It's been over three years since the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, was released. While rumors about Daniel Craig's successor have come and gone in waves, we instead received the news that Bond now has a new "boss." According to multiple media reports, Amazon MGM Studios has spent an extra US$1 billion to acquire creative control of the Bond film series, meaning that long-time producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will be stepping back.
Shortly after this deal was disclosed, the 97th Academy Awards featured a six-minute musical tribute to 007. When the former Bond Girl Halle Berry introduced Broccoli and Wilson—the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award recipients of the year—she declared, "[T]hey don't just produce Bond movies. They were the heart and soul of this franchise for decades." After the festive tribute, a very real question emerged: where'll the Bond series go now that its "soul figures" have been replaced?
Before diving into the main discussion, I should note that I'm not a professional business reporter; this piece isn't meant to dissect the financial details of Amazon's acquisition or analyze future revenue distributions. Instead, I'd like to share some clues I've gathered from extensive media coverage and explore what Amazon's takeover might mean for Bond's present and future—from the perspective of an audience and fan. What prompted me to write this article was not only the astronomical transaction figures but also a sense of shifting times. Ultimately, whether it's Bond, Amazon, or Hollywood, these are all fundamentally stories about people.
Hollywood Legacy vs. Silicon Valley Tech Giant
Last December, an in-depth Wall Street Journal report described the relationship between Amazon and the Broccoli family—who'd managed the Bond series for decades—as "all but collapsed." Broccoli confided to friends that the Amazon team were "f—ing idiots." As Albert "Cubby" Broccoli's daughter, she inherited control of Bond from her father. For 30 years, she shaped the Bond character with cinematic storytelling and intuition, and she doesn't trust algorithm-driven Amazon to handle such an iconic figure. She can't tolerate the idea of Amazon referring to Bond as merely "content," let alone suggesting that he isn't a hero.
The Hollywood Reporter described Broccoli and Wilson as individuals who understand James Bond “on a molecular level.” They have no interest in bringing 007 to television or creating a Bond universe akin to the Marvel Cinematic Universe—a sentiment they made clear after Amazon acquired Bond's longtime home, MGM, for US$8.5 billion in 2022. Wilson remarked, "We just try to focus on making good pictures," while his half-sister Broccoli stated, "It's not something we've ever wanted to do." They prefer the old-school studio approach, blending intuition with calculated risks. For instance, Craig was relatively unknown before taking on the role, yet they chose him anyway. For Amazon, casting an unknown actor as Bond would be unthinkable.
However, as we now know, the Broccoli family ultimately sold Bond's creative control to Amazon. Reportedly, when its founder Jeff Bezos read Broccoli's comments in The Wall Street Journal, he replied, "I don't care what it costs, get rid of her." While Broccoli and Wilson likely saw US$1 billion as a good price, another crucial factor was that Wilson, now over 80, had decided to retire. Expecting Broccoli, who is over 60, to independently manage the lengthy production cycles and complex studio collaborations of Bond films would have been an enormous challenge. One might speculate that even with Amazon's irresistible offer, a younger Wilson and Broccoli might not have made the same decision. Timing is crucial—even for top film producers like them.

Can Amazon Handle the James Bond Universe?
Amazon's massive acquisition isn't just about preserving Broccoli's decades-old, old-school approach to Bond. Even though there's still no director, no star, no story, and no script for a new Bond installment, Amazon clearly intends to develop a Bond universe complete with spin-offs and TV series. While there's no concrete information on this universe yet, we can draw bold parallels by looking at Amazon's development of The Lord of the Rings series.
In 2017, Amazon acquired the global TV rights to The Lord of the Rings for nearly US$250 million and promised to invest at least US$1 billion over five seasons. Despite feedback about the first two seasons of The Rings of Power that many didn't think they were worth that investment, Amazon still called them a huge success. The series reached 25 million global viewers in its first 24 hours on Prime Video—setting a record for the service's biggest premiere. By December 2022, it'd surpassed 100 million global viewers, making it Prime Video's most-watched
series ever.
Interestingly, the external world and Amazon held opposing views on The Rings of Power. While Hollywood, critics, and audiences hoped the series would become a landmark franchise, Amazon cared more about the unprecedented data—and new subscribers—that the project delivered. That data isn't about quality; it's about future revenue. This is how Silicon Valley tech companies make money. Perhaps many of us—myself included, and even people like Broccoli—doubt Amazon's ability to create classic Bond films or successfully develop the Bond universe. But the key issue is that Amazon doesn't care what we think—they care more about boosting metrics and growing subscriber numbers. From their perspective, having content is more important than ensuring their quality. Now, Amazon owns one of the world's most profitable franchises, and for them, that's enough.
Who Can Reboot the James Bond Franchise?
Even though Amazon may not care about the reviews their upcoming Bond series might receive, as a viewer, I can't help but imagine some possibilities for reviving this long-resting spy story to its former glory.
First, and according to Broccoli, the most critical decision is who'll play Bond. Current rumored frontrunners include, but are not limited to, Idris Elba, James Norton, Regé-Jean Page, Theo James, Callum Turner, Harris Dickinson, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. There were even media reports that Taylor-Johnson had officially been cast (though this wasn't true). These actors are all British males, and most of them are white. Since both Amazon and audiences might not be ready for a non-white male actor to play Bond, the role will likely still go to a white, heterosexual British male around 40. No matter how convincing the casting announcement, a single actor can only do so much—casting alone won't guarantee success; in fact, it could even doom the series.

Next, if Amazon is determined to build a Bond universe, who'll lead it? They might dream of finding someone like Kevin Feige, but it seems they lack an equivalent candidate internally. It was Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, who ruffled the Broccoli family feathers by referring to Bond as "content." Frankly, I find it hard to imagine that someone who sees Bond merely as content—rather than as a symbol of Britain's finest hour over 60 years—could be trusted with this iconic franchise. Current reports suggest that Amazon will first seek a producer like David Heyman (the producer of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series), and they'll still prioritize making 007 films.
Without an Amazon equivalent of Feige, the next bet might be finding a reliable director. Some reports suggest that Christopher Nolan expressed interest in directing a Bond film after Tenet's release, but that collaboration fell through due to final cut rights issues—when Wilson and Broccoli held creative control, no director had the final cut. At this stage, having a director like Nolan, who can balance genre requirements with his personal style, might be an option for Amazon.

Honestly, I think another possibility for Amazon to break new ground is to develop the series' female characters. Yes, I believe audiences can only accept Bond as a white male (just as many Americans have only elected male presidents), but that shouldn't prevent the creation of spin-off films or series centered on female characters within the Bond universe. Imagine young M's origin story or Moneypenny's solo ops—it'd be a smart hedge, given how female-led films dominated 2024's box office. But will Amazon be up for the dare?
In the future, we might come to see the iconic spy—once revered for his Cold War coolness—reduced to just another recommendation in the Prime Video catalog. And if the Amazon algorithm discovers that a "nostalgia filter" can boost video completion rates by 30%, it might project an AI hologram of Craig to appease longtime fans, like laying an electronic carnation at the feet of a fallen icon. Now, all we can do is accept this and remember that times have changed.
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