Amazon takes over Bond franchise

[Morrus]

Some interesting updates. I was listening to the The Rest Is Entertainment podcast and some insight was provided.

• EONS is still a co-owner of the IP. As such they still have some influence, although not actual creative control.
• Nobody knows the terms of the deal, other than the $1B paid.
• Broccoli was 'lost' after No Time To Die and didn't know what to do next with Bond. And she was tired of fighting with Amazon.
• Bond's death came from Craig. After Dench's 'M' death, he wanted a scene like that for himself.
• Craig was Broccoli's 'muse' and her platonic ideal of Bond. They had a very close working relationship and he was able to push that through against her best instincts.
• She considered the Amazon execs to be 'f***ing idiots'. However, there are some Amazon execs who see the IP the same way she does.
• The MGM acquisition was basically to get Bond. In all they paid about $9B ($8B to get MGM which got them the distribution rights, and then another $1B to Broccoli and Wilson to get creative control--although they still don't own the IP outright). This is twice what Disney paid for Lucasfilm. They will want to see a return on that money sooner rather than later, having been forced to wait 4 years already, so expect news about the next film to come relatively soon.

 

[Morrus]

Some more info!

THE DARK KNIGHT Director Christopher Nolan Wanted To Direct JAMES BOND Movie After TENET - But Was Turned Down

In what has to be one of the biggest Hollywood fumbles in recent memory, it's been revealed that James Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli declined Christopher Nolan's offer to helm a 007 movie...

comicbookmovie.com

Nolan wanted to do it! Maybe now he can? But will Amazon want to wait that long, given that he's now making The Odyssey? This would delay the start of production by another couple of years, meaning we wouldn't see a film until 2029-ish. I think they will want to be moving fast on the next movie.

 

[payn]

Some more info!

THE DARK KNIGHT Director Christopher Nolan Wanted To Direct JAMES BOND Movie After TENET - But Was Turned Down

In what has to be one of the biggest Hollywood fumbles in recent memory, it's been revealed that James Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli declined Christopher Nolan's offer to helm a 007 movie...

comicbookmovie.com

Nolan wanted to do it! Maybe now he can? But will Amazon want to wait that long, given that he's now making The Odyssey? This would delay the start of production by another couple of years, meaning we wouldn't see a film until 2029-ish. I think they will want to be moving fast on the next movie.

Maybe get Nolan to do the next one.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

She considered the Amazon execs to be 'f***ing idiots'.

I was tempted to say "don't we all!" but honestly, I feel like Amazon Prime has a significantly higher per-original-show "hit rate" for me on its shows than Netflix does, and when it hits, it tends to hit harder. The Boyz, Fallout, Reacher, Deadloch, Invincible, Vox Machina, etc.

Admittedly that's way less true with movies, and Apple TV+ would probably do better but approximately 3 people watch Apple TV+ (so I am informed).

I think they will want to be moving fast on the next movie.

I think that's probably right.

I don't think it's a great loss, and ultimately might even be a gain to Nolan. All his best movies and the best aspects of his "only ok" movies* have been when he "got a bit weird with it" which I feel like he wouldn't have with Bond. I think we'd have seen a very stylish but extremely boring and down-the-line Bond with pretty standard 2020s action. Whereas his Odyssey movie(s?) will probably be pretty interesting as might future ones.

* = (admittedly he has made no outright bad ones except, imho, The Dark Knight Rises, a risible and weirdly incoherent movie despite a fantastic start)

 

[Morrus]

I was tempted to say "don't we all!" but honestly, I feel like Amazon Prime has a significantly higher per-original-show "hit rate" for me on its shows than Netflix does, and when it hits, it tends to hit harder. The Boyz, Fallout, Reacher, Deadloch, Invincible, Vox Machina, etc.

I definitely feel it has a wide variety and is willing to take risks. I may have concerns about monetisation diluting the IP, but I'm not worried that it will be watered down or blandified.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I was tempted to say "don't we all!" but honestly, I feel like Amazon Prime has a significantly higher per-original-show "hit rate" for me on its shows than Netflix does, and when it hits, it tends to hit harder. The Boyz, Fallout, Reacher, Deadloch, Invincible, Vox Machina, etc.

