Unsurprisingly, since the dramatic news broke, there has been a wave of coverage of the EON-Amazon deal in the UK’s media. Not only has there been extensive coverage on all the major British TV news channels, but the stunning development also made front-page news in a number of UK newspapers. The Express asked: ‘Shaken and Stirred?’, while the Times carried a large photo of ex-Bond Daniel Craig running along a London road in a scene from Skyfall.

A number of British newspapers also carried some quite detailed analysis of the implications of the ‘hand over’ to Amazon. In the Guardian, Bob Davies and Andrew Pulver’s article was headed ‘The spy who left me’, and they noted: ‘The agreement could open the door to production starting on a long-awaited new film’, but also ‘to an avalanche of spin-off shows for the Amazon Prime streaming service’ (something that will naturally alarm long-standing Bond aficionados).

In the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, Tim Robey offered a long and detailed discussion of the proposed deal, arguing that ‘Amazon’s Bond takeover is an assault on Britishness’, and claimed the ‘joint venture’ sounds suspiciously like a total changing of the guard. He concluded, rather pessimistically, that Amazon MGM Studios will ‘milk the brand into the ground in the least British way possible’. Meanwhile, in the Times newspaper, in an equally detailed analysis of the news, Dominic Maxwell also warned that we should expect ‘more spin-offs than Star Wars‘. On the other hand, while Maxwell noted the Broccoli family connection goes back to the very start of the films, he asked ‘is it a given that nobody else can steer the ship? What’s to come is worrying, but it’s also cheering that someone will finally be motivated to give us fans more of what we love, even if the motive is profit. It beats nothing happening at all’.

The Living Highlights

Much of this coverage was lapped up by 007 fans, many of whom have been starved of solid Bond news for many months. However, not only were many 007 fans left stunned by the news, there has been some intense debates on social media, with some fans adopting a pessimistic stance, others feeling more positive, and many still feeling lost for words, uncertain about what the future holds.

But it has not just been dedicated Bond fans who have been trying to absorb and understand all the background to this major news. The film industry, and Hollywood itself, has also been taken by surprise. On 23rd February, one of the more interesting discussions of the news appeared in the UK’s Mail online, penned by journalist Caroline Graham from Los Angeles. Writing from LA, she revealed that Hollywood itself was left shaken and stirred when Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson announced last week that they were ceding creative control of 007 to streaming giant Amazon. A ‘source’ who has worked on Bond for decades apparently told Graham: ‘Everyone is devastated. No one thought Bond, the quintessential British hero, would end up in the hands of [Amazon boss] Jeff Bezos. Bezos is like a real-life Bond villain, and now the future of one of the most iconic characters in British cinema history is at his mercy’.

Yet creative control remained firmly in the hands of Broccoli and Wilson, the daughter and stepson of legendary producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, who – together with Harry Saltzman – acquired the film rights from Bond creator Ian Fleming in 1961.

Graham also claimed that one source who spoke to Broccoli said: ‘Barbara and Amazon never saw eye to eye. To her, Bond is her family’s legacy, something that must be nurtured and protected. She once told set designers to remove a door handle to a villain’s lair because it didn’t look ‘evil’ enough. That’s the level of her attention to detail. She controls everything from the script to what bikini a Bond girl wears. Amazon wanted spin-off TV shows showing things like Miss Moneypenny’s early years. In the end Barbara decided it was easier to take the money rather than carry on fighting’.

An Amazon insider, meanwhile, apparently sniffed: ‘It wasn’t a matter of if we would get full control of Bond, it was more ‘how much will it cost?’ Everyone has their price’.

While the precise details of the deal are unknown, Graham said that she understands Ms Broccoli and Mr Wilson signed a profit-sharing deal for all future Bond movies and spin-off shows, and will acquire Amazon shares along with a substantial one-off payment.

London-based Eon Productions has, as all JBIFC readers will know, have produced 25 Bond films, starting with 1962’s Dr No. It has turned seven actors into superstars, including the late Sean Connery (who many still consider the original and best Bond), George Lazenby, the late Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and, for the last five movies, Daniel Craig. Ms Broccoli, 64, and her stepbrother Mr Wilson, 83, took over from their father in 1995. In fact, as Graham acknowledged, James Bond has been ‘a quintessentially British production’ for decades.

