Have the bad guys finally won?
No, not Blofeld.
Jeff Bezos, whose companyAmazonjust secured all creative rights to theJames Bondfranchise.
MI6 maladjusted young men whod give little thought to sacrificing others to protect queen and country.
Omega, he responds.
Ad content continues below
Bond delivers the line as if his purchasing power was a declaration of identity.
And in this franchise, it is.
Yet the series has never been about only hawking luxury products.
Its also been about embracing the spectacle of cinema with widescreen stunts that push film technology forward.
Or is it in spite of them?
Mr. No
By 1977,Steven Spielberghad just made a massive hit that surpassed box office records.
It was the third time that Broccoli turned down Spielberg, who had already pitched the Eon boss afterDuelandJaws.
Instead Broccoli decided to stick with Lewis Gilbert, who had made the (really good!
)The Spy Who Loved Me, and would next make the (really bad!)Moonraker.
No part of that story reflects well upon Eon.
Why turn down Spielberg, already well on his way to becoming the greatest blockbuster director of all time?
It was hardly the first or last Eon misstep.
Its not just the clanger about listening to the Beatles without earmuffs in 1964sGoldfinger.
Then there are also the creative risks the franchise avoided.
James Bond will return.
When Sam Mendes does something different, he does so consciously working within the limitations of the formula.
Because, ultimately, Eon exists to keep Bond safe, familiar, and profitable.
Hardly the most noble aesthetic ideals.
But I definitely dont think that there was any frontrunner.
They wanted to know what they wanted to do next before they thought of the right person for it.
In fact, the company has been surprisingly good about supporting interesting art.
Projects range from innovative works likeSpike LeesChi-Raqand RaMell RosssNickel Boysto Emerald FennellsSaltburnand the remake ofRoad House.
In short, Amazon has shown a greater commitment to advancing the art of moving pictures than Eon has.
That said, Amazon doesnt support these projects out of altruism.
As anotherunnamed source toldDeadline, Without Barbaras careful supervision, Bond just becomes Jack Reacher in some TV show.
ContentRaker
This resistance to IP-mining is the real reason that the loss of Eons control seems tragic.
Worse, James Bonds world is limited.
But all of these characters revolve around Bond himself.
Turning a supporting figure or even a foil into a protagonist requires a radical reimagining of their function.
As seen in countlessStar Warsand especiallyStar Trekiterations, studios put easy fan service over basic storytelling and character development.
Perhaps thats what Eon understood better than anyone else.
Its hard to imagine even a well-meaning and talented creative at Amazon doing the same.
By the time credits roll, Bond has died, fully reaching the end of his arc.
On the other hand,No Time to Diealso features elements that could make for good spinoffs.
Could these characters make for good spinoff stories?
Are we confident that Amazon (or any other big studio) would do it right?
And soNo Time to Dietruly is an end.
An end for Craigs Bond, an end for Eon, and potentially the end of good franchise storytelling.
At least for now.
