Hundreds of thousands of James Bond followers globally are shaken and stirred by the information: Amazon MGM Studios has gained “inventive management” of the movie franchise. The world’s largest on-line retailer will now decide not solely the subsequent actor to play the Bond character, however your complete path of a franchise that has spanned 63 years and secured billions of {dollars} in field workplace earnings.
The place will the world’s most well-known spy go subsequent? Does this query even matter anymore to so-called “trendy audiences”?
To reply the second query first, Bond’s future does certainly matter drastically to hundreds of thousands of followers. The Bond movies have been seen by at the least 20% of the world’s inhabitants, and the character himself — his tuxedo, his iconic strains, his embodiment of Western masculinity (a great factor in my opinion) — has achieved family standing over the many years. Because the outdated saying goes, males wish to be him, and girls wish to be with him.
For Amazon to steward the Bond franchise in good religion, and never simply as a soulless cash seize à la Disney’s “Star Wars” and Indiana Jones franchises, one factor must be clear: James Bond is not only “content material,” as former inventive controller Barbara Broccoli herself famous.
Bond is a reminiscence handed down from era to era. He’s a relic however one with resonance. For a lot of boys (and even some women), he’s an introduction to masculinity — the great, the dangerous and the ugly. He’s concurrently hero, tragic determine and cautionary story, exhibiting males be one of the best variations of themselves whereas additionally exposing the pitfalls of debauchery, extra and sin.
Bond mustn’t change into simply one other thumbnail for Amazon’s catalog of films and tv reveals. He is not only merchandise or a fast advertising software. Overlook that, and Amazon dangers alienating a fervent Bond fan base. Deal with Bond like mere “content material,” and the dangers will likely be monetary too — decrease field workplace numbers, fewer clicks and a gradual erosion of Bond’s impression on the tradition.
Simply have a look at what occurred to “Star Wars.” Was it higher perceived by followers pre-Disney possession or in the present day, with seemingly limitless spin-offs that devalue the Seventies-era model? What concerning the Indiana Jones franchise, whose last installment — 2023’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Future” — entered and exited mainstream discourse with barely a whimper?
The emphasis needs to be on true fandom. For Amazon MGM Studios to succeed as Bond’s steward, the corporate ought to cater to those that will truly line up on the subsequent movie’s opening weekend and watch YouTube evaluations of the most recent Bond lady. The target market is the fan who could even open an unique novel by Ian Fleming, exploring the character’s humble origins in print.
What Bond’s precise followers are usually not: Individuals who wish to basically change the character. Bond issues as a lot as he does as a result of, because the 1962 launch of “Dr. No,” the viewers has grown to know, like and belief the person on the display — or on the web page, since Fleming’s “On line casino Royale,” in 1953.
If Amazon decides as a substitute to enchantment to those that’ve prompt making the character feminine, homosexual or in any other case not James Bond, they received’t be focusing on followers however a a lot smaller group that wishes to co-opt an iconic character, one they deem offensive to trendy sensibilities, right into a political campaign.
Throughout latest discussions between Broccoli’s Eon Productions and Amazon, one Amazon worker reportedly provided, “I don’t suppose James Bond is a hero.” Her view could symbolize a vocal minority, however it’s a minority nonetheless — and one that may’t be successfully monetized.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has requested his followers on X who they wish to be the subsequent Bond, with Henry Cavill a well-liked alternative early on. Up to now, so good.
The trail ahead for Amazon — and Bond himself — needs to be frequent sense: Don’t repair what isn’t damaged. Persist with the system that made the 007 franchise historical past’s longest operating within the first place. It labored for Fleming and the Broccolis. To cite Barbara Broccoli’s father, Cubby, “Everytime you get caught, return to Fleming.”
In any other case, James Bond will fade into the previous. And Amazon will change into Bond’s biggest villain.
Luka Ladan, who works in PR, is a die–exhausting James Bond fan.
