James Bond Movie Writer Concerned MGM Deal Will Hurt the Franchise

Last week brought the news that Amazon was set to acquire legendary film studio MGM for just over $8 billion, a merger that would give the tech-giant turned entertainment producer control of franchises like Rocky, Robocop, Legally Blonde, Fargo, The Pink Panther, and more. Notably this deal would also make Amazon the distributor for MGM's biggest franchise, the James Bond series. Thanks to the decades long deal that has been in place, Amazon doesn't actually own the Bond film series or have a creative say in how the movies are made, but that hasn't stopped some from worrying about how they'll handle Bond moving forward.

Screenwriter John Logan, who previously penned billion dollar grossers Skyfall and SPECTRE, penned an op-ed in The New York Times decrying the acquisition and crying foul about Amazon's potential interference in the James Bond series. "I know that Bond isn't just another franchise, not a Marvel or a DC; it is a family business that has been carefully nurtured and shepherded through the changing times by the Broccoli/Wilson family," Logan wrote. "The reason we're still watching Bond movies after more than 50 years is that the family has done an extraordinary job of protecting the character through the thickets of moviemaking and changing public tastes. Corporate partners come and go, but James Bond endures. He endures precisely because he is being protected by people who love him."

Logan theorizes that despite an agreement by Amazon that EON Productions will maintain "artistic control" of the series, nothing is stopping them from changing their mind down the road. This is certainly possible in the long run, but considering the power that producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson wield, seems unlikely.

Logan noted that after acquiring major franchises "companies tend to want more, not better," pointing to Disney's expansion of Star Wars as an example. He also said that studio data and analytics used to make movies have more mass appeal and be more palatable are what kills them in the end, and he's worried that could happen to Bond.

"The movie becomes an inoffensive shadow of a thing, not the thing itself," he added. "There are no more rough edges or flights of cinematic madness. The fire and passion are gradually drained away as original ideas and voices are subsumed by commercial concerns, corporate oversight and polling data....Bond's not 'content,' and he's not a mere commodity. He has been a part of our lives for decades now."

No Time to Die, the next James Bond movie, is scheduled to be released on October 8, 2021 in the United States.