It’s how producers talk. They talk as if this is the most important thing that’s ever happened.
Well, the Bond films do create so many jobs for an as yet unlimited number of years that a misfire would have catastrophic consequences for a lot of people.
And no, EON, would be fine. They don’t need to make more films. They want to.
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Matthew Belloni from Puck on the state of MGM and Bond post-merger.
Amazon closed the MGM deal in March, after having 10 months to plan for it during the approval process. And, shortly thereafter, Hopkins announced that Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, who had run the studio since early 2020, would exit. Yet now here we are, nearing October: De Luca and Abdy have long since started at Warner Bros, and the MGM film job is still open. MGM staff hasn’t even been fully assimilated into the Amazon Borg yet, though that’s finally happening this month, I’m told. In the interim, several lower-level people have started to leave, with many wondering about the actual strategy for MGM.
Some of the delay is just Amazon digesting the MGM financials, which are said to be more concerning than they realized, pre-close. Plus there’s Amazon’s infamous “leveling” process, where new employees are evaluated and assigned a number from 4 to 12 to determine salary and reporting structure (there’s no 9, for some reason known only to Jeff Bezos). That takes time, especially since Amazon is still primarily filled with tech people, and all these MGM employees are definitely not tech people. The 4s are lower-level employees, like administrative assistants, for instance, and Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke is a 10. Everyone at Amazon is an at-will employee—no contracts, no sparkly golden parachutes—another contrast from MGM.
But a big reason for the delay in finding a film studio leader is the sheer difficulty of the hire. Amazon wants 10-12 movies a year from MGM, most of them headed for theaters before Prime, so it needs a seasoned executive who can actually put together greenlight-able theatrical projects, has good taste as well as filmmaker relationships—and, most importantly, can work within Amazon’s insular, data-driven, no-frills culture. They want experience, but, oh yeah, the person has to be willing to report to Salke, who has very little film experience of her own. She has mostly taken over the search process, while her deputy, movies head Julie Rapaport, helps run MGM day-to-day. The Salke reporting structure has eliminated a host of the usual-suspect candidates.
So, who will it be? Not Emma Watts, late of Paramount, who went through the process and either dropped out or was told she should drop out. And Scott Stuber is staying at Netflix (for now). A couple others have engaged, the latest being Courtenay Valenti, who is leaving Warner Bros. as president of production and development. It would be funny, if not a little depressing (and very Hollywood), if Warners and MGM just swapped executives—and even funnier since De Luca formerly ran Warners’ New Line division in his pre-MGM days. Is there really no star exec out there in their 30s on whom Salke could take a chance? Of all the studios, Amazon seems like it could do this because its other businesses give its content group such a cushion. But that would require actual risk-taking, once a hallmark of the film business. These days in Hollywood, we usually just see an executive version of musical chairs.
Whoever gets the MGM job, restarting the James Bond franchise will be the top priority. The weirdness of the current situation was on full display at the Will Rogers Pioneer Dinner last week when Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were honored at the charity event. I was out of town, but a couple Amazon/MGM attendees I talked to noted the awkwardness. MGM, which shares Bond with the Broccolis (though the family retains full creative control), sponsored the event with its releasing division and Amazon Studios. Yet seated directly to Broccoli’s left was Kevin Ulrich, the Anchorage Capital hedge fund dude who offloaded the studio to Amazon and now has nothing to do with it. Daniel Craig was on her right, and Amy Pascal, the former co-chair of Sony Pictures, who distributed several of Craig’s Bond pics yet also has nothing to do with the franchise now, was deemed worthy of Broccoli’s table, too. Jon Glickman and Gary Barber, who both previously ran MGM before being abruptly fired by Ulrich, were seated with Wilson, alongside Bond alums Christoph Waltz and Michelle Yeoh.
Not with the Broccolis: Anyone from Amazon. Hopkins was seated with his executives at the table in front of Barbara (Salke was on vacation and not there), while executive chairman Bezos, who okayed the MGM acquisition in the first place, appeared only in a tribute video—holding a martini glass, of course.
It might seem trivial, but these are highly choreographed and telling decisions. The Broccolis are relationship-driven producers, they alone decide when and how to make Bond movies, and the Amazon people just don’t have that relationship. “I’ve never spoken to Jeff Bezos,” Broccoli said bluntly in December, though I’m told that has since changed. Glickman’s speech at the event drove that point home; if the Broccolis like you, they will engage, he told the crowd. And at this point, Hopkins—and, importantly, whoever takes that MGM film job—kinda needs them to engage.
After all, a key justification for Hopkins paying all those billions for MGM was a pipeline of new Bond movies, and, at this point, the Broccolis are looking at 2025 as the earliest for the next installment. Anytime Barbara or Michael do press, as they did for the Will Rogers honor, there’s a new round of dumb speculation about the timeline and the next 007. But everyone at MGM knows they aren’t even close to a new film. Starting next year, the Broccolis will map out a plan, according to multiple sources. They’ll commission a script, decide on a filmmaker, and start meeting with actors, likely younger than even Craig was when he took over the role at 34. The Broccolis want the next Bond to similarly commit to multiple movies and play the role for 10 to 15 years in success. By the end of his run, Craig was 50 years old and had injured himself on set in Jamaica, forcing costly delays.
That said, the Broccolis know that this is the family business. New Bond movies drive Eon, their production company, and allow it to do smaller movies like Till, about Emmet Till’s mother Mamie-Till Mobley, which Amazon will release next month. Plus, Wilson is now 80, so Broccoli will soon be fully in charge, to the extent she isn’t already.
