Dear friends and readers, we’re here again. As what we know about James Bond 26 has us on the hook waiting to find out what happens next, it’s anyone’s guess how the Amazon-MGM Studios/EON Productions deal will affect the franchise overall.
Admittedly it’s not a fun place to be, but we’ve seen this sort of thing happen before throughout Commander Bond’s cinematic tenure. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the 007 delays that saw a changing of the guard and what we might be able to learn from them to help understand the current turmoil.
1989 - 1995: License To Kill…And Resurrect
The first massive delay, and the one that currently holds the record for the longest run without a James Bond movie, is the gap between 1989’s License To Kill and 1995’s Goldeneye. With this period in time, the main thrust of this delay came from MGM/UA being in such financial trouble, it led to an acquisition of the studio.
Eventual buyer Pathé Communications (under the stewardship of then-CEO Giancarlo Parretti) then made a huge mistake. Per the details from lawsuits such as the one Variety reported in 1991, producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli sued what was known as MGM/Pathe Communications for trying to sell off the rights to the then 17 film-deep catalogue of 007 adventures, and at cut rate prices.
By the time that debacle was settled though, Timothy Dalton had gone back and forth about returning as James Bond. With his contract expired by time the dust had settled, the License to Kill star had decided he wanted to come back for just one more installment. Which led to this revelation that Dalton provided to The Week:
[Broccoli] asked if I would come back, and I said, 'Well, I've actually changed my mind a little bit. I think that I'd love to do one. Try and take the best of the two that I have done, and consolidate them into a third.' And he said, quite rightly, 'Look, Tim. You can't do one. There's no way, after a five-year gap between movies that you can come back and just do one. You'd have to plan on four or five.' And I thought, oh, no, that would be the rest of my life. Too much. Too long. So I respectfully declined.
It all ended up leading to Pierce Brosnan’s near-casting in The Living Daylights becoming a reality for 1995’s Goldeneye. But of course, it didn’t take too long to throw things off the rails yet again.
2002 - 2006: James Bond Dies Another Day
It must have felt good to be back to the halcyon days of a James Bond picture releasing roughly every two years. After Goldeneye’s box office success, Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond would appear in three more movies, marking his exit with 2002’s Die Another Day. A widely panned, but still profitable movie, it was the end of the former Remington Steele’s contract with the tuxedo - though he was hoping to extend his time.
Unfortunately, the surprise firing of Pierce Brosnan came as he was making 2004’s After the Sunset. A confluence of other factors, like Sony’s part in the purchasing of MGM and the reaction to Die Another Day, pushed the beginning of the next chapter to 2005 - when Daniel Craig’s James Bond was officially announced through the production of Casino Royale.
For once, legal wrangling worked in the favor of Commander Bond in this respect thanks to Sony’s negotiations for Spider-Man’s cinematic rights in 1999. While Sony and MGM would break up, they’d still co-distribute the Craig Bond films until 2021’s No Time to Die, which would find itself beset by a totally different kind of problem.
2015 - 2021: Spectre And No Time To Die’s Extended Dance With Death
Things plugged along with Daniel Craig as James Bond, so much so that Quantum of Solace’s scriptless production start showed that all involved were dedicated to making it happen. But by the time 2015’s Spectre rolled around, the wait was about to grow much longer. As the physical toll of 007 wore on Mr. Craig, the delay between his final two entries had some thinking he wouldn’t return.
One final entry would bring Daniel Craig back to fulfill a request he made after the premiere of Casino Royale. After wrapping No Time To Die in 2019, the Munich actor summed it up in two words: “It’s done.” Of course, the delay on the 25th Bond adventure became even more prolonged thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the world, and it pushed the early 2020 release into late 2021.
2021 - ???: Amazon-MGM Studios’ Big Win Throws James Bond’s Future Into Question
Even someone as resilient as Commander Bond can be difficult to resurrect. That's one of the hurdles facing the series' theatrical future, as No Time To Die threw the cinematic super spy his greatest challenge yet: permadeath.
While the continuity of 007 has always been odd to follow, the Daniel Craig era’s focus on serialization gave us an evolving story that led to an actual conclusion. Most presumed that challenge was the main roadblock between the world and Bond 26, but a new story would eventually start to unfold.
That tale is one that’s still being written as we speak, as 2021’s formation of Amazon-MGM Studios led to a fundamental misunderstanding. Much like the MGM-Pathé Communications era, the e-commerce giant’s acquisition of James Bond distributor/co-owner led to a misunderstanding that 007 was open for business, no questions asked.
In more recent times, and in the wake of the latest gigantic power shift surrounding the legendary IP, new twists have cropped up that draw a clearer picture. After years of the supposed stalemate between Barbara Broccoli and Amazon-MGM execs, a $1 bil. deal created a joint venture between the studio and EON Productions.
Ownership of the James Bond movies was split between both entities, with the biggest twist of all coming in Broccoli and co-producer Michael G. Wilson’s decision to retire and step back from the 007 legacy. Creative control now rests in the hands of Amazon-MGM Studios, which may or may not have been prompted by Jeff Bezos’ rumored position on Barbara Broccoli.
It was clear that both parties involved did not agree how to move forward, resulting in a deal that will very much define the shape of things to come. At the moment, there's been no immediate movement on how Bond 26 will come together, but the subject is of intense scrutiny. Indeed it feels like 007 fans have been brought full circle back to that first huge delay after License to Kill, with the clock still ticking and the mysteries still growing.
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