Dear Amazon,
Restore poster quality that deteriorated during the Craig era
Expand the limited merchandising and overhaul the 007 Store
Retain the British spirit and British creatives
If streaming is happening, give us content we want to see
Don’t be shy about continuation material
Sincerely,
Sharpshooter
Merchandising is going to be expanded like we’ve never seen.
… and will make 007.com look inhibited.
It’s very much wait and see, but I can’t help but feel sad about the end of an era. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning also seems like it’ll be the end of the line for Tom Cruise and his involvement there. I grew up watching these spy/action movies.
“It always makes me feel a bit melancholy. Grand old war ship being ignominiously haunted away to scrap. The inevitability of time, don’t you think?”
If they are going to do an expanded universe (yuck, hate that term), then I hope they get someone who knows the characters and the background. Get the James Bond version of Kevin Fiege (at least the early days version of the MCU) to head up Amazon’s Universal Exports department and we’ll be fine.
If they get a bean counter in to run things, then buckle in. It’ll be a bumpy ride.
The problem is: who should that person be?
Frankly, they should hire some people from here.
A Felix Leiter streaming series is assuredly on the way.
Unfortunately Sharp, I believe this is one area that will probably go, at least in the longer term. I fear that the “individulity/uniqueness” of EON’s stance will be lost as the product becomes more generically “Hollywood.” (something that happened with Star Wars as Disney took over and looked to expand). Along with wholesale CGI, a la Marvel, and an increase in “name” casting (it’s quite amazing to look back at CR and see a cast full of actors at the start of the careers, Dench excepted), I suspect EON’s embrace of the Britishness of the source, will be lost.
While there may be an individual director who wants to go back to Pinewood or whatever, I think EON’s way of doing business in terms of who it hired etc, will probably go.
And while results may have varied over the years, there was a notion that some sense of Fleming should be retained, I suspect that Bond 2.0 will only feel the need to nod at the foundations of cinematic Bond.
I would not be surprised but very annoyed if they re-imagine Bond as part of a new secret organization fighting crime all over the world.
On the British thing…the films have been owned by Americans from the start. BB only has a bit of an English accent because she grew up mostly in London while her dad was making Bond films.
Slept on this news overnight and feel even more pessimistic about it this morning! Obviously there are bigger problems in the world right now than Bond ownership, but it does feel very much in keeping with this shitty new era we seem to have entered, where the villains appear to be winning.
I do applaud the optimists here, though (genuinely).
I wonder whether they already knew when they got the Thalberg Award in November…
I’m aware of all the potential issues Amazon could create, spin-offs, milking the franchise for every cent, content-by-comittee, etc, and I am absolutely worried about the possibilities.
However, as the series was evidently dead in the water, this was the only outcome that could give Bond a future. I’m willing to wait and see what we get before planting my flag that Amazon will ruin the franchise.
If they do, as I always remind myself, there’s 60 years of Eon history and 25 Bond films to enjoy. That’s substantially more than fans of any other franchise have to go back to. We’re very lucky. I’m content with what we have, and there’s a chance this new agreement can produce a few entertaining hours every few years, which it looks like we weren’t going to get otherwise. If it all goes to hell, I’ll ignore it and enjoy the 25.
Eon have done very, very well for themselves out of this deal. They were willing partners in this agreement and this outcome. It’s why I don’t feel sorry for George Lucas seeing how his creation has turned out. I love, respect, and appreciate everything Eon, Barbara, and M. Wilson have done and the countless hours of joy they’ve created for me. However, like Lucas, they willingly made a deal with a conglomerate.
Remembering the WSJ article, guaranteed cinematic releases were built into the agreement, and I imagine that would remain. I have never been worried whether Bond 26+ would have a presence in the cinema (though the cinema experience is so poor nowadays that I’m not sure if this will matter to me much longer). Amazon have spent a staggering amount, so yes, they’ll be looking to start generating returns. However, I’m positive their intent will be to produce something good and worthy of what came before.
