Mike Hopkins has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to James Bond as a theatrical franchise
Amazon MGM Studios boss Mike Hopkins has said he would be “shocked” if James Bond’s future moved away from cinemas.
Speaking to Cynthia Littleton on Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, Hopkins said Bond was “a big part” of Amazon’s pursuit of MGM. It was a brief answer in a wide-ranging interview about Prime Video, Amazon Channels, sports rights and the company’s theatrical plans, but for Bond fans it goes to the heart of the matter.
Amazon completed its takeover of creative control of 007 earlier this year, ending the Broccoli/Wilson family’s creative stewardship of the series. Since then Denis Villeneuve has been announced to direct Bond 26, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing and Stephen Knight writing the script.
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Asked about Amazon’s long-term vision for Bond, Hopkins said the first move was to put the right team in place.
“The first step for us was let’s hire the best people in the world to bring this new story to life, this new chapter in the Bond franchise,” he said, naming Villeneuve, Pascal, Heyman and Knight.
There was no casting news, no title and no production date. In fact, Hopkins’ comments suggest the next Bond film remains some way off.
“We are going to try to figure out how does James Bond get into the next chapter and then be relevant for customers for a long period of time,” he said. “There was still a lot of work to do. We’re sort of in the bottom half of the first inning.”
The phrase is an American baseball metaphor rather than the language usually associated with 007, but the meaning is clear enough: Amazon MGM is still early in the process.
Littleton then raised the question that has followed Bond since Amazon’s MGM deal was first announced. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson were always adamant that Bond was a theatrical franchise. Did Amazon feel the same way, or could there be other expressions of Bond in future?
“We definitely agree with them,” Hopkins replied. “We’ve made a big investment in theatrical. I would be shocked if that were any different with James Bond in the future.”
You can listen to the Bond-related segment above.
Individual stories only tell you so much. To understand where Bond is actually heading, you need to see how it all fits together.