What could the Amazon agreement mean for the future of 007?

The final credits of No Time to Die of 2021, the most recent film in the 007 series, ended with a family message: “James Bond will return.”

But in recent years, fans have not been so safe.

A year after the launch of Daniel Craig’s latest film in the franchise, Amazon bought the MGM series parent company. Since then, it has happened very little.

That finally changed on Thursday, When Amazon announced a new agreement That would see the long -term bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson Back, and Jeff Bezos’s company take a complete creative control.

In the intermediate years, it has been widely informed that there was tension between Amazon, who understandably wanted a return of his investment, and Wilson and Broccoli, whose highest priority continued to protect the bond mark.

The news of the agreement has encountered mixed fans of 007.

“I’m in two minds,” says David Zaritsky, creator of The Bond Experience Fan Channel on YouTube and Instagram.

“The nostalgic part of my mind feels a little sadness. Broccoli and Wilson have been custodians during all these years, so it feels like a little real blood in the lineage has been cut.

That said, nobody likes inactivity. And there has been a lot of inactivity around the James Bond franchise for many years, and I know that Amazon as a company will not be patient for inactivity.

“So I have high hopes, and I dare to say even a little excited, that they will do something with the franchise that will be interesting anyway.”

Other franchises that have expanded drastically perhaps offer some clues about what we can expect from the next Amazon era of Bond.

Lancelot Narayan, historian, journalist and filmmaker by James Bond, He told BBC Radio 5 Live A good comparison is George Lucas selling Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, giving control of the Star Wars brand company.

“They left and did that sequel trilogy, and if you like it or not, it became quite fast,” he says. “There was no three -year wait among movies.”

However, despite the explosion of productivity, there is a feeling that both Marvel and Star Wars have been displayed too much with their Spin-off products.

Narayan says she believes that Star Wars has become “creatively redundant” since the explosion of productivity.

“The Star Wars television series has been very successful and lady: Andor is fantastic, the mandalorian is fine, I have not seen Skeleton Crew … but there are very different creative voices there,” he says. “So this is the concern, you need the right creative people to execute the program.”

Similarly, Marvel’s cinematographic universe was based on films by launching a series of Disney+TV programs.

The subsequent decrease in Marvel’s popularity could be due a lot to fans’ fatigue, something that will not have been helped by the large number of stories threads that had to be kept up to date.

Both cases, Marvel and Star Wars, highlight the risks of brand expansion, which can cause long -term damage to a short -term financial gain.

Fans will wait for any bond extensions to be better than the dubious games program 007 007: Road to Million, organized by Brian Cox of Succession, which was badly received.

The James Bond franchise, and particularly the theme of which the actor will take charge of Craig, is of such fascination to the public that is the focus of a new show that currently plays in Cirencester, called a role to die.

“There are many people who have grown up with him, for whom James Bond has been part of his culture all his life,” says the so -called Derek Bond, who directs the program.

“As time passed, being able to reinvent that character and make it perhaps change with the times, it has been the secret of his longevity.

“But I wonder if we are now in a situation in which times have changed so much, that James Bond now feels that it belongs to a different era, and needs something really radical to keep it relevant today.”

An area that the company will surely see that they are in creative control is the potential for the stories of origin of the characters, in a line similar to other characters of famous and beloved movies who have received their own Spin-off movies.

Cruella, an extension of the 101 Dalmatian villain, and Wonka, from Charlie and the chocolate factory, have been spin-offs of great success in the last five years, with Emma Stone and Timothée Chalamet, respectively, bringing the characters and Worlds for a completely new audience.

It is not difficult to imagine the popularity of a similar film or show based on famous Bond villains such as Jaws, Oddjob, Blofeld, Goldfinger or May Day, all great brands in their own right.

“I mean, why has no one earned money?” He laughs at Derek Bond. “There is a great series to do about her and her trip.

“Also M, I would love to know how the M Jew Bond passed in a corridor. “

But Zaritsky points out: “I think Amazon will stop doing it in Nauseum, to the point that they have spin-offs about the janter of Mi6 that sleeps in the corner. If they have spin-offs, I think it will be main characters.”

Not everyone is fans of the idea. “This is possibly the worst that happens to this franchise,” Tweeted Griffin Schiller de Film Speak After Amazon’s announcement.

“James Bond was more than your average franchise. I had class, prestige, they were independent films made as box office successes … now?

Broccoli has been seen as an administrator of the brand throughout his mandate; A pair of safe hands that protected the traditions of the original character.

That has not necessarily been compatible with Amazon, who presumably sought to buy a brand instead of only a film franchise, in an effort to maximize profits.

“It tends to be a slightly older generation to which it skews, and there is a complete generation of people who have not experienced a James Bond movie, and now I wonder if they will do it,” says Bond.

However, in his own mandate, Broccoli has made efforts to continue attracting the young audience in other ways, such as selecting popular young artists like Billie Eilish to sing the thematic songs.

A brand repositioning could see Amazon try to take the franchise in a direction that attracts more to a younger audience, as well as an American market, which is culturally a little fresher in the bond brand than in the United Kingdom .

“I think it is very bad news for the British franchise and the British movie as a whole,” Hannah Strong’s film journalist Said Radio 4 PM After Amazon’s announcement.

“It is the main property of the British film, and I believe that the control that returns to an American company, about one that has not demonstrated so much commitment to the excellent cinema, is probably a fairly worrying sign.”

That said, Amazon will know that Bond earns a lot of money as it is currently, and that altering the central product in itself that attracts more to an American audience would be a great risk.

Fuerte added: “When Amazon bought MGM, Barbara Broccoli was quite frank about the fact that it was difficult for him to reach a middle ground with Amazon. I suspect that the middle ground involves a lot of money.”

The most important decision remains who will replace Craig in the main role.

The broccoli said previously that James Bond could be any race, but that he would remain male. It is possible that this guarantee is no longer stopped that she has delivered the reins, although her approach was widely considered sensible and it is unlikely that Amazon Rockea too much the boat.

How long could it be until we see the first new product of Bond? Zaritsky suggests that Amazon will not wait, although the first thing that will be released may not be a movie.

“It could be with merchandise, or in the form of the dissemination of fans,” he says. “Whatever it is, I think we could see something extremely fast.”