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Amazon MGM Studios will gain creative control of the James Bond franchise
- xhkkffbf 2y agoThe real question is not the name of the studio but the name of the person(s) hired to handle the job. If they're like Kathleen Kennedy, the franchise is toast.
- numbrsRhrd 2y ago[dead]
- genghisjahn 2y agoI see a lot of shade thrown at Kathleen Kennedy these days. Sure, some of the Star Wars movies under Disney haven't been great, but look at this resume. It's incredible. I'll save you the click and put some things she's been the executive producer of here: Poltergeist, E.T., IJ & Temple of Doom, Goonies, Back to the Future(I,II,III), Young Sherlock Holmes, The Money Pit, Empire of the Sun, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (jumping ahead to more recent stuff), Rogue One, Andor, Mandalorian, Ashoka, Skeleton Crew.... So yes, not everything has been a winner, but to say that having her name attached to something means it won't be good means that either A)you might not be informed about her resume or B)you have another reason you don't like her involvement with a project. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005086/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_kathleen%2520kenedy https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005086/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_0_...
- xhkkffbf 2y agoThat's a nice list, but most of the real great ones were over FORTY years ago. Maybe she changed. Maybe her influence back then was limited by her youth and the blatant sexism in the industry. Who knows? But something about her work has changed.
- danpalmer 2y agoThis is a sad outcome. The Bond franchise is very strong, and that’s in large part to a single coherent vision of who the character is. Bond is in need of some modernisation perhaps, but that still needs the strong creative control. The bean counters at Amazon aren’t that, and it shows in every Amazon studios production (and in most Netflix productions too), they’re too caught up in the numbers, the marketability, ticking boxes for target audiences, that the content is soulless. I hope Bond survives.
- bl4kers 2y agoThe literary version is already public domain in many countries
- Mountain_Skies 2y agoSeems to be more than just bean counting. Rings of Power was showered with money, so there are properties Amazon is willing to spend lavish amounts of money on. They also boosted the budget when they took over The Expanse, though there's plenty of disagreement over if that netted a better result or not.
- ganoushoreilly 2y agoThe money wasn't the issue though, it was the lack of respect for the established cannon / materials and most fans / viewers not connecting with it.
- echelon 2y agoA web host / grocery store has no taste and should not be disrupting the entertainment industry. It's time that we start trust busting these trillion dollar giants. Amazon needs a break up. It's totally unfair that they subsidized all of that using unrelated business unit profit, displayed marquees on Amazon boxes and on the side of their delivery vans, and shipped all of our production crew jobs over to developing economies. US film production is in shambles because of Amazon.
- zfg 2y agoBarbara Broccoli thinks the people at Amazon are "fucking idiots": https://www.wsj.com/business/media/james-bond-movies-amazon-barbara-broccoli-0b04f0db https://www.wsj.com/business/media/james-bond-movies-amazon-... Amazon has apparently solved the problem by pushing her out.
- streaming 2y ago... by buying her out.
- vessenes 2y agoThis is a story that will definitely be told in family office conferences for a long time: one family has basically overseen bond since the beginning of the films I believe. Sad end.
- ecshafer 2y agoAs a fan of the Wheel of Time and Lord of the Rings, this doesn't bode well.
- CSMastermind 2y agoI read the Wheel of Time just before the TV show came out. The community around WoT was easily the kindest, most welcoming, helpful that I've found around any book series (maybe any work of fiction). Sad to see they didn't get the TV series they deserved.
- philipkglass 2y agoI was disappointed when Amazon canceled their plans to bring the first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas, to TV. After seeing the page-to-screen translation of Wheel of Time I think that it was just as well.
- buildbot 2y agoYeah, I’m really glad the Culture series will not be tarnished by amazon as well for now. Honestly I’d want a studio dedicated taking these long, beautiful series and making long, beautiful TV adaptions true to the books. Probably wouldn’t make enough money though.
- LinuxAmbulance 2y agoNow there's a series of novels I'd love to see on the screen. Assuming, of course that someone could do it justice. Not easy, given the scope.
- buildbot 2y agoThe CGI for the orbital being scuttled would be expensive I imagine, but very, very cool.
- buildbot 2y agoSame, I was finishing my first read through as the show cane out. So disappointed… Lots of really major changes for very little reason. In the last episode of S2 Loial gets stabbed with the ruby hilted dagger, which is typically extremely lethal. Another great community and series are the cosmere books by Brandon Sanderson, who finished the last few WoT after Robert Jordan passed away. Mistborn and The Stormlight Archives are both amazing. Also, 9000 pages and over 3 million words for all of the cosmere books, so you will be reading for a bit!
- righthand 2y agoThey will play it safe on their first outing while chasing some sort if weird trend (“Bond should be Y with Z sensibilities”) making Bond’s next movie one for the trash. I’m not worried about “wokeness” or whatever the trolls are whining about these days (making Bond black or gay is the least interesting addition to the character you could make, once you do that there is actually very little to examine). It will probably be Bond working with Alexa as the femme fatale or something dumb. “They got into our AWS account but thankfully Q had full sys-admin powers and Amazon security team helped us out.” I pirate anything from these tech-streaming companies anyways. Go ahead do whatever.
