After 55 years, James Bond still turns heads everywhere he goes. This time, the parties interested in the suave spy are Amazon and Apple.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the two tech companies are the latest entrants in the race to buy 007’s film distribution rights. Several studios have been fighting for the right to the franchise since Spectre released in 2015, the same time Sony’s distribution contract ended.
Despite his age, James Bond remains as hot a ticket as ever. According to the New York Times, the last four films earned a total of $3.5 billion in box office sales. In order to even be in the running, Apple and Amazon might have to fork over Goldfinger levels of moolah. The franchise is said to be worth somewhere between $2-5 billion.
What would Apple or Amazon be able to do with rights to one of the biggest franchises in the world? Could they explore non-film opportunities, such as shows or games? Eon is reportedly uninterested in non-theatrical film opportunities, but if Apple or Amazon were at the reins, who knows what could happen?
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It’s apparently not going to be as simple as showing up and flashing some cash, though. The battle for Bond has seen some pretty creative moves: Sony is rumored to have made their renewal pitch on a stage built to look like a set from “Dr. No.” And siblings Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson — daughter and stepson of the man who brought Bond to film — have final say over everything Bond-related, so Apple and Amazon will need to schmooze those two before they’ll make any headway.
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