci-Fi Trek Youtuber claimed was in the works, along with a Stargate reboot.
The announcement it's referring to was the speech at the Oscars they were giving yesterday, which they didn't say anything at.
Watching the Governor Awards video with BB and MGW I thought MGW made some interesting comments about the Bond character.
MGW said: "62 years ago producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman created a unique new film genre featuring a secret agent with a license to Kill. Incorruptible, totally devoted to Queen and Country, he was a man who did not play by the traditional rules [and the] audience wondered, 'was he a hero or was he an anti-hero?' Fact is, he was a mixture of both."
Whatever the reinvention, being incorruptible at a time when outright lying is a political tool seems to me to be an interesting choice of words. Devoted to country may seem obvious, DC's Bond almost uses those exact words in Skyfall, but putting country over party is a principle many Americans, and Brits, at this time would agree is a stand many need to take.
The comment about not playing by the rules and hero/anti-hero I think could more easily be applied to any Bond, I don't think it has particular resonance with the times we live in now.
While DC did say that NTTD had a little of of Trump/Brexit in it, the fact that the CIA and MI6 were not talking but going after the same man, after the last few years of world events I could imagine a storyline to introduce a new Bond could involve an enemy within - yes there was a little of that in Spectre with C but I think the domestic threat could be made to be far greater. Setting a lot of the film in the UK would keep the budget down and I think the heavy presence of the UK in Skyfall did appeal to international audiences. We always think of Bond films as Bond going to exotic places but for much of the world the UK is a far away country.
It's been suggested on this forum that Bond26 be called 'For King and Country'. That title I think would suit the new incorruptible, devoted Bond fighting to save British democracy very well.
What is surprising, to me anyway, is his apparent heavy involvement in writing NTTD. Clearly, as he has said before, he had the intention of killing Bond off but obviously a substantial involvement in writing a script is more than just one idea.
So, it would seem he's not going to be around for any Bond26 filming in 2025 as Mescal is also linked to a Sam Mendes Beatles biopic, playing Paul MCartney.
Mescal, depending on what trade press you read, is not contracted to do either yet, it's all in negotiation (maybe Gladiator II won't help him?) but the Bond role, for now, would seem to be fading away.
As suspected, the delay is nothing to do with the Broccolis lacking drive or being unable to move on from Craig or whatever, but due to the new management from Amazon wanting to exploit Bond in a way which the Broccolis can't see eye to eye with:
This story is based on interviews with more than 20 people familiar with the Broccoli-Amazon feud, including executives, business partners and friends.
To friends, Broccoli has characterized her thoughts on Amazon this way: “These people are f— idiots.”
Something weird seems to have happened with the formatting: not only can't I preview that last link (when I press enter after pasting it into a reply it tells me there's a server error: try it yourself) but all of the text seems to be in bold and I can't turn it off. Mods?
So does any respectable Bond fan who genuinely loves the franchise I guess.
The thing is, and that's what worries me, Amazon are powerful. There's no way they let EON work the way they want, which means such an issue could take many years to be solved. I'm afraid there won't be any movie until at least 2029...
I hope we don't have to wait that long. While I stand qith BB when it comes to keeping Bond on the big screen is right and just, I think there's room for a compromise. Of course the Bond movies will have to remain cinematic experiences that premiere in cinemas and stay on the big screens for a long time. We don't want aMarvel-style situation where there's a dozen spin-offs. But I wouldn't mind a mini-series or two ever year. Maybe a high-quality animated series showing Bond in the 1960s? Or a 007 LEGO-movie? Or a TV series about a 00-agent working undertoner in SPECTRE? The last one could star a female agent and/or a person of colour, I don mind. But while such a series would happen in the James Bond world, we never see him on screen.
There should never be more than two spin-offs every year, and if there are two they should be taylored for different audiences. No other actor than the one in the Bond movies would portray 007 on screen, only voice actors.
@Number24 to be honest, there are some choices I'm not disturbed by. The WSJ article says BB is not against having a non white Bond, which is something she already said a few years ago. I also don't give a damn to this parameter considering Britain's ethnic diversity nowadays.
The only two criteria I deeply, genuinely, desperately hope to be preserved are the character's gender - Bond has always been a man and there's no reason for him not to remain one - and the fact he's a womanizer, which doesn't mean at all his relationships with women can't evolve the way men are evolving (to quote Babs). But I wouldn't appreciate a character who seems not to be attracted to any seductive woman who crosses his path.