Privately, Wilson, who has had cameo roles in every 007 film since 1977, began talking about retiring to focus on his philanthropic work shortly after the Amazon/MGM deal. A ‘source’ (anonymous, of course) said: ‘That left Barbara very much alone to fight for the future of Bond’. While there has been speculation about who will take over as 007 ever since Craig was killed off in a hail of missile fire at the end of No Time To Die, reports that actors such as Tom Hardy and Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been anointed had been, in Graham’s view, wide of the mark.

One friend of Ms Broccoli told Graham: ‘Barbara had meetings in her offices at Pinewood Studios and she met Aaron and others. But there was never a story, a script or director so any meetings were very much her seeing what talent is out there. It was clear to many of us who worked on previous Bond films that things were in crisis, nothing was moving forward. It went to death spiral mode once Amazon bought MGM and control of the Bond library’.

The Wall Street Journal recently claimed that Broccoli had slammed Amazon executives as ‘f****** idiots’ for describing Bond as ‘content’, a modern term referring to digital information and entertainment, which she felt demeaned the historical legacy of the character. She railed against Amazon’s plans to create a ‘Bond universe’ similar to the Marvel universe with its dozens of superhero movies and spin-offs. Broccoli cited the sale of Lucasfilm, the company started by director George Lucas, to the Walt Disney Company for $4 billion in 2012 as an example of what could go wrong when a beloved brand is taken over by Hollywood executives focused on the bottom line rather than the long-term future of the franchise.

‘Disney took Star Wars and diluted it with endless TV series and characters that bore no resemblance to the original stories and characters fans loved’, a former Disney executive said. ‘Look what happened to Dr. Who. Hollywood took control of that and you’ve had increasingly woke storylines which alienated fans’.

Yet, according to Graham’s information, Amazon executives reportedly grew tired of Broccoli’s pushbacks and her habit of quoting her father, who had said: ‘Don’t have temporary people making permanent decisions’. Indeed, ‘Cubby’ Broccoli was famously keen to hold the line against any outsiders he did not trust or those he feared might not properly get what really makes Bond ‘tick’.

The situation was at an impasse until earlier this month when Amazon made the family ‘an offer they couldn’t refuse’. The friend said: ‘In Barbara and Michael’s minds, they created a legacy to stand alongside the films their father made which will be considered the golden era of Bond. But it’s futile to push back against change. Hollywood has gone from a town dominated by powerful producers to a place where streamers like Amazon and Netflix rule. Amazon will monetise the hell out of Bond. They have millions of customers they can sell Bond-related content and products to’.

A Quantum of Solace?

On the other hand, despite all the naysayers, Graham asked, ‘is Bond doomed to failure under Amazon? Not necessarily’. Last week’s deal, she pointed out, was spearheaded by Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios who, for many years, was Graham’s next-door neighbour in LA. According to Graham, Hopkins is ‘Whip-smart and extremely hard-working’, and ‘built his career acquiring and launching channels for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox empire, becoming one of the post powerful men in Hollywood, proving that nice guys can finish first. If anyone can steer Bond safely in to the future, he can’. Graham continued: ‘Mike has successfully helmed Sony Pictures and Hulu, and has developed shows including The Handmaiden’s Tale. In the five years since he joined Amazon, he has turned franchises such as the Jack Ryan and Jack Reacher series into bona fide hits. Why should Bond be any different?’

Graham added: ‘And while many are quick to criticise [Jeff] Bezos, the second-richest man on the planet – after Elon Musk – is a massive film fan and adores007’. Someone who spoke to Bezos recently said he was ‘determined to gain full control’ over Bond because he believes that Amazon can ‘take the character forward in new and exciting ways’. When Graham mentioned this to someone who had worked on the last Bond film, they shot back that Bezos also took JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and created a fantasy spin-off – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – which has been criticised for failing to live up to the quality of the books and earlier films.

