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Amazon is officially gaining creative control of the James Bond franchise

Chittagong

Gold Member
The Times said:
Lee Child told Entertainment Weekly last year: "I love those larger-than-life, over-the-top action thrillers and spy movies and the heists that are smart and ahead of the audience. That's really great, but I feel like Bond, to me personally - people are going to hate me for saying this - I love Bond, but I feel like it's all a little misogynistic and predictable at this point."

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Neff

Member
Just reached the end of my current Bond run, and it's true what they say- even though it's still a clumsy and underwhelming denouement, No Time to Die really hits different now.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable

I'm pretty sure that if you asked someone who they'd like to direct the next film in a big series he'd be top of the list for all of them!

But I'm pretty sure I read that he was in talks to direct a Daniel Craig Bond film but insisted on final cut which they wouldn't sign over to him.

It'll be interesting to see for sure if they can get something agreed.

Thank God we still have mission impossible.

Do we...?

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
(2025)
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
That might have been a Broccoli and Wilson control measure. I dont think Amazon will care that much, they will just want the publicity of working with Nolan.

Yes, I think even at the time, it was said that everyone was ok to sign off bar those you mention and I think you're right that Amazon will be much more likely to give away control to someone with as much cache as Nolan.

But on the other hand, the scrutiny on their first time round with the franchise will be intense. It could make them unexpectedly conservative, at first at least. Bond has the potential to be a bit of a poisoned chalice - go too far in a new direction / try to innovate too much and you'll get accused of not knowing what the franchise is supposed to be and upsetting fans. Mirror too closely what's come before and you'll be accused of not having any ideas of your own, and why bother wrestling it away to do something by the numbers.

Through that lens, when you consider the Craig entries to the franchise, they've actually done a remarkable job of broadening the character and creating a modern take on the franchise in the most recent era. Skyfall and Casino Royale are the best rated Bond films on IMDB, three are in the top five, and only one is outside the top ten. By that Metric, the most recent era of Bond has been the most consistently successful run ever. With that in mind, I think that though Amazon might be prepared to give Nolan (or whoever) final cut, I would imagine there'll be numerous ways of putting controls in place to make sure it doesn't veer too far off course - which could put off Nolan, and make the whole thing a no go, once again.
 

Warspite

Member
Yes, I think even at the time, it was said that everyone was ok to sign off bar those you mention and I think you're right that Amazon will be much more likely to give away control to someone with as much cache as Nolan.

But on the other hand, the scrutiny on their first time round with the franchise will be intense. It could make them unexpectedly conservative, at first at least. Bond has the potential to be a bit of a poisoned chalice - go too far in a new direction / try to innovate too much and you'll get accused of not knowing what the franchise is supposed to be and upsetting fans. Mirror too closely what's come before and you'll be accused of not having any ideas of your own, and why bother wrestling it away to do something by the numbers.

I want you to be right in that they will give the movies the effort they deserve but the likes of Ring of Power (and does anyone remember citadel?) now hangs over every Amazon project like a bad smell. They spent so much on it only to give it to 2 nobodies and its failed to get them the results I sure they wanted. I don't think they have the benefit of doubt their side any more.
 
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Stitch

Gold Member
In any case, it all came to a head in December, a month after Broccoli and Wilson picked up the Thalberg at the Governors Awards. That’s when The Wall Street Journal published a piece detailing the chilly state of affairs between Amazon and the Broccolis in which Barbara is quoted as telling friends that Amazon executives were “fucking idiots.” Not surprisingly, those choice words did not go over well with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “He read her quote in the Journal and got on the phone and said, ‘I don’t care what it costs, get rid of her,’ ” is how one insider describes what happened, confirming that what Bezos ended up paying for the franchise was close to a billion dollars.
 

Warspite

Member
How many words into Amazons announcement do you think it will take until you read the term "Cinematic Universe"?

This franchise is so dead.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
I like Cavill as Bond, Hardy would be a good Bond Villan.

I wonder how far along they were with a shortlist for a new Bond when Amazon took over and if those names that had already been crossed off are now back on the maybe list.

The thing with Cavill is that he's already quite well known, but doesn't really have the air of success about him. If you look at his filmography, the films that could have catapulted him into the mainstream AAA star area didn't really happen.

He took the step to become a star of a netflix show, which is not a sign of a star in it's ascendancy and then quit to be Superman again, only to have that fall through. He was in 3 films last year, one of which was Deadpool, the other two were Argyle and The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Neither of which were hits, afaik.

Arguably, he needs Bond more than they might need him because the role brings it's own attention and arguably doesn't need a huge household name. Also going against him is that Daniel Craig was 38 when Casino Royale came out. Cavill is 41 and could easily be 43 by the time a film came out if he was announced today. No time to die was due to come out in 2020 when Craig was 52 (delayed due to COVID). If Cavill followed the same path, they'd have him for a decade before needing to recast. I'm not sure they won't want to go for someone mid 30's to get the most out of investing in and establishing an actor.

I also think that if he'd been considered as right for the role, they'd probably already have him signed up, it's been 6 years at least since it was known that Daniel Craig's final Bond film would be NTTD. If Cavill were a serious contender, I don't see why they'd hang around.

So, my guess is that it's not going to be Cavill.
 
