When it was first announced Amazon were acquiring MGM in a multi-billion dollar deal, James Bond was the first name on everyone’s lips. That was a completely understandable response when the franchise is comfortably the studio’s biggest cash cow, and the Daniel Craig era imminently drawing to close with No Time to Die means the next iteration of 007 comes armed with a clean slate and new ownership.
It’s an interesting situation to say the least, and you could have set your watch to rumors coming out of the woodwork that the streaming service was planning an entire cinematic universe packed to bursting point with spinoffs and TV shows. The only problem is, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have no interest in letting any of that happen.
The Eon Productions duo still retain a huge influence over the creative direction of the series from casting right through to marketing and distribution, so it’s comforting to hear Broccoli reiterating via Deadline that as far as she’s aware, Amazon have no plans on debuting new Bond movies anywhere else besides the theater.
“We focused on making the films for theatrical release and I think that’s our position. Amazon certainly have told us that the films will be theatrical films in the future. And we’ll see what happens.”
Signing off with “we’ll see what happens” could be a cause for concern, especially when the Eon duo already admitted that the long-running spy series is at a critical juncture. The next James Bond blockbuster will be placed under much more intense scrutiny than usual, and it’ll be fascinating to see how it all unfolds.
