When the announcement of the deal between Amazon and MGM was made, the film franchise that got spoken about most in the acquisition is the James Bond film series. While MGM doesn’t own the complete rights for the franchise, as James Bond is creatively controlled by the production duo of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, Amazon is now the parent company of the studio that will distribute the 007 spy films. So, that means, eventually, we’ll be seeing Bond hit streaming exclusively in the future, right? Well, according to Broccoli and Wilson, that’s a negative, dear reader. 007 is sticking to theatrical releases.
READ MORE: Amazon Secures $8.45 Billion Deal To Acquire MGM
According to Variety, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, the creative minds behind the direction of the James Bond film franchise, have once again confirmed that the spy film series is made for a theatrical audience and won’t be streaming-exclusive, despite the fact that Amazon would probably love for that to happen with its Prime Video platform.
“We are committed to continuing to make James Bond films for the worldwide theatrical audience,” Broccoli and Wilson said.
READ MORE: ‘No Time To Die’ Officially Moves To October After Yet Another Delay
Obviously, the deal between Amazon and MGM won’t finalize until 2022, so there’s really no way that the release strategy for “No Time To Die,” Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, will change before its planned October release date. That said, with Disney, WarnerMedia, Universal, and Paramount all making some of their biggest releases either streaming exclusives or being released day-and-date in theaters and online, you would assume that Amazon is hoping to do something similar with its new film studio.
So, while the current statement is that James Bond films are for theatrical audiences, who knows what the future holds? And more immediately, perhaps we could see a much shorter theatrical window for “No Time to Die?” We’ll just have to wait and see.