(Image Credit: Amazon MGM Studios)
Amazon recently acquired the rights to creative control over the James Bond franchise, and reportedly paid a pretty penny to do so.
How much did Amazon pay for creative control of the James Bond franchise?
According to a new earnings report for Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson’s production company Eon Productions (via Variety), it was revealed that Amazon paid them $20 million for their interests in the James Bond franchise.
“On 20 February 2025, the company entered into an agreement for the sale of its interest in the Bond franchise, all associated assets as well as its subsidiary companies, B24 Limited and B25 Limited. The total consideration for the sale amounted to $20 million (USD),” says the report.
While the $20 million is significantly less than the $1 billion that some had rumored the fee to be, it’s still a large amount. It’s also still unknown exactly how the deal is structured, and whether or not additional things like stock options, profit sharing, or other monetary vehicles are included into the deal that saw Wilson and Broccoli — longtime stewards and producers of the franchise that oversaw creative decisions — hand over control to Amazon.
The agreement between the parties sees Amazon MGM Studios and the duo forming a new joint venture house to house the intellectual property rights for the Bond franchise. The next film in the series remains mostly mysterious, but will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, and written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
The three parties (Amazon, Wilson, and Broccoli) will remain co-owners of the Bond series, but now Amazon MGM Studios will have creative control, something that Broccoli and Wilson had retained before. Prior to the announcement, both Wilson and Broccoli had been known as fiercely protective over the franchise, but in a statement on the move, Wilson noted that he was stepping back to focus more on art and charitable projects, while Broccoli said she would be focusing on other projects now.
(Source: Variety)