- focusedone 2y agoBummer. T-2 years before it becomes an algorithmically-optimized so-so miniseries. Nothing lasts forever.
- brianbest101 2y agoExcept Diamonds.
- layer8 2y agoOnly in songs.
- charliebwrites 2y agoThey only live twice
- moralestapia 2y agoThis massively increases the probability of having a black James Bond on screen.
- Insanity 2y agoI’m not sure - big tech is reversing their DEI narrative since the Trump election/ inauguration.
- sieabahlpark 2y ago[dead]
- mindslight 2y agoAnd even before that Amazon had The Man in the High Castle, which seemed like an edgy exercise in displaying Nazism more than anything else. You could tell there was some sci-fi plot there but the adaptation merely just touched on it. New Bond is likely to be joining Spectre.io and helping put down rebellions in colonized lands. Perhaps even helping the Russians/Chinese undermine the EU, working with a Leiter who avoided "rightsizing" and was promoted four levels by pledging loyalty to the Party.
- moralestapia 2y agoSurprising to see the downvotes on this comment. I didn't know racism was common around here.
- nobankai 2y ago[flagged]
- saucymew 2y agoEveryone's got a number they can't refuse... Defenders will say Bond deserves a modern update beyond the Daniel Craig era. But if I'm reading the tea leaves from Lord of the Rings, I am not bullish on Amazon's MCU-ification of the Bond franchise.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mpalmer 2y agoThe Daniel Craig era was a modern update, though, so those defenders won't really be taking history into account. Not that the Broccolis never missed, but they were capable of moving with the times, and they did not blindly follow the money. Amazon/Disney/Netflix/HBO move with the times by following the money, and by milking the reputation of respected brands and celebrities until they're dried out husks.
- jimbob45 2y agoYeah, I don't think people realize how many times the franchise has been updated over the years. I'm conservatively counting five times (marked with asterisks) but I think the number could be as high as seven. And then you've got to consider that they've tried to finish the character unsuccessfully even before No Time To Die with Never Say Never Again. - Dr. No - From Russia with Love - Goldfinger - Thunderball - You Only Live Twice *- On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Diamonds Are Forever *- Live and Let Die - The Man with the Golden Gun - The Spy Who Loved Me - Moonraker - For Your Eyes Only *- Never Say Never Again - Octopussy - A View to a Kill *- The Living Daylights - Licence to Kill *- GoldenEye - Tomorrow Never Dies - The World Is Not Enough - Die Another Day *- Casino Royale - Quantum of Solace - Skyfall - Spectre - No Time to Die
- cjpearson 2y agoNever Say Never Again probably shouldn't be used as an example of "the franchise". It wasn't produced by Eon or the Broccoli family as someone else owned the rights to that particular story.
- trts 2y agonot sure if their policies have changed but in 2021 Amazon Studios implemented quotas for performers and creatives on each project based on race/ethnicity, gender, and ability, with the actor's real-life identities expected to align to their characters. doesn't sound like a compatible platform for this particular franchise.
- rafram 2y agohttps://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/amazon-studios-diversity-goals-trump-dei-crackdown-1236135824/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/ama...
- mpalmer 2y agoDid you fail to notice the diversity of the cast in the last 20 years of Bond films? And if you mean the title character, you are presupposing that: A. the quota existing means Bond won't be a white man (he absolutely will be in the first Amazon outing), and B. Bond ceases to be Bond if he isn't white. There's no reason for modern Bond stories to require a white Bond. He does have to be a guy, but don't see why race changes the story.
- fazeirony 2y ago> He does have to be a guy why?
- lazide 2y agoPersonally I can’t wait for Snow White to be played by a 60 year old retired plumber from New Jersey.
- mpalmer 2y agoIt's certainly a matter of opinion, but the character's flaws and conflicts are very much tied up in his masculinity. Making the character a woman changes things so much it's essentially a different property with the same name. Just make a good original story about a woman who's a spy, don't ride the franchise's coattails for the wrong reasons. We don't need representation at this level of granularity.
- steveBK123 2y agoBezos can finally realize his dream and the project he has been training for since retiring from CEO... The name is Bond, James Bond
- slicktux 2y agoHe would make a GREAT bond villain!
- steveBK123 2y agoModern day Blofeld
- willsmith72 2y agoManiacal laugh included
- thijson 2y agohttps://tinyurl.com/mpvymy27 https://tinyurl.com/mpvymy27
- croes 2y agoMost billionaires do. Coincidence?
- breckenedge 2y agoSpoiler alert: Bond died.
- recursive 2y agoAnd Snape killed him.
- breckenedge 2y agoI thought it was Freddy Mercury
- djkivi 2y agoWell his boss was Voldemort.
