What does the Amazon MGM Studios deal mean for the James Bond series?
Amazon acquired creative control of the film series on Thursday.
With news that Amazon has gained creative control of the James Bond film franchise, PA has looked at what impact the deal will have on both the company’s studios and the 007 series.
Amazon acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer MGM in 2022 for 8.45 billion dollars (£6.48 billion) and rebranded its studios to Amazon MGM Studios a year later.
In the deal, Amazon gained the rights to distribute James Bond films, but now after taking creative control, it will control the 007 intellectual property rights as part of a joint venture with Eon Productions’ Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
– What franchises do Amazon MGM Studios currently own?
When it acquired MGM in 2022, Amazon did not only acquire the distribution rights for Bond – many other major film franchises are now under the company’s control.
Amazon gained control of series including boxing film franchise Rocky, sci-fi series Stargate, Robocop, Pink Panther and Legally Blonde.
In 2017, Amazon acquired the global television rights to Lord Of The Rings, and in 2022 released the first series of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which had a second season in 2024, and plans for a third season have been confirmed.
– How much could the 007 creative control deal be worth to Amazon?
The three most recent instalments of the James Bond franchise all appear in the top 10 UK box office highest-grossing films of modern times.
Skyfall, released in 2012, is third in the chart with inflation-adjusted takings of £134.2 million (as of 2023), behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens in second place and Titanic at the top.
Spectre, released in 2015, is sixth in the top 10 with £114.2 million, while No Time to Die, released in 2021, is seventh on £107.8 million.
The figures, compiled by the British Film Institute, cover the period since 1975, when comparable data began.
– How does Amazon MGM Studios work?
Amazon MGM Studios produces TV shows and films for the company’s Prime Video streaming platform and for release in cinemas.
It also produces content for Freevee, the company’s free content streaming service.
– What does the deal mean for 007?
The latest deal between Eon Productions, run by Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, and Amazon, will give the US company control of the intellectual property rights to the film franchise.
This means the company has creative control over new projects featuring the spy, amid claims in US newspaper The Wall Street Journal that Amazon MGM Studios wants to expand Bond into TV and other ventures.
The Broccoli family of late Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli will “remain co-owners of the franchise”.
Wilson, who will also remain a co-owner, will leave film work behind to “focus on art and charitable projects”.
– What 007 spin-offs have there been so far?
While there has never been a dramatised James Bond TV series, Amazon’s Prime Video released 007: Road To A Million in 2023, a game show fronted by Succession actor Brian Cox, which will return for a second series.
In 1954, CBS aired a TV adaptation of the 007 story Casino Royale, just a year after the Ian Fleming book’s release in 1953, and in 1991 Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and MGM Television launched James Bond Jr, an animated children’s TV series based on the character.
James Bond Jr followed the story of the spy’s nephew and spawned 65 episodes from September 1991 to December that year.
An array of documentaries have also been made on the film series, including Everything Or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007, and Becoming Bond, which follows the story of George Lazenby who played Bond for just one film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).
There have also been tens of Bond video games, the last in 2012, 007 Legends, which was released on PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360.
Some of the most well-known video game adaptations of the series include GoldenEye 007 (1997), 007: Nightfire (2002) and From Russia With Love (2005), which allowed players to play as Sean Connery’s version of the spy.
Author Charlie Higson has released a series of Young Bond books, starting with 2005’s SilverFin, which explore the character’s childhood. The series was continued by Steve Cole in 2014, with Shoot To Kill picking up from Higson’s last novel By Royal Command (2008).
