Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in “No Time To Die.”
Source: MGM
Amazon is set to take creative control over the lucrative James Bond movie franchise from the Broccoli family, the company announced Thursday.
The James Bond films have long been produced by Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who inherited the control from their father Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. Wilson and Broccoli will now give creative control to MGM Studios, which Amazon acquired for $8.45 billion in 2021.
Amazon gained distribution rights to the Bond franchise after the MGM acquisition, but not creative control.
As part of the deal, Amazon’s MGM Studios, Wilson and Broccoli formed a new joint venture to house the Bond intellectual property rights, and they will remain co-owners of the franchise.
“We are grateful to the late Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman for bringing James Bond to movie theatres around the world, and to Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for their unyielding dedication and their role in continuing the legacy of the franchise that is cherished by legions of fans worldwide,” said Mike Hopkins, Amazon’s head of Prime Video and MGM Studios, in a statement. “We are honored to continue this treasured heritage, and look forward to ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world.”
Wilson and Broccoli said in a release that they are both stepping back from producing the Bond films to focus on other projects.
“Barbara and I agree, it is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future,” Wilson said.
In a nod to the deal, Amazon founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos wrote in a post on X, “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?”
The Bond film franchise, which spans more than 60 years, is one of the highest-grossing series in history.
The valuable IP stands to be a boon for Amazon’s sprawling media and entertainment business, which includes the Prime Video streaming service. Prime Video is one of the key perks of Amazon Prime, the company’s mainstay subscription service that costs $139 a year. As of 2021, the company said it had more than 200 million Prime subscribers worldwide.