As many Bond fans will be very aware, Bezos also oversaw a Bond spin-off called 007: Road To A Million in 2023, which had contestants competing in Bond-style stunts. The show’s presenter, Succession‘s Brian Cox, told reporters he thought he had been hired as a villain in a Bond movie before realising it was a reality show (ironically, as a number of fans pointed out at the time, Cox really would have made a suitable candidate for a Bond villain role had a film been in production).

As Graham noted, ‘Barbara signed off on Road To A Million before MGM was sold to Amazon, and to say she was disappointed is an understatement’, an insider said. ‘That’s why she pushed back so hard against Amazon taking Bond and developing spin-off shows instead of focusing on the movies’.

Ms Broccoli has always been insistent that Bond should be played by a British man, saying it is in the ‘DNA of the character’. She was also open to Bond being played by a non-white actor, but she insisted the films should always open in cinemas first. When Covid-19 closed cinemas as No Time To Die was about to open, she refused to let it premiere on a streaming service, instead waiting 18 months for the pandemic to subside. The film ended up grossing nearly $800 million globally.

Worryingly, in Graham’s estimation, if Amazon does move away from theatrical releases, it could signal disaster for British cinema. Skyfall and No Time To Die are ranked two and three on the list of the most successful films ever released in the UK. Several UK cinema chains – already struggling – could go under without a successful big-screen Bond. So who can make that happen now?

Licence to Thrill?

Talking to people in Hollywood, Graham said the name she had heard over and over was Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan. For starters, he is a Brit, born in London and is beloved by fans and critics alike for blockbusters such as Inception and The Dark Knight (part of the Batman universe). Oppenheimer, of course, won seven Oscars last year, including Best Picture and Best Director, for Nolan. The only snag with him, though, is that Bond fans would have to wait. Nolan is currently developing an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey which will start shooting this year for release in July 2026. An Amazon source said: ‘That means he wouldn’t be free to start working on a new Bond until next year’.

Other potential names include Greta Gerwig, who wrote and directed Barbie, and even Daniel Craig, who said on Friday: ‘My respect, admiration and love for Barbara and Michael remain constant and undiminished. I wish Michael a long, relaxing and well-deserved retirement, and whatever ventures Barbara goes on to do I know they will be spectacular and I hope I can be part of them’. Graham claimed that her ‘Bond sources’ would ‘love Craig to drive the character forward, but this time from behind the camera’. One said: ‘Daniel played Bond five times, he knows the character inside and out. He was immersed in the creative process from the script to planning stunts. He’d be great’.

Bond and Beyond

For her part, Ms Broccoli is developing a remake of the children’s film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, written, like Bond was, by Ian Fleming: ‘My life has been dedicated to maintaining and building upon the extraordinary legacy that was handed to Michael and me by our father… I feel it is time to focus on my other projects,’ she said. As Graham observed, whatever ‘Bond 26’  brings, the drama around the casting of a new 007, the secrets of the plot – and the new villain of course – will keep millions of fans intrigued. Jeff Bezos, a figure some have compared to cat-stroking Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, has taken to social media asking: ‘Who’d you pick as the next Bond?’ Graham added: ‘Amid the rampant speculation, one thing seems fairly certain: the next baddie is unlikely to be a bald-headed billionaire bent on world domination. For that would surely hit too close to home…’.

In what has been one of the most unsettling weeks in James Bond history, all of the above coverage has left the JBIFC as stunned as many James Bond fans more generally. No doubt, there will be much more news to come in the next few weeks, and we shall try our best to keep you as up-to-date as possible about what is in the pipeline, and try and identify what is reliable and what is false.

In the meantime, the JBIFC would like to wish Barbara Broccoli well in her new projects and Michael G. Wilson all the best in his well-deserved retirement. Needless to say, EON’s production of 25 fantastic James Bond movies since 1962 is a major achievement in cinema history, a big-screen legacy which will keep 007 fans entertained for many more years to come. Whatever happens next, rest assured, the JBIFC will continue to offer news and views on all that occurs. After all, as we have said before, Bond really is forever.

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