Following reports of recent talks, James Bond studio MGM has been purchased by Amazon in a deal worth $8.45 billion. The Hollywood studio is almost 100 years old with Amazon saying it will help “preserve MGMs’ heritage and catalogue of films” following the acquisition. Here are the Top 20 MGM movies that will likely be heading to Amazon Prime, in no particular order:
1. The James Bond franchise
2. The Silence of the Lambs
3. Tomb Raider
4. Raging Bull
5. The Pink Panther franchise
6. Rocky franchise
7. Creed franchise
8. Legally Blonde franchise
9. Rain Man
10. Stargate
11. Basic Instinct
12. RoboCop franchise
13. The Birdcage
14. Moonstruck
15. Twelve Angry Men
16. The Magnificent Seven
17. The Thomas Crown Affair
18. Doctor Zhivago
19. Poltergeist
20. Thelma and Louise
MGM’s merger under Amazon means that the tech giant will own 50 per cent of the rights of the Bond franchise.
The other half is under Danjaq, which is co-owned by EON productions’ Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson.
According to Bond news site MI6 HQ, the acquisition will not affect the theatrical release of No Time To Die.
Daniel Craig’s fifth and final Bond movie will be distributed internationally by Universal Pictures with a UK release date of September 30 in cinemas.
Of course, the question is whether post-Craig Amazon will want to create a shared Bond universe across film and TV.
This model has been working very well on Disney+ across that studio’s Marvel and Star Wars properties.
However, it remains to be seen if such a modern move would be viable for a more traditional franchise like Bond, which has far fewer characters than others.
While any such plans would have to be signed off with the Bond producers at EON productions.
Whatever the case, Barbara Broccoli has promised that the next reboot of Bond will be something pretty different to what we’ve seen before.
The producer told Total Film last year: “It will have to be reimagined, in the way each actor has reimagined the role.
“That’s what is so exciting and fun about this franchise; the character evolves.
“Eventually, when we have to think about it, we’ll find the right person.”