They definitely have a good handle on bro-ish TV (and I say that without criticism, as someone who's stayed up way too late watching the most recent season of Reacher), but I don't know that they've had anything that compares to Stranger Things, Squid Games or half a dozen other Netflix hits.

Netflix has been having big mainstream successes so long, they're actually falling out of memory, like Orange is the New Black, the Haunting of Hill House, The Crown, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, House of Cards (now memory-holed due to the Kevin Spacey of it all), I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Russian Doll and Bojack Horseman.

Of the stuff you listed, probably only The Boys and maybe Reacher has really broken out into mainstream awareness in the way Netflix's biggest shows have. The others are, probably unsurprisingly, nerd stuff greenlit by nerds and enthusiastically watched by nerds.

Apple TV+ would probably do better but approximately 3 people watch Apple TV+ (so I am informed).

Anecdotally, it seems like a lot of people are subscribing to watch Severence, now that Apple TV+ is available on Roku and Chrome. If it were on Netflix, though, it'd definitely be a much bigger deal than it already is.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't know that they've had anything that compares to Stranger Things, Squid Games or half a dozen other Netflix hits.

I'm talking per-show though. For every one of those Netflix succeeds with, it screws up (in a wide variety of different ways) a huge number of other shows, and as a bonus it turbo-cancels most "good" shows. Prime makes surprisingly few originals (still most of them are losers, but its a much better ratio).

I.e. if the question is whether Netflix or Amazon has dumber execs, it looks to me like the evidence suggests Netflix has dumber ones but a significantly greater financial ability to throw crap at the wall (partly by quickly cancelling good shows to recycle the money).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm talking per-show though. For every one of those Netflix succeeds with, it screws up (in a wide variety of different ways) a huge number of other shows, and as a bonus it turbo-cancels most "good" shows. Prime makes surprisingly few originals (still most of them are losers, but its a much better ratio).

I.e. if the question is whether Netflix or Amazon has dumber execs, it looks to me like the evidence suggests Netflix has dumber ones but a significantly greater financial ability to throw crap at the wall (partly by quickly cancelling good shows to recycle the money).

Netflix has bought the rights to a zillion international shows, obviously hoping for more Squid Games and mostly not getting them, although they did successfully use Narcos to get a lot of people to turn on closed captioning and watch foreign language content. (I know a huge number of women now into Korean soaps.)

I'm not sure how many truly good shows they're cancelling, though.

This site lists only one show I've heard of that was cancelled in 2024 (other than Neil Gaiman's show), and that only because of Jeff Goldblum -- and which I never heard of anyone watching. Canceling a likely expensive show that few people watched seems pretty reasonable to me.

The 2023 cancellation list is also pretty reasonable.

Even if someone loves one of those shows, the fact is that it's probably just them and their cat watching a lot of these.

 

[payn]

I'm talking per-show though. For every one of those Netflix succeeds with, it screws up (in a wide variety of different ways) a huge number of other shows, and as a bonus it turbo-cancels most "good" shows. Prime makes surprisingly few originals (still most of them are losers, but its a much better ratio).

I.e. if the question is whether Netflix or Amazon has dumber execs, it looks to me like the evidence suggests Netflix has dumber ones but a significantly greater financial ability to throw crap at the wall (partly by quickly cancelling good shows to recycle the money).

Its funny you mention screwing up shows, the pile of Amazon shows you mention I feel like would be much better on a different network. Fallout is the exception Amazon isnt producing it...yet.

 

[GreyLord]

Some more info!

THE DARK KNIGHT Director Christopher Nolan Wanted To Direct JAMES BOND Movie After TENET - But Was Turned Down

In what has to be one of the biggest Hollywood fumbles in recent memory, it's been revealed that James Bond franchise producer Barbara Broccoli declined Christopher Nolan's offer to helm a 007 movie...

comicbookmovie.com

Nolan wanted to do it! Maybe now he can? But will Amazon want to wait that long, given that he's now making The Odyssey? This would delay the start of production by another couple of years, meaning we wouldn't see a film until 2029-ish. I think they will want to be moving fast on the next movie.

Easy answer. Fork the road.

Multiple shows/movies series going on or being worked on simultaneously.