- NewJazz 2y agoSurprised nobody has commented hoping they make the character less rapey.
- mellosouls 2y agoGiven the insipid B-series mess Amazon has made of Reacher (despite the fanfare of having a physically representative actor playing him), this is not an obviously positive development.
- frankfrank13 2y agoInteresting timing, considering that the overwhelming discussion since the last film has been will Bond be gay/non-white/non-male etc. Under Broccoli I think they could have pulled this off, under Amazon (see: LOTR) absolutely not. BUT now it seems Amazon may no longer feel pressure to have "DEI Bond". If I had to predict I'm guessing the future of Bond is: 1. Bad, see: LOTR, WOT 2. MCU/StarWars-ified (expect dozens of spin-offs, sequels, prequels, etc) 3. A-list action actors, (Tom Hardy? Jason Statham?) 4. Cringe, Amazon does not have an ounce of taste, never has, so Bond will drive a Mustang, he'll shoot a Glock or S&W, his clothes will look like Zara, and he'll be funny in the wrong ways (more Tony Stark, less Sean Connery) God I wish we had just gotten a Idris Elba bond movie.
- walterbell 2y agoDr. Who recently stepped down.
- xenago 2y agoWell, it was a good run. 25 films ain't bad!
- m3kw9 2y agoIt sounds like they gonna dilute the crap out of this by doing tv, games, etc
- jl6 2y agoBond movies are in a perpetual cycle of reinvention, trying to update the franchise and keep it relevant. I'm not sure it's wholly succeeded in that. They've certainly done the sequel thing of adding more tech, more action, more globetrotting, higher stakes, more of everything. Bigger, but better? Of the Craig movies, by far the best was Casino Royale, because of how it stripped things back to basics. At least, compared to the lunacy of the previous film (an invisible car, really?). I'd love for an Amazon Bond reboot to be a 1960s period piece. Keep the tech light, make him a spy again, put him in some tense situations. It could work!
- stumptown 2y agoAfter I read the article in the WSJ[1] I wrote a Bond spec script over break. The tricky thing with spec scripts based on other people's IP is getting the word out, because unsolicited submissions can put the recipient in a bind if some element of what you sent ends up – even accidentally – in the final product. It's silly, but it's the reality of screenwriting. Fwiw I'm a former special operations veteran and an accomplished screenwriter. Here's my risk-mitigated pitch for HN's enjoyment. ========== 1. We want to preserve the Bond legacy. We also want to expand the world he inhabits. We can do both. 2. So much happens 'under the water line' of reality already. Psychological operations. Cyber warfare. Supply chain attacks. Transnational smuggling. There's literally gobs of espionage content that can be explored. 3. Ultimately bond is about heroes who preserve the realm when institutions fail. They become the cornerstone upon which the new institutions will be built. 4. We build a universe that predicts and reacts to our current reality, which, broadly, is about institutional failure. We are in a multipolar world now, and technology accelerates at the same rate as the danger. Can we demonstrate an escape route? A rallying cry for heroism in an unjust world? 5. We build a universe so rich with possibility that we can compartmentalize cleanly; for example, a show can live semi-independently of the film franchise. 6. Imagine a limited series about Chinese teenager working at a microchip factory in Wuxi. Alone, barely scraping by, forced labor. Then, over the course of a season, a Q Branch operative approachers her, recruits her, teaches her to smuggle out secrets, aides in her breathtaking escape when she’s caught. This characters 7. We build characters whose impact can be felt elsewhere. Q is later able to deactivate a missile - piloted by those smuggled microchips – fired at Bond in the big theatrical film. [1] https://www.wsj.com/business/media/james-bond-movies-amazon-barbara-broccoli-0b04f0db https://www.wsj.com/business/media/james-bond-movies-amazon-...
- stumptown 2y agoAlso I wanted to create a separate post in response to the negative predictions. Obviously I can't predict the future, but in my experience creating any film is subject to significant pressure, internal and external, on the creatives involved. There are a LOT of really excellent scripts that get diluted in this way, and there isn't much that can be done about it. That said, Amazon Studios is probably a loss leader for Prime, or at least certainly doesn't enjoy the same margins as other AMZN LOBs. That's okay! Amazon Studios execs can mitigate their risk by spreading it around. Do small stuff, a single, small film about someone in this universe. Someone doing a supply chain attack on behalf of Q Branch. A watchmaker approached for a Special Project. A deep-cover NOC who works for Lloyds of London who gets wind of a forthcoming infrastructure attack. It doesn't all have to be big explosions and major stunts; the seedy underworld of espionage happens not in soaring bunkers and Red Square, but behind a highway rest stop, or in a factory office, or in the Port of Marsailles. No need to blow the budget all at once; begin slow, build towards the theatrical films in interesting, round-about ways. Take your time and iterate, see what works. Disney/Star Wars is doing this in reverse (Andor was wildly successful) and Amazon Studios has the chance to do it right!
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]