The biggest news in Hollywood in recent months is the fact that Amazon MGM has taken over creative control of the James Bond franchise. It’s the biggest change behind the scenes since the Bond movies started being produced. It’s unclear exactly what the change will ultimately mean for the Bond franchise, however, the latest update about this deal isn’t the most reassuring.
Prior to the change in creative control, it had been reported that Amazon MGM and Eon Productions, the company run by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who previously had control over Bond, had been butting heads on the best direction to take the franchise. Broccoli reportedly didn’t like Amazon’s plans to broaden the Bond IP into a cinematic universe.
If there was any good news for fans, it was that the change in control seemed to mean the next Bond movie would come sooner rather than later since Amazon can now do whatever it wants. However, speaking with CNBC, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says that right now Bond is starting from zero as there is no plan for the future yet. He explained…
And we haven’t, we don’t have a plan yet on what the next theme is going to be. We haven’t, nobody’s written the story yet. But we will take great care. It’s an amazing franchise that we care a lot about and that we expect to develop over a long period of time.
While I wouldn’t expect there to be a script written for a Bond movie already, considering the lack of agreement between the two sides previously, it wouldn’t have been a shock if MGM already had a strong plan that the studio was now beginning to implement. However, it doesn’t sound like that’s the case either. Instead, the process of figuring out where to go with Bond is only now getting started.
Whatever the future holds for James Bond, I imagine that Amazon MGM will be putting their plans on the fast track. We’ve already had a longer-than-usual break between Bond movies, and the longer things go, the greater the possibility that the audience will have moved on. One might expect the studio to implement whatever time-saving tools are available, but while AI may be a major focus for Amazon as a company, Jassy doesn’t expect it to be used to create a James Bond movie, at least not yet. He said…
Well, I mean, first of all, I don’t believe that AI is going to write a Bond movie any time soon. So I think that we are, we’re incredibly honored to have the ability to help shepherd the Bond franchise for the next generation.
If the process of the next Bond movie is only now getting underway, then we’re probably at least two years from a new film. That means fans will still be debating who the next Bond will be for a while, as they need to figure out just what sort of James Bond they want to have before they can actually pick an actor to play the part.