Bond’s Future Is in New Hands

As if Amazon didn’t own enough already, its film and TV subsidiary is now taking creative control of James Bond.

The Spy Command reports that Amazon MGM Studios is establishing a joint venture with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions. Barbara Broccoli is the 64-year-old daughter of Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, who was responsible for producing many of the Bond flicks; she has worked on the Agent 007 features since the early 1980s. Wilson, 83, is Cubby’s stepson (the child of his third wife, Dana Natol). The pair will step back from their active role as stewards of the popular franchise, but are to be co-owners with Amazon of the new enterprise. Deadline puts a $1 billion price tag on this deal.

Amazon purchased the famous Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 2021 for $8.45 billion, but through that transaction acquired only 50 percent of the Bond franchise “and was relegated to being a passive partner when it came to artistic choices,” explains Deadline. There is speculation now that Amazon MGM will expand the Bond universe for maximum commercial value, perhaps creating large- and small-screen spin-offs, as well as direct-to-video releases centered around the British super-spy Ian Fleming introduced 72 years ago. Barbara Broccoli had previously resisted such diversification.

READ MORE: “Jeff Bezos Is Already Soliciting Ideas for the Next James Bond,” by Germain Lussier (Gizmodo); “No Time to Delay: Why Amazon Took Control of James Bond as Next 007 Movie Remains in Limbo,” by Brent Lang and Rebecca Rubin (Variety); “Opinion: Amazon to Deliver a New James Bond,” by Scott Simon (National Public Radio); “Unlikely (?) Bond Streaming Spin-off Series,” by Bill Koenig (The Spy Command).