If it depends on two major serious publications, we have two strange scenarios for the future of James Bond. One of them gives us hope of getting to know the new face of the spy, while the other outlines a moment of great risk. What’s worse is that I believe the Wall Street Journal more than The Hollywood Reporter.

In the war of streaming and major mergers, all franchises have increased in value, and that of the English spy was no different. Controlled by the Broccoli family, the home of James Bond for decades has been the MGM studio, which was bought by Amazon Prime Video for more than 6.5 billion dollars. In other words, the new “owners” want to profit from the brand but come up against the zealous Barbara Broccoli, who has the first and final say on everything surrounding 007. And the mood is terrible.

If there is one thing we can regret, we live in a period of “skimming” what has already worked, with prequels, spin-offs, remakes, etc. like Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and others. Apparently, Barbara is in no hurry. I will repeat this a lot. According to the newspaper, she is blocking the door to anyone who dares to try to interfere, using algorithms, inclusion, or modernity as arguments.

The producer has been in charge of the franchise for 30 years since she inherited control from her father, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. It doesn’t matter that it is part of MGM and now it is part of Amazon: Barbara is the one who decides and she has not liked any proposal on how to deal with the brand so far. Furthermore, according to the newspaper (which claims to have 20 sources for the article), she is determined not to make the film with the platform. Forget the list of Bonds: if he has more than 35, he will naturally be discarded.

The shadow of rights disputes in the James Bond universe

The rights to James Bond are with the Broccoli family due to a series of events involving the film adaptation of the novels by Ian Fleming, who created the character in literature. In the 1960s, the author sold the rights to the film adaptation of his novels without imagining that it would become a global phenomenon.

In 1961, producer Harry Saltzman bought the rights to adapt Fleming’s books for the cinema and formed a partnership with Albert R. Broccoli to produce the films. Together, they created EON Productions, which has been responsible for all official adaptations of the series since Dr. No (1962).

The partnership was dissolved in 1975 when Saltzman was dealing with financial problems and sold his stake in the franchise to United Artists. This effectively left Albert Broccoli as the main person responsible for the series.

Broccoli understood that it was important to keep the franchise under family control, so he passed responsibility for the films to his daughter, Barbara Broccoli, and his stepson, Michael G. Wilson, who continues to run EON Productions to this day. The Fleming estate retains the rights to the original Bond novels, but they have no creative or financial control over the film adaptation of the books. That power belongs exclusively to EON Productions, which is controlled by the Broccoli family.

Exercising Their Rights and Power

The Broccolis are not always popular with executives or fans, but they have a unique power in their hands to deny that platforms interfere with the artistic integrity of what they accept for 007. For example, Barbara has refused to release the trademark for TV shows, video games, and even a casino. She is aware that it is important to ‘update’ Bond to the values ​​of younger generations, but she is careful to ensure that everyone – old and new – appreciates the character, a difficult task that is at the heart of the current drama.

Hollywood has long gone overboard in drying out successful content until it is destroyed. Sequels are the essence of the 007 franchise, so producers are not averse to considering ways to extend the reach of the brand. The Bond films are not 100% faithful to the books, even if they borrow titles, so it is possible to question why Barbara Broccoli is holding back on the proposal to expand the universe of the franchise with prequels or spin-offs. Perhaps she is judging that Star Wars has obliterated its hero, Luke Skywalker, by removing the burden of being a Jedi for endless rebels and the use of the Force. Or the fact that Rings of Power also did not work as well as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. How can we know?

The fact is that Barbara Broccoli has the Power and the Right over the franchise and will not give it up. Wisely. The universe belongs to her and it is her rules and her instinct that rule. For better or for worse. The greatest example of her authority was having personally bet on actor Daniel Craig and being able to prove that she was right. At the moment, she is breaking the franchise’s tradition of releasing a film every two years. No Time To Die was problematic from start to finish, culminating in the Pandemic that delayed its release. We have been four years without a new James Bond or even close to an idea of ​​how they will restart the narrative.

Barbara is not a girl – she will be 65 in 2025 – but she is in no hurry. According to the WSJ article, she believes that “Amazon is not a good home for Bond, since the company’s main business is selling everything from toilet paper to vacuum cleaners”. The main thing is that algorithms rule creative decisions and this is the area in which she does not allow computers or calculators to interfere. Do you know Bond’s love theme? We Have All The Time In The World? That’s her attitude. Without Barbara, no script or cast is approved and she (again), is in no hurry. Her mantra, according to the article, comes from her father who taught her: “Don’t let temporary people make permanent decisions.” Loved it!

Bond’s first struggle in the new home was the pressure of whether to release No Time To Die in theaters or not since we were living in social isolation. Barbara won and the film was shelved for 18 months until it hit the big screen first. However, the executives expected that over time they would gain greater autonomy in decision-making and are frustrated. Barbara refuses to have the franchise called “content” or to conduct “risk calculation” studies to select the next 007 (taking the numbers into account), which prevents the producer from doing what they like most: choosing an unknown for James Bond.

I recommend reading the WSJ article, which is fascinating. In addition to the internal impasses due to the way Amazon Prime Video works, there is the central issue of updating Bond in the current scenario. In No Time To Die, with a script also written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, there were strong rumors that after Craig the position of Bond would be given to a woman. Lashana Lynch is the new 007 (James had retired) and the actress was massacred at the time. Even before that, but certainly after, Barbara remained firm that she “has no problem casting a non-white or gay actor, but she believes that Bond should always be played by a man, and should always be played by a British person.”

The long wait is nothing new to fans of the franchise. Between Timothy Dalton (who tried to innovate and was rejected) and Pierce Brosnan, it took six long years. That’s more or less the current record. Now, if the WSJ is right, we’ll have to wait even longer. The Hollywood Reporter, on the other hand, gives us a note of greater hope. In any case, the female soul of James Bond is my idol. Her name is Broccoli, Barbara Broccoli.

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