It's official: Amazon has purchased MGM for the hefty sum of $8.45 billion, granting the company access to over 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV series, including classic MGM films like The Wizard of Oz and 12 Angry Men. The deal also gives Amazon the streaming rights to such lucrative franchises as Rocky, Stargate and, most notably of all, the James Bond movies. In the short term, however, that might not mean much, as far as 007's future on the big screen is concerned.
Whereas, say, Disney's acquisition of Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm gave the Mouse House the rights to exploit their biggest titles any way the company saw fit, Amazon's deal only grants it control of MGM's stake in the long-running James Bond property. As it stands, MGM has the rights to finance and distribute the Bond films, and then split the profits with Eon Productions. Eon itself maintains creative control and is overseen by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the, respectively, daughter and stepson of original Bond producer Albert Broccoli.
Barbara Broccoli and Wilson have confirmed their intention is to continue releasing Bond movies in theaters following the Amazon deal, stating "We are committed to continuing to make James Bond films for the worldwide theatrical audience." This means the next Bond film, No Time to Die, will receive a global theatrical release as planned, rather than going directly to streaming on Amazon Prime. Moreover, Broccoli and Wilson will still have final say in who plays Bond after Daniel Craig wraps up his run with No Time to Die, along with any Bond-related spinoffs that are developed in the future.
On that note: it's reasonable to think Amazon would be interested in making a 007 streaming series for Amazon Prime Video. Disney, for example, has already reaped the benefits from green-lighting spinoff shows based on Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe for its Disney+ platform, with The Mandalorian, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier having dramatically bolstered the streamer's viewership. Even so, that's unlikely to happen with Bond; BBC News has cited older reports that Eon previously resisted efforts to make a 007 TV spinoff amidst the rise of streaming in the 2010s.
Eon demonstrated its commitment to keeping the Bond films on the big screen throughout 2020, postponing No Time to Die's theatrical release date multiple times in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While other studios began either selling their movies to streaming services or sending them directly to video on-demand as a way of earning some revenue, Eon barely wavered in its resolve to release the twenty-fifth Bond film in theaters, like the two-dozen entries before it. Even reported offers from Apple TV+ and Netflix for the streaming rights for No Time to Die weren't enough to convince Eon to cut its losses and sell.
For the time being, Amazon isn't expected to try and pressure Eon into backing down, as far as the Bond franchise is concerned. Instead, it's speculated the company intends for MGM's biggest movie releases, including No Time to Die, to compliment its offerings on Amazon Prime by releasing in theaters only, rather than a simultaneous day-and-date rollout. Amazon will still gain the extensive Bond film library, along with the streaming rights to any future installments. But beyond that, the world of Bond (recasting the character after Craig aside) should more or less remain the same, possibly even in the long term.
Directed and co-written by Cary Fukunaga, No Time to Die stars Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Jeffrey Wright, Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen and Rami Malek. The film arrives in theaters Oct 8.
How Amazon's Purchase of MGM Affects James Bond | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources
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