The Broccoli Family Protected James Bond For Generations – Amazon Won't Be As Kind

When last we checked in on the state of the James Bond franchise, the situation was dire. According to a grim December 2024 report from The Wall Street Journal, Bond rights holder Amazon MGM Studios was at loggerheads with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who controlled the creative destiny of the character. While Amazon, which acquired the property when it bought MGM in 2022, was keen to build out a James Bond extended universe, with films and television shows focusing on longtime supporting characters like M's secretary Miss Moneypenny, Broccoli and Wilson saw no reason to deviate from a 62-year-old formula that had only required minor tweaks in the face of major social and political upheaval. Nevertheless, Amazon kept pressing the reluctant producers with algorithm-generated notions about growing the brand creatively, leading Broccoli to reportedly exclaim "These people are f****** idiots."

Alas, the "f****** idiots" are now in charge.

The film industry is reeling today in response to the announcement that Amazon Studios has assumed complete creative control over the James Bond franchise. According to Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins, his company will be "ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world." In separate statements, Wilson and Broccoli revealed that, while they still have an ownership stake in the property, they will be retiring from the films.

This brings an end to the EON Productions era of James Bond movies, which began with the Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman-produced "Dr. No" in 1962. Barbara Broccoli inherited the franchise from her father in 1995, and has always been fiercely protective of the family business (often to the chagrin of fans who felt the adherence to formula held the films back). Now that Amazon MGM Studios is calling 007's tune, however, the focus will be on franchise growth — which suggests everything we've loved about the property since the John F. Kennedy administration is about to go bye-bye.

In this dreary age of blockbuster filmmaking where every movie franchise is treated as a corporate asset, the family-owned Bond franchise was a throwback to a time of cigar-chomping producers who took personal pride in making movies people actually liked. With 25 Bond movies to their name (few of which performed below expectations at the box office), the Broccolis had an established house style that fans could count on regardless of who played the character or which director was brought on to further the saga. The gun barrel opening, the massive pre-credits action set piece, the new theme song composed expressly for the film, the mission assignment from M, a drop-in on Q at R&D (where Bond often gets his new car), the introduction of the Bond girl(s), the villain's entrance — the property had obligatory scenes you could set your Rolex/Seiko/Omega to.

It's fashionable and frequently necessary in the film industry to shrug and say "Nothing lasts forever" while stripping an aging franchise down to the studs and starting anew, but here's the thing: the Bond movie series turns 63 this year, and, judging from the $774 million worldwide gross of the last installment, "No Time to Die," in 2021, there's nothing to suggest the character has lost an ounce of his appeal. Though audiences will surely miss Daniel Craig, history tells us that fans are quick to embrace the next guy, provided they nail the casting.

So, now that Broccoli and Wilson will have no say over who succeeds Craig or how the franchise will proceed narratively, what's going to happen when James Bond finally returns? In short, you can expect more James Bond whether you like it or not.

"Growth" is the magic word in today's business world, and this pursuit of more for shareholders' sake is currently diminishing, if not outright killing, several long-cherished franchises. Just look at what's happened to "Star Wars" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Disney insisted these properties spin off their films into myriad television series, thus ensuring the theaters and/or streamers will never be bereft of new branded content. "Skeleton Crew" just earned the lowest ratings in "Star Wars" history on Disney+, while the MCU has been experiencing creative and, save for a couple of exceptions, commercial paralysis since 2019's "Avengers: Endgame."

In Disney's meager defense, at least these franchises are stuffed to bursting with characters who could conceivably support a standalone movie or series. James Bond, on the other hand, exists in a small world of international espionage where the supporting characters are beloved because they're so sparingly used. I'm thrilled EON allowed for Moneypenny, as portrayed by Naomie Harris, to get out of the office and strut her lethal stuff in the field, but I've never felt famished for more Moneypenny adventures. The same can be said of M, Q, Felix Leiter, and any of Bond's other associates. For a long time, Bond was special because we only got a new 007 flick every few years. If Amazon MGM Studios wanted to return to that schedule, I would both welcome and understand this.

But it's not going to stop there. We know from that Wall Street Journal story that it's hellbent on creating some kind of James Bond Extended Universe, at which point, as this lifelong 51-year-old fan of the franchise can assure you, they are going to find out just how little people care about everyone in these stories who isn't James Bond. EON Productions and MGM figured this out when they pulled the plug on Halle Berry's Jinx spinoff after the tepidly received "Die Another Day," and instead opted for the hard-for-007 reboot of "Casino Royale." 

When Amazon MGM Studios finally gets around to premiering its first James Bond movie, it'll have already developed (and likely announced) spinoffs that will be algorithmically designed to appeal, in theory, to every demographic. There will be high fives all around the corporate offices as Amazon's owner, the real-life Bond villain Jeff Bezos (a Trump-toadying billionaire who gets off on union busting), beams in from his Blue Origin spacecraft. Meanwhile, we'll wearily trudge to theaters (provided it gets a theatrical release) and watch dutifully snapped-together content with no self-contained narrative — the kind that exists solely to keep us watching and watching and watching until we're doing it out of glum habit instead of enjoyment.

That's how blockbuster entertainment works in 2025. James Bond used to be an outlier in this regard, but as of today, James Bond as we knew him is dead. He will not return.