The next installment in the James Bond franchise is still in the development stages due to a rift between the series’ main producer and its new owners, Amazon.
In a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), longtime Bond producer Barbara Broccoli and Amazon — which bought MGM studios in 2021 — are in an “ugly standoff” over decisions about the franchise’s future. These include decisions about whether Bond should be turned into a streaming series, or more philosophical decisions like whether the titular character is even a hero.
“I have to be honest, I don’t think James Bond is a hero,” an Amazon executive said during a recent meeting about upcoming Bond content, the outlet reported. That quote seemed to point to Broccoli’s fear that Amazon doesn’t understand the character she’s dedicated her career to.
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Amazon and top producer Barbara Broccoli are reportedly in an “ugly standoff” over the future of the “James Bond” franchise. (Getty Images)
Broccoli, who has had creative control over the “007” film franchise for more than three decades, “has told friends she doesn’t trust algorithm-focused Amazon with a character she helped mythologize through big-screen storytelling and gut instinct ‘, WSJ reported.
According to the report, the relationship between Broccoli and Bond’s new owners is so rocky that as recently as this fall, Broccoli “characterized the status of a new film in dire terms: no script, no story and no new Bond.” This lack of momentum in the franchise nearly three years after the last film, 2021’s “No time to die” is unprecedented for a series that has had an episode almost every year or two since its inception in the 1960s.
“These people are idiots,” Broccoli reportedly told her friends about Amazon executives.
WSJ spoke to 20 people familiar with the Amazon-Broccoli feud to understand the nature of the standoff, writing that it “amounts to a clash between the 20th century Hollywood of big screens and big swings and a new entertainment industry ruled by Silicon Valley. companies that value data, algorithms and streaming subscriptions.”
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Actor Daniel Craig’s fifth and final role as James Bond was in the 2021 film ‘No Time to Die’. (Karwai Tang)
Broccoli “has complained that Amazon is not a good home for Bond as the company’s core business is everything from toilet paper to vacuum cleaners,” the report said, although it noted that she did not speak out against Amazon’s purchase of MGM because she ” did not want to complicate what many in Hollywood saw as a huge payout for MGM’s owners.”
As part of the deal, MGM executives made sure Amazon committed to bringing Bond to the big screen rather than relegating the franchise to a streaming series. The newspaper noted that when an enthusiastic Amazon executive floated the idea of several Bond TV spin-offs, including a possible ‘Moneypenny’ spin-off or a female 007 spin-off, Broccoli brushed the idea aside.
“Have you read the contract?” she reportedly replied.
In recent years, Broccoli has fended off a variety of ideas within the industry that Bond could adopt a different identity in terms of gender or race in upcoming films. But as the outlet reported: she believes the spy “must always be played by a man, and must always be played by a Briton.”
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WSJ also mentioned that Broccoli shot down the current-inspired ideas of Bond villains real world figures which some people consider evil.
“‘Elon Musk?’ she told a friend. ‘I did that in 1997.'” Broccoli was referring to the villain from that year’s 007 franchise, “Tomorrow Never Dies.” The newspaper described the villain as “a wealthy magnate whose global media empire includes a satellite network.”
Liberal media outlets and Democratic lawmakers have recently picked up a new talking point as the new administration prepares to enter the White House – Elon Musk is a ‘shadow president’, who takes over from newly-elected President Donald Trump.
WSJ wrapped up its report with one final example of the strained relationship between Broccoli and Amazon. It noted that she “did not mention Amazon” during her acceptance speech at a film industry awards ceremony in November.
Amazon did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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