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Two franchises that I noticed Amazon has taken over are Bond and Robocop. On youtube, I am getting a lot more Robocop clips from Amazon-MGM or whatever. Who knows what this will mean for both?
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Two franchises that I noticed Amazon has taken over are Bond and Robocop. On youtube, I am getting a lot more Robocop clips from Amazon-MGM or whatever. Who knows what this will mean for both?
Lets see if they can do better than the 90's Robocop show...



I must have watched this thing but for the life of me can't remember any of it.

Damn, was there a Cortana type digital character? Andrea Roth.....oh man she was honey back then

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DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
I just saw a headline that ruined the ending of that movie. Oh well I guess.

I have no faith in a james bond tv show or in jeff bezos not to fuck this up.

Do you like Reacher? The Boys? The Terminal List? Invincible? Jack Ryan? The Legend of Vox Machina? Upload? Fallout?

I think they get MORE right than they get wrong (rings of power).
 
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Lunarorbit

Gold Member
Do you like Reacher? The Boys? The Terminal List? Invincible? Jack Ryan? The Legend of Vox Machina? Upload? Fallout?

I think they get MORE right than they get wrong (rings of power).
I don't want a James bond tv show. Or Aaron Taylor Johnson as much as I love Americans taking British roles.

Reacher, night manager, the night agent, that other netflix one. These are all good shows but they ape the bond atmosphere too much. I'm not confident that a money penny tv show is needed.
 

Sonik

Member
Do you like Reacher? The Boys? The Terminal List? Invincible? Jack Ryan? The Legend of Vox Machina? Upload? Fallout?

I think they get MORE right than they get wrong (rings of power).

Reacher turned into complete slop on season 2 when the amazon exec morons touched it same as The Boys which was still tolerable until season 2, Terminal List is pretty good dudebro show, let's see what happens now it's on amazon's radar, Jack Ryan is as forgettable as they come, Fallout is overrated pointless slop with amazing special effects and sets, Invincible is decent. Overall Amazon is not as terrible as Netflix but still crap and can't even compare with 80s, 90s and 00s movie studios because their execs are fucking imbeciles
 

AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Reacher turned into complete slop on season 2 when the amazon exec morons touched it same as The Boys which was still tolerable until season 2, Terminal List is pretty good dudebro show, let's see what happens now it's on amazon's radar, Jack Ryan is as forgettable as they come, Fallout is overrated pointless slop with amazing special effects and sets, Invincible is decent. Overall Amazon is not as terrible as Netflix but still crap and can't even compare with 80s, 90s and 00s movie studios because their execs are fucking imbeciles
I never even finished Jack Ryan. they just went full silly with the terrorist are just misunderstood.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I never even finished Jack Ryan. they just went full silly with the terrorist are just misunderstood.
Ahh, you gotta get back into it. He drives a nuke into a car tunnel at one point to minimize the explosion! It's great.

My only regret on that show is they tease his future wife in S1 and then they almost completely drop any pretense of trying to tie the show back into the books other than his buddy Greer.
 

Sonik

Member
I never even finished Jack Ryan. they just went full silly with the terrorist are just misunderstood.

I literally can't remember anything from the show, the only thing I can is telling myself that the characters and plot are so fucking generic that it makes sense why I forgot the previous season. I can't even remember which seasons I've watched, there's literally nothing memorable in the show so that your brain retains the info as something special.

Btw I thought I was getting senile until I started watching older stuff and I remembered them perfectly. Even new ones where the creators do something bold, like the scene in Terminal List where Reece
disembowels that pierce of shit
is memorable because it's not afraid to offend or shock and from that you remember a crapload of stuff too like the gun fight before, and then you remember how they arrived there and so on. It's how the brain works, it categorizes stuff, puts samey experiences in the same bag and remembers much better unique experiences so when everything nowadays is inoffensive generic slop you can't remember shit
 
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AJUMP23

Parody of actual AJUMP23
Ahh, you gotta get back into it. He drives a nuke into a car tunnel at one point to minimize the explosion! It's great.

My only regret on that show is they tease his future wife in S1 and then they almost completely drop any pretense of trying to tie the show back into the books other than his buddy Greer.

I do remember in season one he went on some dates....and then I don't remember her ever showing up in season 2.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
I literally can't remember anything from the show, the only thing I can is telling myself that the characters and plot are so fucking generic that it makes sense why I forgot the previous season. I can't even remember which seasons I've watched, there's literally nothing memorable in the show so that your brain retains the info as something special.
This was the crux of Quentin's rant about TV. These long form serialized shows can't deliver an emotional payout in a time scale we can really appreciate, unlike a film, but they also don't thrive in the moment like an episodic show that can give you a digestible bit of content you can hold on to (like the Soup Guy bit from Seinfeld). So they all end up being a homogenized signal in our brain of "yeah, stuff happened, can't really remember what exactly" that even if you enjoyed it while watching, it leaves no impact.

I think "modern" prestige TV is killing itself and the death of the ensemble episodic show is a two hit blow to TV. No one is gonna ago back to watch these serialized shows because ultimately you can sum it a whole season with episode 1 and episode 10, everything in between is largely filler. There is no comfort there like firing up ST:TNG or Friends to just get a 20-40 minute hit of the warm fuzzies. Nor is there the rewatchability of film which seems positively ballistic in terms of plotting and characterization because they can't spend 45 minutes delving into why each character is slightly tragic.

Without a reliable back catalogue, services need to constantly produce slop to fill time, and that exacerbates this issue because all the talent is spread too thin. Getting the right writer and actors and producers is impossible now.
 
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