Reacting to the news, the former Bond star Daniel Craig, 56, who Broccoli championed to step in as the spy amid backlash to him not fitting into the cookie-cutter suave Bond mold, told Variety: “My respect, admiration and love for Barbara and Michael remain constant and undiminished.
A statement said the Broccoli family and Amazon MGM Studios “have formed a new joint venture to house the James Bond intellectual property rights, and those parties will remain co-owners of the franchise.”.
For years, the Broccoli family and Michael G. Wilson have carefully guarded the 007 legacy, but with Amazon now at the helm, many fear the spy saga could face a future under corporate hands that prioritise content over craft.
Broccoli has fiercely protected Bond’s artistic direction, famously calling Amazon’s executives “f***ing idiots” and accusing them of viewing Bond merely as “content.”.
In 2022, Amazon acquired MGM, including the rights to distribute James Bond films – and will now have control of the intellectual property rights, it was announced on Thursday.
