The James Bond saga remains in limbo, and a new report suggests that disagreements between Barbara Broccoli and Amazon are the hold-up.
There’s been a deep-seated suspicion that all hasn’t been well behind the scenes of the James Bond saga. Ever since the release of No Time To Die, there’s been no sign of a new script, a new director, a new James Bond, a new film. It’s now five years since a 007 adventure was physically shooting, and it’d be a brave person to put money on it being up and going this time next year.
The unknown has been the relationship between Bond overseers Eon Productions and MGM’s new owners, Amazon. Since the last Bond film was greenlit, Amazon has purchased MGM and as such a stake in 007. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, however, retain creative control.
Broccoli and MGM – and thus, Amazon – are now moving forward on a new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang movie, that suggests some ice has been thawed. But a big new investigation at the Wall Street Journal is alleging that relations between Broccoli and Amazon lie at the heart of the ongoing James Bond delay.
None of the key parties have contributed to the article, but the Journal suggests at least 20 sources have contributed to the piece. Details within suggest that Broccoli – and good on her, if true – was ‘irked’ in a meeting when Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke allegedly referred to Bond as ‘content’.
The article also suggests that Amazon, before it concluded its deal for MGM, had broad plans for James Bond. ‘Would Amazon produce a James Bond TV show for its Prime Video service? What about a Moneypenny spinoff? Or a TV spinoff centered on a female 007?’, it notes. To which Broccoli was said to have said: ‘did you read the contract?’
Amazon is understood, understandably so, to be keen to get a new James Bond film moving, but it can’t do so without Barbara Broccoli’s sign-off. The only Bond-related production the pair have partnered on is gameshow 007: Road To A Million, for which a second season is on the way. The first season was greenlit before the Amazon-MGM deal closed.
Amazon has seemingly made efforts to break the empasse, but as things stand? Chitty Chitty Bang Bang appears to be as far as it’s got.
The full article can be found here.
As for James Bond? The tuxedo remains at the dry cleaners, and there’s little sign anyone’s going to need it soon.