Amazon, which isn’t used to the lack of control over a major asset like this, would love to alter the relationship, to expand the franchise and better incorporate it into Prime Video, and there have been rumors that the company is prepared to write Barbara and Michael a massive check to make that happen. I’ll believe it when I see it. To that end, Amazon has also shifted into full courtship mode, plugging the hell out of Bond movies on the Prime Video interface and launching a 60th Anniversary activation, which seems to be aimed at an audience of two.
The MGM film hire is key to that courtship, as well as helping make the next Bond movie good. To put it bluntly: Barbara needs to like this person. Amazon has smartly pivoted from its initial years as a bespoke prestige platform to a broad-as-possible offering with content like Jack Ryan, Coming to America 2, and, now, Rings of Power. Bond fits squarely in that wheelhouse. This week, Amazon announced that Epix, the MGM-owned movie channel, will be rebranded MGM+ and continue as a separate service offered through Prime Video—the Hollywood version of a You May Also Like button.
Sure, fine, whatever. Despite the recent revamp of its interface, the whole platform still feels like a video shopping experience rather than a curated streaming service. Ten to 12 decent MGM movies a year, and one blockbuster Bond movie every few years, could pair very nicely with the NFL and Lord of the Rings. And that would be a very good talking point for Amazon.
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Isn’t this slightly contradictory?
It says that no-one has the job yet then complains Eon didn’t have the Amazon rep, who they just said hasn’t been hired yet.
So is Eon snubbing them or have they not been hired yet?
It’s always about personal relationships.
Nothing new or different.
I rather work with people I like because the work in itself will always create problems. Better to solve them with those who like you.
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Wow, business side of things seems pretty complicated. One would think that Eon would want to make the creative side less stressful on themselves. For example, what law of the universe would they be breaking if they cast someone like Idris or Hardy for 2 films and then pressed on? Creative people create, pros do pro things. Let your creative professionals do their jobs, you can run your reinvention program in the background while fans get Bond movies.
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Two films with one actor is not an economical way for any franchise.
You introduce an actor in the first one, you push forward with a second one, and the third one establishes him in order to move onwards.
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Does anyone know how successful TLD and LTK were in today’s money? I don’t, I’m just asking. Also, how much enconomic difference would it really make? Has there ever been a Bond movie that lost money? I mean they could cast Owen Wilson as Bond and Jack Black as the villan and probably break even.
When is Eon not making money hand over fist? When there’s not a Bond movie in theaters. Why can they wait as long as they are for the next one? Because they can afford to. Meanwhile fans have to wait for what, 6 years for the next one?
Just seems to me like there’s a better solution somewhere, though I realize that’s not what’s gonna happen.
That’s not really what you would call a revelation, this has been known for decades.
I have mixed feelings about them coming back. On one hand, it was too be expected. At the same time, it proves EON doesn’t want to change as much as they should. I hope EON hires action directors who can do drama. Not so many art house directors who can only drama and soap operas. But thankfully, it shows that people are starting planning and thinking about Bond’s future.
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I honestly have zero worry about hearing P&W’s names, because it just doesn’t give much of an indication as to the quality of the final product.
Their names have been on some of Bond fans’ least favorite films, and at the same time some of their most favorite.
When anything ranging in quality from “Die Another Day” to “Casino Royale” is possible, what does it really tell us? Especially when you take into account that a director and a half dozen other writers will also take a pass over whatever they turn in…
It can also be a “be careful what you wish for” scenario too. Bringing in new voices might sound like a good idea right up until you get a Danny Boyle/John Hodge situation, in which case you would have preferred they had just gone with writers they were comfortable with from the start.
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Haggis I don’t think is coming back, anymore than Cary is. Too much controversy with both of them. Plus, I’d like to see someone new writing Bond screenplays. Not necessarily Oscar winners and nominees for art house drama. Maybe a action writer or two.
Which strengthens my 3rd movie is actor’s best 007 theory:
Sir Sean-Goldfinger- Blueprint for series.
Sir Roger-SWLM- He even said it was his best.
PB-TWINE- 2nd best PTS & BANG! “I never miss.”
DC- Skyfall-He was never better.
And every final film of the Bond actor is their worst, and what makes them worst based on the complaints of the Public majority.
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Connery - Diamonds Are Forever (Nearly more of a Parody than a Bond film, Charles Grey as Blofeld, Tiffany Case being a bimbo in the last act, bad effects and weak cinematography, Connery being out of shape).
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Moore - A View To A Kill (Moore’s already too old, Stacey Sutton being an incompetent Bond Girl and the age gap, the Beach Boys theme being played in the PTS action).
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Brosnan - Die Another Day (The Invisible Car, CGI, Madonna, the robot suit, and the Paragliding on a Tsunami, some people also including Jinx as one of the worst parts of the film).
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Craig - No Time To Die (Convoluted plot, full of Melodrama, Villain with unclear motivations, Age gap between Craig and Seydoux and their almost to non-existent chemistry, family drama, and of course the controversial ending).
Highly subjective, therefore not a sound argument, MI6HQ.
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What happened with Cary? Must have missed that.
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Wow, LALD was much more successful than I thought!
I don’t think Wilson and Black would be a financially harmless casting choice.
As for us fans: EON is not responsible for us when we don’t find other satisfying entertainment offers.
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