Shaken and stirred: Amazon gains control of James Bond franchise

Los Angeles: The British family that has steered the James Bond franchise for more than 60 years, zealously protecting the super-spy from the indignities of Hollywood strip mining, has agreed to relinquish control to Amazon.

The deal, which was announced overnight, comes after a behind-the-scenes standoff between 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 $US8.5 billion ($13.3 billion) purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Broccoli and her brother, Michael G. 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.

Daniel Craig as James Bond, with Gemma Arterton as Agent Fields in Quantum of Solace.

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 this year. Broccoli and 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 spinoffs 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 ad, poster and billboard.

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”.

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.” 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 father, Albert R. 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 $1.2 billion worldwide in 2021, marked the end of a four-film series with 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 $9.3 billion at US box offices, 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, television reruns, marketing partnerships (Omega watches, Aston Martin cars, Gillette razors) and video games.

Barbara Broccoli and Wilson have also fought to keep Bond almost exclusively as a movie property, believing that television spinoffs 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 Broccoli running the Bond franchise. She has said that she thought James Bond was a real person until she was 6 or 7. 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 Sean Connery’s suite, which was the best-appointed.

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

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

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

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.