I am worried that they’re in a dammed if they do and dammed if they don’t situation. If they release a TND (my favourite Brosnan), are they going to be criticised of playing it too safe or releasing a generic action film that’s not creative enough and is just ticking boxes?
If they release a SP and try new things; styles, shaking up the lore, are they going to be criticised for changing too much?
They are in a bad position and I fear the franchise will inevitability head to a Star Wars-esqu doom spiral of nagativity where anything we don’t like or agree with will be Amazons fault and we’ll be begging for Eon. I mean, look at George Lucas. The prequels were great and universally adored, right? That’s the impression I get from Star Wars fandom now. If only Disney would take risks (TLJ). Or maybe it is best to do something familiar (TFA)…
Fully agreed. It is a terribly difficult situation for whomever will actually take over the reins.
I just hope they will not take the „Citadel“-route, setting up many 00‘s to replicate series in all parts of the world, in order to combine those with the actual 007 movies.
Agreed with both SAF and West in that there is definitely an element of being on a hiding to nothing for Amazon. And I have been more forgiving of the delays and gaps over the last decade only because I do have empathy for the creators in terms of “what do you do next?”
I don’t have an issue with EON getting out - it was clear that they felt they could not renovate (and at the same time top previous iterations) the product and so took the money.
Do Amazon have a plan for the central character? Well, I would offer that if they did have something compelling then it would have come up in conversations with EON over the last few years. I don’t think Bezos and co were sitting on a slam-dunk future for Bond until they could take over.
As the Disney experience has shown, taking an established franchise and renovating it is an astonishingly difficult task (for a number of reasons including fan reaction), with one effort a comfort-food remake, a swing at a new - strike that - different direction, and then, well, whatever you want to call the last one.
I’d offer the spin-offs will be the easiest thing for Amazon. As for the main event, well if there was an obvious path forward, without the sense of “rinse-and-repeat” then EON would have already taken it.
First, I have loved all the comments, and wanted to give them hearts, but the system says I have been loving too much.
Does the system not know that there is a crisis?!?! Or does it just not care?
Now to other business:
Love it.
It did occur to me yesterday that the British quality of the Broccoli 25–even when faint–was always there. It will probably be a casualty of the switchover.
They have the Bond version of Kevin Fiege, her name is Barbra Broccoli, and they are paying her $1 billion in severance to get rid of her. Christopher Nolan may be one of the few film artists who grew up with/on James Bond akin to the way Fiege and others grew up on Marvel comics.
Another great formulation. The Broccoli 25 gave us Cinematic Bond. We are entering the era of the Bond Streaming Universe (BSU).
Similar to the case of The Washington Post, and the desire to publish a newspaper good and worthy of its history?
This is what showrunners specialize in. Barbara Broccoli was an old-fashioned film producer, and the person who will follow her will be someone with a showrunner mentality. The resulting Bond product is going to be much different, full of tie-ins, crossovers, and all manner of connections.
A spectre is haunting Bond–the spectre of synergy.
So they finally achieved the only thing Cubby said NOT to do: they f…ed it up big time
The funny thing is for all the talk about how Amazon is going to start pumping out the Bond content now - the seeds for that tree will really have been planted by EON.
Amazon NEEDS to go that route to recoup the $1 billion they had to pay them. As much as I don’t want “The Moneypenny Diaries” Season 7 to happen, I also have a hard time blaming them for doing it.
I just fear that every movie from here on out is going to feel like “Never Say Never Again.” It looks and sounds the same but feels unofficial.
There is no blame. At the end of the day, Amazon will have spent $9 billion for a vast trove of intellectual property, and will proceed to mine it to recoup their investment and make a profit.
Bond product will now be mass produced by the Amazon Cinematic Sausage Maker. The difference from EON in product will be similar to the difference in the meat I buy at our local supermarket, and the meat my husband gets when he takes the bus to shop at Paisanos (at holiday time, the line is out of the door–literally).