After ousting the previous shepherds of the 007 film franchise, Amazon has finally installed a new director to helm the next leg of the series: Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve, known recently for the Dune franchise and the reboot of Blade Runner in 2017.
In an Amazon press release, Villeneuve said, “Some of my earliest movie-going memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr. No with Sean Connery. I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honour the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honour. Amy, David, and I are absolutely thrilled to bring him back to the screen. Thank you to Amazon MGM Studios for their trust.”
What the world’s waiting on next is the announcement of the next actor who will be playing the iconic spy character. Things seem to be progressing quite quickly for the franchise, so we might see that sooner rather than later. That said, Villeneuve is currently working on his final Dune film with a 2026 release date, so I expect we won’t see this new James Bond movie for at least two and a half years.
All of this comes after Amazon’s battle with the Broccoli family that ended in the retail giant paying the owners of the Bond franchise a billion dollars on top of already paying over $8 billion for the MGM studio a few years before that. In a report that came out around last Christmas, Broccoli allegedly called Amazon’s team of execs “fucking idiots” and pushed back on all of their ideas to dilute the brand with spin-off shows instead of keeping it as a tentpole cinema experience.
After that story went live, Jeff Bezos reportedly told staff to get rid of Broccoli at any cost, and that cost ended up being a billion dollars. So hopefully Villeneuve is the right man to pick up this mantle after all the turmoil. He has the right track record, but there will be a lot of expectations on this film to live up to the legacy of Casino Royale and Skyfall for a lot of fans.
Source: Amazon
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