Also, I'm not interested at all in having Bond girls replaced by 'Bond boys' in order to satisfy the fantasy of some people who dream night and day about a gay relationship. After all, one can suppose there will be women anyway in the plot, so preventing the audience from enjoying a romance between a man and a woman because of a major change in the character's sexuality would be extraordinarily frustrating imho. There could be so many interesting gay characters to create in addition to Bond, no need to 'erase' one of his main traits.
The article is very interesting, and I do hope EON will win that battle, for the good of Cubby's legacy.
I completely agree that James Bond is a straight British man, but I didn't catch any of those topics in the article. However I think a female and/or non-straight 00-agent can star in a TV series set in the world of Bond.
It seems to me that BB can play the waiting game. Amazon desperatly wants James Bond "content" to make money from, but they can have any until BB agrees to it. In theory she can wait until Amazon caves in. But she can't wait for too long, because the character had to stay alive and fresh in the audience's minds. That's why I think she should find a compromise where the character James Bond remains exclusive to the movies, but a very limited number of spin-offs can be allowed.
From what I've read in the full article, there seem to be Amazon executives who consider the 'dangerous spy womanizer' model shouldn't continue in the future, that's why I was talking about Bond's main traits in my previous post.
I would like to be optimistic, but I'm afraid, in view of what this article reveals (I think the source is solid enough to consider the content quite relevant), there won't be any compromise. Amazon want full control. It seems obvious now.
I would rather never see another Bond film than see some bastardization by a room full of empty suits who are more concerned with pandering to an audience that doesn’t even exist than making quality media. Just look at how they’ve handled LOTR and that should tell you all you need to know about the geniuses over at Amazon. Rings of Power is unwatchable.
James Bond is dead. Perhaps he needs to stay that way.
When it comes to Bond’s future, the power lies in the hands of Barbara Broccoli...She has told friends she doesn’t trust algorithm-centric Amazon with a character she helped to mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct...
To friends, Broccoli has characterized her thoughts on Amazon this way: “These people are f— idiots.”
...Amazon needs Broccoli to furnish them with ideas for a new Bond movie, but Broccoli doesn’t want to make a new Bond movie with Amazon. The standoff, say people on both sides of the divide, boils down to a clash between the 20th-century Hollywood of big screens and big swings and a new entertainment industry ruled by Silicon Valley firms that prize data, algorithms and streaming subscriptions.
...Broccoli has complained that Amazon isn’t a good home for Bond, since the company’s core business is selling everything from toilet paper to vacuums—a perspective Amazon executives find unfair. But since she makes the creative calls that come first—script, casting, story—Broccoli can hold Bond hostage from Amazon for as long as she sees fit.
In doing so, she quotes a refrain attributed to her father, a film agent who’d sold hair driers before he secured the rights to adapt Ian Fleming’s novels.
“Don’t have temporary people make permanent decisions.”
Before agreeing to the deal, MGM made sure that Amazon was committed to releasing Bond on the big screen...Amazon has held firm to its commitment to release Bond in theaters, should a new movie come together.
Broccoli and Wilson had been looped in on the deal before it was announced. Broccoli had reservations, but didn’t want to complicate what many in Hollywood viewed as a massive payout for MGM’s owners—plus, she and her family would retain final say over all creative matters, including who plays Bond.
...Before the purchase closed, Amazon executives brainstormed among themselves how Bond could be plugged into their machine. Would Amazon produce a James Bond TV show for its Prime Video service? What about a Moneypenny spinoff? Or a TV spinoff centered on a female 007?
Broccoli’s response to such enthusiasm, one friend said, is often the same: Did you read the contract?
...Former Amazon executives have criticized the company’s approach to development, saying it is overly reliant on calculating risk—based on factors such as an actor’s past performance or what similar titles have done in the marketplace. The idea of casting an unknown in a lead role like Bond is hard to imagine at Amazon, they said.
...Wilson, her stepbrother, has complained to friends that he couldn’t land a meeting with anyone at Amazon above an “L6,” the internal designation for a senior role that is nonetheless six rungs below Chief Executive Andy Jassy, an L12.
...Broccoli and Wilson have begun showing the next generation the ropes. Wilson’s son, Gregg Wilson, helped to produce recent installments.
That passing of the torch has brought with it some disagreements over who the next James Bond should be. To associates, Gregg Wilson has appeared to be more sympathetic to calls for an update to Bond, a role that’s so far been filled by white male actors.
