For the first time in decades, the team behind a new James Bond movie won’t be Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli at EON Productions. After Amazon made moves to purchase MGM and its entire content library, it meant they had access to a slew of new franchises like Rocky, Stargate, and RoboCop. Bond, however, was a little different. Though the series was tied to MGM, the folks at EON still had final say in anything that happened. That all changed after what we can only assume was a Brinks truck or two full of cash pulled up and offered to buy them out entirely, which they accepted.
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Since Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli exited stage left, though, Bond fans have been worried about what this means for the future of Ian Fleming’s famous spy. So far, everything is pointing toward a move in the right direction, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman brought in as producers and Denis Villeneuve tapped to direct. Now, the team at Amazon has confirmed another key piece of the puzzle that some weren’t entirely sure would happen, revealing that the upcoming new James Bond movie will absolutely debut in movie theaters rather than just premiering on the Prime Video streaming service.
James Bond 26 Confirmed for Theatrical Debut
Speaking in an appearance on Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, Amazon MGM Studios boss Mike Hopkins was asked about the future of Bond as a franchise that lived in the theater, and whether a change of pace and a streaming-only venture would be considered. Though he didn’t outright say it, Hopkins didn’t mince words with his reply, adding: “We’ve made a big investment in theatrical; I would be shocked if that were any different with James Bond in the future.”
To his credit, he’s right; Amazon’s movement in the theatrical space rather than just dumping their movies on streaming has improved over the years. In 2026 alone the success of Project Hail Mary, a film that has made over $680 million at the global box office, proves not only that they’re committed to having their films play on big screens, but they know how to sell those movies to an audience AND they’re willing to let the success dictate how long they continue to play in theaters. The same can be said for The Sheep Detectives, a film that no one could have predicted would be a hit, but which has made over $120 million and charmed audiences globally.
That said, that’s not without their duds, as movies like Masters of the Universe limp through their theatrical run and seem destined for a streaming debut faster than you can say “Grayskull.” On top of that, the disastrous Chris Pratt film Mercy only played in theaters for 35 days before it made the switch.
Amazon Has to Treat Bond as Something Special
In the same interview, Hopkins noted that Amazon taking over Bond is one of the big reasons that they even attempted to purchase MGM. Now that they have it and have assembled a great creative team to bring the movie to life, though, they’re in new territory.
“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? And so there was still a lot of work to do. We’re sort of in the bottom half of the first inning, I’d say, of bringing this to life.”
The important thing for Amazon at this stage is two-fold, and it’s a balancing act that trips up even the most savvy of Hollywood studios. Not only does some of the integrity of the Bond series need to be respected as it takes another step forward, but that line needs to be walked very finely so that things are not so slavishly dictated that it cannot grow and evolve.
Take Star Wars for example. When The Walt Disney Company bought Lucasfilm and began developing new movies, the hype was real, and even if time has made fans consider that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was largely a retread of A New Hope, the movie is still one of the highest-grossing of all time, and the biggest domestic hit ever. Annual Star Wars movies, though, almost brought the entire franchise crashing down, in part because of immediate fan backlash to some narrative choices (which continue to be debated today) but largely because it didn’t feel special anymore. As a result, the diminishing returns of Star Wars resulted in this year’s The Mandalorian and Grogu being outgrossed by horror hit Obsession.
So what lesson can Amazon learn from this? Make Bond an event. A new film in the series is a major thing no matter who is playing the part or what studio is releasing it, so treating the series with a sense of gravitas that turns it into a global moment is not only what the series commands but what fans expect. More importantly, though, don’t try to force that event status into something that can be replicated with no downtime. The Adventures of Young Moneypenny spinoff film or a Q-Branch streaming series about how they make all those gadgets may sound like something you want to explore, but you can’t. If you let the genie out of the bottle about the mystique of the series, it will lose its allure and even its cultural staying power.
Let the fact that, not even a month after its release, the latest Star Wars movie is losing almost all of its theaters be a warning sign. There will always be some fans that show up no matter what, but very, very few franchises have the special factor that Star Wars used to have and which Bond still possesses.
By the time Bond 26 is out it will have been at least five years since the last movie in the series, Daniel Craig’s swansong, No Time to Die, which is a great length of time to allow the anticipation to build before you’ve shot a frame. Hopkins’ initial comparison of Amazon’s ownership of Bond being like a baseball game is accurate. Just make sure to play the long game.
