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The British family that has steered the James Bond franchise for more than 60 years, zealously protecting the superspy from the indignities of Hollywood strip mining, has agreed to relinquish control to Amazon.<\/p>\n
The deal, which was announced Thursday morning, comes after a behind-the-scenes standoff between Barbara Broccoli<\/a>, who inherited control of Bond from her father, and Amazon, which gained a significant ownership stake in the franchise in 2021 as part of its $8.5 billion purchase<\/a> of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ms. Broccoli and her brother, Michael G. Wilson, another Bond producer, had chafed at some of the ways in which Amazon hoped to capitalize on the property, The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n In a statement released by Amazon, the siblings and the tech giant said they had agreed to form a new joint venture to house Bond; the parties will remain co-owners. But Amazon MGM Studios \u201cwill gain creative control\u201d after the transaction closes later this year. Ms. Broccoli and Mr. Wilson previously had ironclad creative control, deciding when to make a new Bond film, who should play the title role and whether remakes and television spinoffs got made.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n They also had final say over every line of dialogue, every casting decision, every stunt sequence, every marketing tie-in, and every TV ad, poster and billboard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, thanked the siblings for their \u201cunyielding dedication\u201d to the franchise and said the company looked forward \u201cto ushering in the next phase of the legendary 007 for audiences around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Wilson, 83, said he planned to retire from producing. \u201cTherefore,\u201d he said, \u201cBarbara and I agree, it is time for our trusted partner, Amazon MGM Studios, to lead James Bond into the future.\u201d Ms. Broccoli, 64, said she felt it was time \u201cto focus on my other projects.\u201d She noted that she had dedicated her life to \u201cmaintaining and building\u201d the franchise, which was started by her father, Albert R. Broccoli<\/a>, who was known as Cubby.<\/p>\n The Bond franchise was at a crossroads even before the deal. The most-recent movie, \u201cNo Time to Die,\u201d which collected $774 million worldwide in 2021, marked the end of a four-film series with Daniel Craig in the lead role. No decisions have been made about a successor.<\/p>\n Bond is unlike any current Hollywood franchise. For starters, it is gargantuan: The 25 movies have taken in more than $6 billion at the domestic box office, after adjusting for inflation, according to Box Office Mojo. The series \u2014 the first to go after a global audience \u2014 has generated billions more in overseas ticket sales, home entertainment revenue, television reruns, marketing partnerships (Omega watches, Aston Martin cars, Gillette razors) and video games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms. Broccoli and Mr. Wilson have also fought to keep Bond almost exclusively as a movie property, believing that television spinoffs would diminish the character\u2019s value. It has been a harder and harder line to hold, especially with a streaming service as a co-owner \u2014 one eager to show that its purchase of MGM was worth the price.<\/p>\n In particular, it has been the steely-eyed Ms. Broccoli running the Bond franchise. She has said that she thought James Bond was a real person until she was 6 or 7. She was a toddler on the set of \u201cDr. No\u201d in Jamaica in 1962. In 1967, while in Japan on the set of \u201cYou Only Live Twice,\u201d she became ill and recuperated in Sean Connery\u2019s suite, which was the best appointed.<\/p>\n Although she almost never speaks in public, Ms. Broccoli has a tough reputation in Hollywood.<\/p>\n \u201cBarbara scares the hell out of people,\u201d Mr. Wilson said in an interview with The New York Times in 2015. \u201cEveryone is frightened to death of her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood!\u201d shouted Ms. Broccoli, who was seated beside him. She laughed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n