Some say a person of color in Bond’s tuxedo would better reflect the U.K.’s changing demography, and even nod to its ugly history of colonization. Take it a step further, others say, and cast a woman or a gay man.
Broccoli has told friends that she doesn’t have any qualms with casting a nonwhite or gay actor, but does believe Bond should always be played by a man, and should always be played by a Brit.
Villains have also presented a creative challenge, since Bond has already dispatched so many.
In a world where the 1% have more power than ever, some have suggested, a stateless billionaire autocrat might seem the obvious choice for a Bond bad guy.
Broccoli’s response to such suggestions: Been there, done that...
“Elon Musk?” she said to one friend. “I did that back in 1997.’”
The Bond reality show was in development before the MGM sale to Amazon, with Broccoli’s backing...And with no clear direction of the Bond movie strategy, the show has become a venue for discussion within Amazon about the character’s place in the broader world, and whether the valorization of a dangerously violent, womanizing secret agent is what’s best for society today.
During a company meeting about the second season, an Amazon employee admitted her own misgivings.
“I have to be honest,” she said. “I don’t think James Bond is a hero.”
It looks like I haven't read the full article. But while Amazon probably wants full control of all things James Bond, they don't. EON and BB has a lot of power from the contract. If Amazon can do what they want we'd have Bond movie and spin-offs already.
Another thing we can read from what I've seen that BB the theory that BB had lost interest in James Bond is wrong. If what we read is correct she cares so much that she is willing to fight Amazon on it and she is willing to wait years to get her vision. Othello and other projects is something to do while tje condlict with Amazon gets sorted.
Both things can be true. Perhaps she’s lost interest because of this stalemate. And she figures eventually Amazon will get tired of fighting her and just cash out, providing an opportunity to work with better partners. It’s perhaps fitting that EON has become a real-life analogue to Bond himself—a bastion of a bygone era stubbornly and self-destructively refusing to change. I say cheers to that!
Option 5 doesn't even need to be discussed. It won't happen.
Options 1, 2 and 4 seem totally irrelevant considering the current situation.
Option 3 was something BB probably had in mind back in 2021, but it seems there's never been any possibility of compromise. Amazon want everything. The WSJ article is excellent because one can understand how the two sides see things.
I'm afraid the problem can't be solved unless Amazon decide to let EON work the way they want. And we all know it's very unlikely.
I didn't rank the possible outcomes by likelihood, but I'd say 1 and 5 are very unlikely to happen. In my opinion 3 is the most likely. Both parties have leverage, and this makes a compromize most likely in my opinion. Amazon needs to get money back from their investment and BB wants to avoid the "Marvelization" of James Bond.
Comments
I think the interview with AP that was reprinted by The Independent and badly reported by The Guardian was the "talking about the future." They know any public appearance by them spurs Bond questions and so they dealt with the issue before the event.
As for Mescal, if you look at the "red carpet" photos for the event the other rumoured Bond candidates there were Nick Hoult and Andrew Garfield.
And there was also this guy, Harris Dickinson, who is in Steve McQueen's Blitz. But he was in The King's Man, and he's only 28 years old.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6170168/
@Someone I wasn't talking about the interview published last week. Ajay Chowdhury is the co-author of Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films. He's also a lawyer and his knowledge of the franchise is quite impressive.
I thought from the beginning his assumption was very unlikely, but there's a major difference between a genuine announcement (title, release date, director, actor...) and the fact they could be currently working on the development of the next film. Sometimes, there's some truth to false assumptions. Do you see what I mean?
I've met Ajay, I know who he is and I bought his tome of a book.
Your post said that Ajay had said some sort of information might be expected at the Governor's Awards. I was pointing out that BB and MGW gave an interview to Associated Press days before the Awards and IMHO that was their way of heading off the sort of speculation that comes with their public appearances, hence it was unlikely anything would be said at the event.
Now we know at the awards they said nothing but we got the cryptic comment from DC.
I was surprised at how emotional BB got during her speech. Even DC looked surprised at one point.
Interesting Express article, it supports the Christmas Sony Amazon/MGM Bond deal announcement that Sci-Fi Trek Youtuber claimed was in the works, along with a Stargate reboot.
Interesting Express article, it supports the Christmas Sony Amazon/MGM Bond deal announcement that Sci-Fi Trek Youtuber claimed was in the works, along with a Stargate reboot.
