I don't know if it would have been worse if they sold out to Netflix instead, but in either case this is not good news.
While I've missed the last couple of Bond movies, I'm pretty sure a Bond movie was the most recent *non-anime* movie I saw in a theater, and some of my old fan fictions were inspired in part by James Bond (I even gave Leaf a version of her hat that cuts through things like Oddjob's hat, lol)
Unfortunately, I can totally see Amazon milking this franchise with all sorts of spinoff miniseries and "character deconstructions." It's what these streaming services do when they feel compelled to churn out a bunch of "original series." It's also why I ignore said "original series" - 95% of the time, they've been crap, regardless of the franchise.
And I guess now we can rule out having a corrupt CEO of a multibillion dollar retail and entertainment empire as the next Bond villain - I can't see Bezos greenlighting the making of a caricature of himself as a bad guy.
I'll definitely take Amazon over Netflix!
I don't rate NF at all, and with their track record they'd probably make one film and cancel the series for "lack of interest" despite all-time record ratings 😅
I've never had much interest in the Bond Franchise anyway outside of having a good time with the N64 game, so I haven't really got any skin in this race. That said, as devil's advocate, while there is a lot of slop on Amazon Prime, there's plenty of legitimately good content as well. Admittedly, more than any other service, the slop makes up the vast majority of the content and I have other bones to pick with Prime besides. But this doesn't necessarily mean that Bond series are going to suddenly become terrible.
Then again, I don't think the Bond films were really that good to begin with going by the few I've seen. So what do I know?
I'm a huge Bond fan, the franchise was a massive part of my life growing up.
I have lots of merch, and was even planning another trip to various JB filming locations later this year, so I'd consider myself to definitely have skin in the game, and I agree with you tbh, at least initially...
I'm certain that Ernst Stavro Bezos will throw his massive cheque book around and Amazon will actually go all out to begin with. The results could be really spectacular if the stars align. I mean I am that one person (please don't shoot me!) that absolutely loves Rings of Power...
But like any good Bond villain that considers themselves to be "doing the righteous thing", I also expect Amazon to change the Bond universe to fit in with their beliefs, expectations, and desires. I honestly don't trust them to do right by the character in the long run, and can see the franchise becoming just another action series with a fancy merchandise license stamped on it.
Broccoli and Wilson kind of already tried that to a certain extent with the Craig movies. After Casino Royale, the character kind of felt different to Classic 007 and that era probably already ended with Brosnan to be honest.
I'll still be there in the cinema for film one of Bond 3.0 but I do worry about how recognisable the character will remain in the longterm.
Reinvention is the heart of Bond. Different casts, writers, gadgets.
Yet probably the worst that could happen is straying from physical law. The stunts have to keep audience disbelief within the realm of human ability.
One of the things the Bond films were renowned for is their stunts, and they often gave the films a unique edge. Who can forget Rick Sylvester skiing off a cliff (just to open the film!) or Willy Bognor hurtling backwards down a bob run holding a camera to film a fight scene? Obviously there was more cgi in the later films but EON still tried to use real and inventive footage where possible. A lot of equipment used in the film industry was actually invented to overcome challenges during production of Bond movies.
I can see that being one of the very first things to change with Amazon if I'm totally honest. We'll see how it all pans out!
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