A New Era Of James Bond Has Begun

Is this a light at the end of the tunnel, or is that the light of the train coming towards me?

After an emotional 24 hours, this is my overriding emotion to the news that Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have relived their creative control of James Bond and sold it to Amazon-MGM Studios.

The reason for my emotional response is not only because these movies mean so much to me (I was actually doing some writing and listening to 007 ambient music because it helps me focus and chills me out – check out Ambient Database’s work here), but because I genuinely thought this would never happen because of what Cubby Broccoli told his kids, “Don’t let temporary people make permanent decisions.”

We saw the Wall Street Journal report the near of last year highlighting Barbara’s fight for her family business against Amazon, describing the studio leadership as “fucking idiots” and getting pissed off by the execs talking about Bond as “content” and someone not thinking James Bond was a hero.

However, with Wilson always planning to retire after No Time To Die, Broccoli couldn’t fight off the streamer alone and broke. It’s not all bad because the producing duo have gotten a billion dollars.

A source close to Broccoli told Deadline that receiving a call from Barbara was similar to “a death in the family.” I couldn’t imagine the pain she went through agreeing to this new arrangement and selling the family jewels.

Some of the blame for this moment can be led onto the Broccoli’s feet.

If they confirmed Michael’s retirement the night of the World Premiere of No Time To Die or a year after, his son Gregg could’ve stepped up and continued learning from one of the great producers in Hollywood, and it would’ve continued as a family business.

Alternatively, headhunted a producer to replace Wilson, who would’ve taken complete control, becoming the ringmaster once Barbara retired.

I can’t blame Wilson for stepping away, having been involved in the series for 60 years. Also, if Barbara’s heart really isn’t in it now, she might as well focus on her passion project of bringing the stage production of Othello onto the big screen, reuniting with Daniel Craig and help him get his Oscar.

On the other hand, I don’t blame Amazon for losing complete patience with Eon Productions sitting on their hands, having spent $8.5 billion on getting MGM and were accepting to do so because they’d have 007 as their golden goose to recoup the fee. However, we’re close to three years since the merger and no golden eggs have been laid.

Looking forward, the reason why I believe this was done now is because in April, Amazon-MGM Studios are heading to Las Vegas to attend CinemaCon for the first time on Wednesday 2nd.

This is an important convention hosted by the National Association of Theatre Owners. This is where movie studios get these owners excited about showing their films with Amazon MGM Studios are there for the first time joining the lineup with a 1hr 45min presentation.

Bringing new news on 007 would be the perfect way for the streamer to end their first-ever presentation in Caesars Palace and make them the talk of the con.

As for what’s next, the studio will be finding someone to be the new ringleader before turning their attention to the creative side and the actor to bring James Bond to the new era.

My biggest worry are the execs strip-mining the character of everything and removing what made the character special.

We’ll get pointless TV spinoffs focusing on Moneypenny, the Adventures of Q, a young Bond prequel, Spectre, Felix Leiter and other nonsenses.

Forgive the TV side, they should only try to return the series to its previous release schedule of having a new film every 18-24 months.

One thing I hope was negotiated and as a symbol of respect from Amazon to the Broccoli’s is they’ll keep Albert R. Broccoli’s name on the opening credits.