The announcement it's referring to was the speech at the Oscars they were giving yesterday, which they didn't say anything at.
True.
Watching the Governor Awards video with BB and MGW I thought MGW made some interesting comments about the Bond character.
MGW said: "62 years ago producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman created a unique new film genre featuring a secret agent with a license to Kill. Incorruptible, totally devoted to Queen and Country, he was a man who did not play by the traditional rules [and the] audience wondered, 'was he a hero or was he an anti-hero?' Fact is, he was a mixture of both."
Whatever the reinvention, being incorruptible at a time when outright lying is a political tool seems to me to be an interesting choice of words. Devoted to country may seem obvious, DC's Bond almost uses those exact words in Skyfall, but putting country over party is a principle many Americans, and Brits, at this time would agree is a stand many need to take.
The comment about not playing by the rules and hero/anti-hero I think could more easily be applied to any Bond, I don't think it has particular resonance with the times we live in now.
While DC did say that NTTD had a little of of Trump/Brexit in it, the fact that the CIA and MI6 were not talking but going after the same man, after the last few years of world events I could imagine a storyline to introduce a new Bond could involve an enemy within - yes there was a little of that in Spectre with C but I think the domestic threat could be made to be far greater. Setting a lot of the film in the UK would keep the budget down and I think the heavy presence of the UK in Skyfall did appeal to international audiences. We always think of Bond films as Bond going to exotic places but for much of the world the UK is a far away country.
It's been suggested on this forum that Bond26 be called 'For King and Country'. That title I think would suit the new incorruptible, devoted Bond fighting to save British democracy very well.
In this THR interview Daniel Craig provides some interesting stories about his time as Bond.
What is surprising, to me anyway, is his apparent heavy involvement in writing NTTD. Clearly, as he has said before, he had the intention of killing Bond off but obviously a substantial involvement in writing a script is more than just one idea.
Ready for a Bond story right now? Find the AJB Christmas Special here: https://www.ajb007.co.uk/discussion/56828/the-ajb007-christmas-special-2024#latest
Yule laugh! Yule bond! Yule melt! 😁
tIn this recent event with Chris Nolan, Ridley Scott spoke about his next project, The Dog Stars. It's a post-apocalytic movie.
Why am I mentioning this? I looked to see if it had an IMDB page and it does and Paul Mescal is in it.
It's not mischief by anyone either, Deadline reported that Mescal is to star, apparently.
So, it would seem he's not going to be around for any Bond26 filming in 2025 as Mescal is also linked to a Sam Mendes Beatles biopic, playing Paul MCartney.
Mescal, depending on what trade press you read, is not contracted to do either yet, it's all in negotiation (maybe Gladiator II won't help him?) but the Bond role, for now, would seem to be fading away.
As suspected, the delay is nothing to do with the Broccolis lacking drive or being unable to move on from Craig or whatever, but due to the new management from Amazon wanting to exploit Bond in a way which the Broccolis can't see eye to eye with:
This story is based on interviews with more than 20 people familiar with the Broccoli-Amazon feud, including executives, business partners and friends.
To friends, Broccoli has characterized her thoughts on Amazon this way: “These people are f— idiots.”
(thanks to MakeshiftPython over on mi6)
https://www.wsj.com/business/media/james-bond-movies-amazon-barbara-broccoli-0b04f0db
Something weird seems to have happened with the formatting: not only can't I preview that last link (when I press enter after pasting it into a reply it tells me there's a server error: try it yourself) but all of the text seems to be in bold and I can't turn it off. Mods?
The saddest thing is we can't do anything to make Amazon drop MGM...
Can someone post the contents of the article for those of us who don't subscribe?
another link:
It's reproduced here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1higxax/james_bond_outdueled_goldfinger_and_dr_no_can_he/
This is very interesting, but also worrying. Thanks to emtiem for posting. If the article is correct I hope BB wins.
So does any respectable Bond fan who genuinely loves the franchise I guess.
The thing is, and that's what worries me, Amazon are powerful. There's no way they let EON work the way they want, which means such an issue could take many years to be solved. I'm afraid there won't be any movie until at least 2029...
