James Bond is ultimately the product of his time – or in any case, of his industry. Darling child of the MGM – one of the giants of the cinema of the 20th century -, the most famous secret agent in history has definitely passed in February in the hands of Amazon. The platform had already acquired the franchise in 2022, having won the studios and the MGM catalog. Without being able to exploit it as she wanted. Part of the “creative control” of the saga was still owned by the beneficiaries of the Broccoli family, historical producers of the character. The situation was a thorn in Jeff Bezos’ foot, Amazon boss and a big fan of James Bond. How to reconcile the family management of broccoli, capable of giving the role to an almost unknown actor on the basis of an “intuition”, with the risk aversion of a digital giant like Amazon? The answer is simple: it’s impossible.
After three years of trench war, James Bond has experienced his longest break since the creation of the franchise. In December, the Wall Street Journal Described in detail the irreconcilable disputes between the two camps. To the point of handling the insult, Barbara Broccoli described, according to reported remarks, the creatives of Amazon as “fools”. The producer disapproved of the firm’s project to decline Bond in multiple series and films – a bit like Disney was able to grasp Star Wars. “The specificity of the James Bond franchise is its reinvention capacity every fifteen years. This time, it is concomitant to a change in the cinema economy: the transition from the reign of studios to that of platforms,” notes Matthieu Letourneux, professor of literature at Paris-Nanterre University, specialized in gender literature.
Lost in the limbo since the departure of his last incarnation, Daniel Craig, the spy of His Majesty has neither screenwriter, nor director, and above all no new actor. Its full passage in Amazon’s fold should quickly revive the machine. Shortly after the announcement of his total creative takeover, Jeff Bezos questioned fans on social networks: “Who would you choose for the next leap?” The approach is enough to make the purists strangle. You have to imagine cold sweats – a 26th iteration of the character, chosen by algorithm! The bettors panic.
A favorite time, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, subscribed to the roles of superheroes, lost his place in favor of James Norton-another beautiful mouth with very aristocratic presence. Unless the young Harris Dickinson, hero of the golden palm Filterlessdo not come to put its delicate beauty in favor of the MI6. It would be a striking contrast with the leap of Craig, virile, dark, haunted by the ghosts of the past. A man of action with his cracks, cut to stick to the obsessions of current blockbusters. With rare exceptions – it is easily thought of George Lazenby – the broccoli managed to handle the character’s plasticity to prevent him from sinking too long in the cheesy. With them, everything was about instinct. Bezos and his algorithms will they have?