Bezos: 'Who'd You Pick as the Next Bond?'

The name's Amazon—Amazon MGM Studios. The daughter and stepson of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, who co-founded the James Bond movie franchise in 1962, are handing creative control of the series to Amazon, the BBC reports. "Who'd you pick as the next Bond?" asked Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a post on X Thursday. Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion in 2022 in a deal that included the rights to distribute all the Bond films, but creative control remained with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

Broccoli and Wilson, who have been producing Bond films for decades, will retain co-ownership of the franchise, Variety reports. There hasn't been a James Bond movie since 2021's No TIme to Die, Daniel Craig's fifth and final appearance as the superspy, and no replacement for Craig has been announced. With Amazon in control, Bond movies might appear at a faster rate, and the franchise might be extended beyond movies, the CBC reports.

Bond fans say they have mixed feeling about the change, though they are glad a period of inactivity for the franchise is likely to end. Fans say they expect Amazon to produce origin stories for characters including villains like Auric Goldfinger, though they hope the franchise won't become as overstretched as Marvel or Star Wars. "I think Amazon will stop short of doing it ad nauseum, to the point where they're having spin-offs about the MI6 janitor that sleeps in the corner," David Zaritsky, creator of the Bond Experience fan channel, tells the BBC. "If they do have spin-offs, I think it's going to be prime characters." (More James Bond stories.)