I hope we don't have to wait that long. While I stand qith BB when it comes to keeping Bond on the big screen is right and just, I think there's room for a compromise. Of course the Bond movies will have to remain cinematic experiences that premiere in cinemas and stay on the big screens for a long time. We don't want aMarvel-style situation where there's a dozen spin-offs. But I wouldn't mind a mini-series or two ever year. Maybe a high-quality animated series showing Bond in the 1960s? Or a 007 LEGO-movie? Or a TV series about a 00-agent working undertoner in SPECTRE? The last one could star a female agent and/or a person of colour, I don mind. But while such a series would happen in the James Bond world, we never see him on screen.
There should never be more than two spin-offs every year, and if there are two they should be taylored for different audiences. No other actor than the one in the Bond movies would portray 007 on screen, only voice actors.
I think such a compromise would work.
@Number24 to be honest, there are some choices I'm not disturbed by. The WSJ article says BB is not against having a non white Bond, which is something she already said a few years ago. I also don't give a damn to this parameter considering Britain's ethnic diversity nowadays.
The only two criteria I deeply, genuinely, desperately hope to be preserved are the character's gender - Bond has always been a man and there's no reason for him not to remain one - and the fact he's a womanizer, which doesn't mean at all his relationships with women can't evolve the way men are evolving (to quote Babs). But I wouldn't appreciate a character who seems not to be attracted to any seductive woman who crosses his path.
Also, I'm not interested at all in having Bond girls replaced by 'Bond boys' in order to satisfy the fantasy of some people who dream night and day about a gay relationship. After all, one can suppose there will be women anyway in the plot, so preventing the audience from enjoying a romance between a man and a woman because of a major change in the character's sexuality would be extraordinarily frustrating imho. There could be so many interesting gay characters to create in addition to Bond, no need to 'erase' one of his main traits.
The article is very interesting, and I do hope EON will win that battle, for the good of Cubby's legacy.
I completely agree that James Bond is a straight British man, but I didn't catch any of those topics in the article. However I think a female and/or non-straight 00-agent can star in a TV series set in the world of Bond.
It seems to me that BB can play the waiting game. Amazon desperatly wants James Bond "content" to make money from, but they can have any until BB agrees to it. In theory she can wait until Amazon caves in. But she can't wait for too long, because the character had to stay alive and fresh in the audience's minds. That's why I think she should find a compromise where the character James Bond remains exclusive to the movies, but a very limited number of spin-offs can be allowed.
From what I've read in the full article, there seem to be Amazon executives who consider the 'dangerous spy womanizer' model shouldn't continue in the future, that's why I was talking about Bond's main traits in my previous post.
I would like to be optimistic, but I'm afraid, in view of what this article reveals (I think the source is solid enough to consider the content quite relevant), there won't be any compromise. Amazon want full control. It seems obvious now.
I would rather never see another Bond film than see some bastardization by a room full of empty suits who are more concerned with pandering to an audience that doesn’t even exist than making quality media. Just look at how they’ve handled LOTR and that should tell you all you need to know about the geniuses over at Amazon. Rings of Power is unwatchable.
James Bond is dead. Perhaps he needs to stay that way.
The article can be read here: https://archive.ph/60GWW
Some choice excerpts below.
***
When it comes to Bond’s future, the power lies in the hands of Barbara Broccoli...She has told friends she doesn’t trust algorithm-centric Amazon with a character she helped to mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct...
To friends, Broccoli has characterized her thoughts on Amazon this way: “These people are f— idiots.”
...Amazon needs Broccoli to furnish them with ideas for a new Bond movie, but Broccoli doesn’t want to make a new Bond movie with Amazon. The standoff, say people on both sides of the divide, boils down to a clash between the 20th-century Hollywood of big screens and big swings and a new entertainment industry ruled by Silicon Valley firms that prize data, algorithms and streaming subscriptions.
...Broccoli has complained that Amazon isn’t a good home for Bond, since the company’s core business is selling everything from toilet paper to vacuums—a perspective Amazon executives find unfair. But since she makes the creative calls that come first—script, casting, story—Broccoli can hold Bond hostage from Amazon for as long as she sees fit.
In doing so, she quotes a refrain attributed to her father, a film agent who’d sold hair driers before he secured the rights to adapt Ian Fleming’s novels.
“Don’t have temporary people make permanent decisions.”
Before agreeing to the deal, MGM made sure that Amazon was committed to releasing Bond on the big screen...Amazon has held firm to its commitment to release Bond in theaters, should a new movie come together.
