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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
In 2022, Amazon paid a cool $8.5 billion to buy MGM, giving them the right to release future films in the James Bond franchise. However, there has been no real news about the superspy’s next appearance, and we now know that this is because long-time rights holders and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have clashed with Amazon over Bond’s future. Broccoli reportedly believes that Amazon executives are “ff***ing idiots” over their plans to make a bunch of Marvel-style James Bond spin-offs, and not only is she right, but it can arguing that the delay it caused was going to save this franchise from its own excesses.
Broccoli Turns Rotting towards Amazon
According to the Wall Street Journal, Broccoli is the main cause of this James Bond delay, refusing to develop new films in the franchise with Amazon for she hates their whole manner. Not only is she angry that the company wants to turn this beloved cinematic franchise into a hodgepodge of TV and film spinoffs, but she’s angry that they’re referring to future Bond adventures as “content.” And while not every film released under Broccoli is a winner (Spectrefor example, a hot mess), her attachment is clearly preventing Amazon from ruining one of the world’s biggest franchises.
Broccoli has reportedly described Amazon as holding the James Bond franchise “hostage,” and the delay appears to be her way of saving the super-spy from her kidnappers. Some fans may take the cynical view that this is just a power play behind the scenes, a way for her to maintain relevance and control in this brave new Bond world. However, we see it the other way around: Broccoli has learned from the failures of both Amazed and Amazon and doesn’t want her own beloved character to suffer the excesses of corporate greed.
Delayed James Bond MCU Type Disaster Prevention
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been interconnected from the very beginning, of course, with Nick Fury break down the post-credits sequence of Iron Man. However, you could argue that the beginning of the end of this franchise (or, at least, the beginning of the exhaustion of the superheroes that transformed The Wonder into a big budget flop) began with the attempt to limit as much spinoff content to Disney+ as possible. The release of the James Bond movies is considered a major movie event, and this delay will prevent that from being dwarfed by a bunch of wacky TV shows.
Speaking of which, it’s almost impossible to discuss the future of James Bond on Amazon without discussing how that company has fared Lord of the Rings. Only 37 percent of Rings of Power viewers watched the entire first season, and on Rotten tomatoesthe Popcorn meter shows that audiences gave the show a dismal 49 percent rating. The second season was a little better than the first, but the fact that more people were streaming The Boys is an indicator that this derivative failed to impress general audiences even as it drove away Tolkien purists for making arbitrary changes to the legend.
It’s impossible to know everything about what James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli thinks about Amazon, but what we do know shows that her delay is preventing her legendary character from facing the same problems which confronted Marvel and Lord of the Rings. It’s clear that thinking of awesome franchises as “content” and churning out a bunch of spin-offs that nobody asked for is the fastest way to dilute the brand and drive away viewers. And getting it right when a new Bond actor is cast could plunge the franchise into failure not known since. License to Kill The Bond film was the lowest grossing in America.
Ironically enough, it wasn’t that long ago that the biggest battle for this franchise was which talented actor (or maybe even actress) would replace Daniel Craig in the lead role. Now we know that something much worse could happen to James Bond than bad casting… without this delay, it might already have been turned into soulless content designed to do nothing but sell action figures a streaming members. Fortunately, Broccoli stepped in, and may be our last defense against continuing a bunch of Bond spin-offs even worse than a fourth season The Boysand for that, we are eternally grateful.
Source: Wall Street Journal
