Amazon's James Bond Takeover Is Bad News

In a stunning turn of events, on Thursday, Amazon Studios took over creative control of the James Bond franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. 

It's stunning for any number of reasons; that the Bond franchise has been in the Broccoli family since the first movies were released in the 1960's. That just recently, reports surfaced that Broccoli thought Amazon executives were "f***** idiots." And that it implies there's a reset coming for the franchise.

It's also not necessarily good news.

Why? 

Because Amazon, or any corporate studio enterprise, might not be the best stewards for one of the most important franchises in the entertainment industry.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Amazon Takeover Of James Bond Franchise Could Be Problematic

There's been 26 James Bond films made, all under the control of the Broccoli family. Quality has varied wildly; some have been well-received, some haven't. 

But the Bond name hasn't been diluted by the same type of expansive "world building" type franchise treatment that other popular brands have. It's remained true to the character, true to what the Broccoli family and Ian Fleming intended, without a "young Bond" television series of questionable quality.

Those days might be ending. 

Amazon is certain to continue the theatrical releases, hopefully by picking top-end directors like Sam Mendel, who directed arguably the best film in the entire franchise, Skyfall. But they also own the Prime Video brand, and need to fill it with content. Especially when spending roughly a billion dollars on the Bond brand.

And for how that goes, just look at how Amazon's Rings of Power show has handled the Lord of the Rings intellectual property. Spoiler alert: not well.

Will Amazon bring the kind of uh, "progressive," approach to Bond as they did there? A female Bond? Specific casting choices or plot choices? Amazon's track record isn't encouraging, to say the least.

At the end of the day, it's hard to see how this goes well. Not just for the theatrical releases, but the inevitable expansion of the James Bond brand. Probably in ways that long-time fans won't like. Hopefully we're wrong, and with Amazon likely to want a return on their investment, the next installment is sure to come sooner rather than later.