Broccoli and Wilson had been looped in on the deal before it was announced. Broccoli had reservations, but didn’t want to complicate what many in Hollywood viewed as a massive payout for MGM’s owners—plus, she and her family would retain final say over all creative matters, including who plays Bond.
...Before the purchase closed, Amazon executives brainstormed among themselves how Bond could be plugged into their machine. Would Amazon produce a James Bond TV show for its Prime Video service? What about a Moneypenny spinoff? Or a TV spinoff centered on a female 007?
Broccoli’s response to such enthusiasm, one friend said, is often the same: Did you read the contract?
...Former Amazon executives have criticized the company’s approach to development, saying it is overly reliant on calculating risk—based on factors such as an actor’s past performance or what similar titles have done in the marketplace. The idea of casting an unknown in a lead role like Bond is hard to imagine at Amazon, they said.
...Wilson, her stepbrother, has complained to friends that he couldn’t land a meeting with anyone at Amazon above an “L6,” the internal designation for a senior role that is nonetheless six rungs below Chief Executive Andy Jassy, an L12.
...Broccoli and Wilson have begun showing the next generation the ropes. Wilson’s son, Gregg Wilson, helped to produce recent installments.
That passing of the torch has brought with it some disagreements over who the next James Bond should be. To associates, Gregg Wilson has appeared to be more sympathetic to calls for an update to Bond, a role that’s so far been filled by white male actors.
Some say a person of color in Bond’s tuxedo would better reflect the U.K.’s changing demography, and even nod to its ugly history of colonization. Take it a step further, others say, and cast a woman or a gay man.
Broccoli has told friends that she doesn’t have any qualms with casting a nonwhite or gay actor, but does believe Bond should always be played by a man, and should always be played by a Brit.
Villains have also presented a creative challenge, since Bond has already dispatched so many.
In a world where the 1% have more power than ever, some have suggested, a stateless billionaire autocrat might seem the obvious choice for a Bond bad guy.
Broccoli’s response to such suggestions: Been there, done that...
“Elon Musk?” she said to one friend. “I did that back in 1997.’”
The Bond reality show was in development before the MGM sale to Amazon, with Broccoli’s backing...And with no clear direction of the Bond movie strategy, the show has become a venue for discussion within Amazon about the character’s place in the broader world, and whether the valorization of a dangerously violent, womanizing secret agent is what’s best for society today.
During a company meeting about the second season, an Amazon employee admitted her own misgivings.
“I have to be honest,” she said. “I don’t think James Bond is a hero.”
The room went silent.
@Miles Messervy I also prefer no more Bond film instead of new films involving a character I won't recognize anymore.
It looks like I haven't read the full article. But while Amazon probably wants full control of all things James Bond, they don't. EON and BB has a lot of power from the contract. If Amazon can do what they want we'd have Bond movie and spin-offs already.
Another thing we can read from what I've seen that BB the theory that BB had lost interest in James Bond is wrong. If what we read is correct she cares so much that she is willing to fight Amazon on it and she is willing to wait years to get her vision. Othello and other projects is something to do while tje condlict with Amazon gets sorted.
Both things can be true. Perhaps she’s lost interest because of this stalemate. And she figures eventually Amazon will get tired of fighting her and just cash out, providing an opportunity to work with better partners. It’s perhaps fitting that EON has become a real-life analogue to Bond himself—a bastion of a bygone era stubbornly and self-destructively refusing to change. I say cheers to that!
There are at least five posibilities:
1) BB gives in and Amazon gets to what they wish when it comes to Bond.
2) Amazon gives in, giving BB free reign.
3) There us some kind of compromize between EON and Amazon.
4) Amazon sells their shares in EON.
5) BB sells EON.
I think 3 is most likely, followed by 2. But what do I know? I have absolutely no inside knowledge.
Option 5 doesn't even need to be discussed. It won't happen.
Options 1, 2 and 4 seem totally irrelevant considering the current situation.
Option 3 was something BB probably had in mind back in 2021, but it seems there's never been any possibility of compromise. Amazon want everything. The WSJ article is excellent because one can understand how the two sides see things.
I'm afraid the problem can't be solved unless Amazon decide to let EON work the way they want. And we all know it's very unlikely.
I didn't rank the possible outcomes by likelihood, but I'd say 1 and 5 are very unlikely to happen. In my opinion 3 is the most likely. Both parties have leverage, and this makes a compromize most likely in my opinion. Amazon needs to get money back from their investment and BB wants to avoid the "Marvelization" of James Bond.