I was shocked to learn that Barbara Broccoli and her half-brother, Michael G. Wilson, have given up creative control of the James Bond films to Amazon.
This is huge. The Bond franchise has always been a family business. It started with Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and later, Cubby passed the reins to both his daughter, Barbara, and son, Michael. They’ve fiercely protected the brand for decades—until now. They’re still part owners, but they no longer have creative control. Amazon can now do whatever it wants with the Bond films without Barbara or Michael’s approval.
That’s massive. I can only imagine the soul-searching and letting go that went into making that decision.
Why Did Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson Step Back?
Michael G. Wilson is 83 and retiring, and Barbara Broccoli, 64, wants to focus on other projects. I read a while back that she’s working on a new production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (please don’t mess that up—it’s already perfection).
Now it makes sense why it’s taking so long to cast a new Bond. It’s been nearly four years since the last James Bond movie, No Time to Die, where Daniel Craig’s Bond was seemingly killed off. (We didn’t see him die, but it was heavily implied.) And actually that’s not the biggest gap between Bond films. There was a six-year gap between Licence to Kill (1989) and GoldenEye (1995) due to legal disputes over the Bond franchise.
Why I Feel Cheated By This News
I feel cheated because Barbara Broccoli was a huge part of why I went on my James Bond movie-watching journey in the first place. Yes, I watched every Bond film produced by EON Productions from 1962 to 2021. As someone who was never a Bond fan, I was surprised to learn that a woman—Barbara Broccoli—was running the franchise. That made me curious–what kind of impact did she have on the womanizer, James Bond, when she took over? So I set out to watch all the movies to see the evolution of Bond throughout the sixty years of Bond films.
Barbara Broccoli seemed to be more involved in the creative process than her brother, and I wanted to see if Bond had evolved at all under her direction as a female. He started out as an unapologetic womanizer, but when Barbara took over in the ’80s, there were some changes, although gradual. The biggest shift happened when Daniel Craig stepped into the role.
It’s funny—I was never a Bond fan before watching all the films, but now? I feel invested. After Daniel Craig’s Bond era, I wanted to see who Barbara Broccoli would choose as the next Bond. She was the one who picked Pierce Brosnan to play the fifth James Bond, and she chose Daniel Craig as the sixth. I felt she had a gift for choosing the right actor for the right time. When she chose Daniel Craig, Bond fans didn’t agree with her choice, but it didn’t take much time for them to feel like he was the perfect choice. Now that Barbara Broccoli is no longer a part of that process, who knows what’s going to happen?!
James Bond Films, It’s The End of An Era
Now that Amazon’s in charge, I have some questions—and concerns.
Will Bond still be British? James Bond is, and always has been uniquely British. EON Productions (the production company that started Bond films) is a British company. James Bond is a British MI6 agent. Ian Fleming, the author who created Bond, was British. Amazon is not British. So what does Amazon know about British spies? Will they keep that part of his identity intact?
With Barbara and Michael stepping away from creative control, it’s the end of an era. I have no idea what Amazon will do with the franchise. It’ll be interesting to find out.
Watching all the James Bond films, from Sean Connery in 1962 to Daniel Craig in 2021, was a fun journey. I wish Barbara and Michael the best in their next ventures. But I have to say—I’m a little nervous about where James Bond goes from here…even though I’m not a true Bond fan.
If you’d like to know why I, a non-Bond fan, am watching all 25 James Bond movies you can read about it in detail here: Who Is The Next James Bond? A Non-Bond Fan Makes Her Prediction.