Following weeks of negotiations and rumours, tech giant Amazon acquired MGM in an $8.45 billion USD deal last week. Chief among the acquired TV and film rights are those of the James Bond franchise, and a 007 screenwriter has shared his concerns over what the acquisition could mean for the spy series.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan — a co-writer on recent Bond films Skyfall and Spectre — writes in a New York Times opinion piece that upon learning of the Amazon-MGM deal, "a chill went through me."
He writes that James Bond "isn't just another franchise, not a Marvel or a DC — it is a family business that has been carefully nurtured and shepherded through the changing times."
Logan continues: "The reason we're still watching Bond movies after more than 50 years is that [the family of original producer Albert R. Broccoli] has done an extraordinary job of protecting the character through the thickets of moviemaking and changing public tastes. Corporate partners come and go, but James Bond endures. He endures precisely because he is being protected by people who love him."
Logan clarifies that Barbara Broccoli and her half brother Michael Wilson — who have controlled the rights to James Bond since 1995 — still own 50 percent of the rights with "ironclad assurances of continued artistic control" following the Amazon-MGM deal.
However, Logan wonders, "will this always be the case? What happens if a bruising corporation like Amazon begins to demand a voice in the process? What happens to the comradeship and quality control if there's an Amazonian overlord with analytics parsing every decision? What happens when a focus group reports they don't like Bond drinking martinis? Or killing quite so many people? And that English accent's a bit alienating, so could we have more Americans in the story for marketability?"
Citing his own industry experience working on films including Gladiator and The Aviator, Logan argues that when such concerns become part of the creative process, "The fire and passion are gradually drained away as original ideas and voices are subsumed by commercial concerns, corporate oversight and polling data."
Logan writes and Broccoli and Wilson's aversion of corporate and commercial pressures are the reason we have yet to see "a mammoth Bond Cinematic Universe, with endless anemic variations of 007 sprouting up on TV or streaming or in spinoff movies."
"The Bond movies are truly the most bespoke and handmade films I've ever worked on," he says. "That's why they are original, thorny, eccentric and special. They were never created with lawyers and accountants and e-commerce mass marketing pollsters hovering in the background."
Logan concludes, "James Bond has survived the Cold War, Goldfinger, Jaws, disco and Ernst Stavro Blofeld, several times. And I can only hope that the powers-that-be at Amazon recognize the uniqueness of what they just acquired and allow and encourage this special family business to continue unobstructed. Bond's not 'content' and he's not a mere commodity. He has been a part of our lives for decades now."
You can read Logan's entire op-ed here.
The 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, is currently scheduled for release on September 30 in the United Kingdom and October 8 in the United States.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan — a co-writer on recent Bond films Skyfall and Spectre — writes in a New York Times opinion piece that upon learning of the Amazon-MGM deal, "a chill went through me."
He writes that James Bond "isn't just another franchise, not a Marvel or a DC — it is a family business that has been carefully nurtured and shepherded through the changing times."
Logan continues: "The reason we're still watching Bond movies after more than 50 years is that [the family of original producer Albert R. Broccoli] has done an extraordinary job of protecting the character through the thickets of moviemaking and changing public tastes. Corporate partners come and go, but James Bond endures. He endures precisely because he is being protected by people who love him."
Logan clarifies that Barbara Broccoli and her half brother Michael Wilson — who have controlled the rights to James Bond since 1995 — still own 50 percent of the rights with "ironclad assurances of continued artistic control" following the Amazon-MGM deal.
However, Logan wonders, "will this always be the case? What happens if a bruising corporation like Amazon begins to demand a voice in the process? What happens to the comradeship and quality control if there's an Amazonian overlord with analytics parsing every decision? What happens when a focus group reports they don't like Bond drinking martinis? Or killing quite so many people? And that English accent's a bit alienating, so could we have more Americans in the story for marketability?"
Citing his own industry experience working on films including Gladiator and The Aviator, Logan argues that when such concerns become part of the creative process, "The fire and passion are gradually drained away as original ideas and voices are subsumed by commercial concerns, corporate oversight and polling data."
Logan writes and Broccoli and Wilson's aversion of corporate and commercial pressures are the reason we have yet to see "a mammoth Bond Cinematic Universe, with endless anemic variations of 007 sprouting up on TV or streaming or in spinoff movies."
"The Bond movies are truly the most bespoke and handmade films I've ever worked on," he says. "That's why they are original, thorny, eccentric and special. They were never created with lawyers and accountants and e-commerce mass marketing pollsters hovering in the background."
Logan concludes, "James Bond has survived the Cold War, Goldfinger, Jaws, disco and Ernst Stavro Blofeld, several times. And I can only hope that the powers-that-be at Amazon recognize the uniqueness of what they just acquired and allow and encourage this special family business to continue unobstructed. Bond's not 'content' and he's not a mere commodity. He has been a part of our lives for decades now."
You can read Logan's entire op-ed here.
The 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, is currently scheduled for release on September 30 in the United Kingdom and October 8 in the United States.
