007 heading to streaming? Amazon buys MGM for $8.45 billion!

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  • HildebrandRarityHildebrandRarity Centre international d'assistance aux personnes déplacées, Paris, France
    Posts: 467
    The right question is how prickly Brian Cox is usually with his projects. As his memoirs and his interviews show, he can be quite vocal about how much he didn't like working with somebody.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    Red_Snow wrote: »
    Burgess wrote: »
    ‘Succession’ Star Brian Cox Joins Prime Video’s Upcoming James Bond Competition Show ‘007’s Road To A Million’

    https://deadline.com/2023/04/succession-star-brian-cox-prime-video-james-bond-show-007-road-to-a-million-1235334673/

    How picky is Brian Cox usually with his projects?

    I would assume he is getting paid a serious amount of money to show up on a soundstage for maybe a week and record voice over and maybe some instructions to the contestants while sitting in an obnoxious chair. There’s zero chance he’ll be on location and/or actually interact with contestants. So to him it’s probably more close to a commercial than a proper acting job.

    As for the streaming bubble discussion that went of here a while ago (I took a break from this place for a little while): It definitely looks like the boom days are over. For years all you heard was „The streamers need content. They’ll take anything to build up their library. The more prominent the tagline/IP/actors, the better. Money doesn’t matter, they’ll make it back on the backend.“ It’s quite surprising that something like that can still happen in what is generally considered a pretty corporatised and risk-averse industry by now. You’d think that the money people would have seen that there isn’t enough on the backend to actually go around and finance all this. It seems like they all thought individually their streamer would be the one to come out on top and get hundreds of millions of consistent subscriptions worldwide and then everything is fine. Especially when everyone was going kn about how they now have so much more data to pin-point viewer interest to the specific minute of individual projects, they seem to have done just about nothing useful with that data and just bought everything they could get their hands on.
    The first cannon shot in the regression seems to have been the Warner-Discovery thing where the lawyers and MBAs figured out that in some cases not publishing s project or pulling it from their streamer is actually financially beneficial. Before that everyone seems to have thought „well, it doesn’t really cost us anything to just bung it on the server and maybe a handful of people will stay subscribed to watch it, so it’ll make money somehow“ and then they realised they can get tax write-offs and it actually does cost money to keep stuff in the library and more importantly it cost a lot of money to get it in the first place.
    At the same time, the creatives realised their entire business model is upside down now that a show or film is sold to a streamer once (or produced directly by them) and that’s it. No royalties or syndication. And if the time where you at least got every project greenlit you ever wanted is over, that’s a problem.
    So now the taps are closing and the writers are striking. Amazon seems to be largely unaffected by that as of now, since they have more money than god anyway. But we’ll see how long they can keep getting scammed by producers (still can’t believe the bought 10 hour-long episodes of Citadel for 150 million and ended up getting 6 45-Minute episodes for the bargain price of 300 million…) until the Bezos pulls the plug on at least the current leadership and philosophy.
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,494
    Kevin Wilson Named Head of Theatrical Distribution at Amazon and MGM Studios
    https://variety.com/2023/film/news/amazon-mgm-studios-kevin-wilson-head-of-theatrical-distribution-1235594558/

    “We are at a very dynamic and exciting time now that the integration of the MGM film group and Amazon Studios is complete,” Valenti wrote, announcing that the studios’ theatrical distribution groups have officially been combined “into one unified team.”

    Wilson steps into the role following the death of Erik Lomis, who served as MGM’s head of theatrical distribution amid the studio’s acquisition by Amazon. Lomis died in March at 64.

    “Erik Lomis’ passing was a tremendously sad moment and profound loss for all who knew and worked with him,” Valenti wrote. “But we are very fortunate that Kevin Wilson, Erik’s partner and colleague of many years, will be head of theatrical distribution.”

    In his new role, Wilson will oversee Amazon and MGM Studios’ domestic theatrical distribution strategy, reporting to Valenti.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    Hopefully a good sign.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    Should be a good sign, yeah. Accoring to the THR piece about the Amazon shambles a few weeks back, Broccoli was most concerned (or rather annoyed) with how the distribution side would shake out after the merger. With Lomis sadly passed this seems like the best possible solution from EON's point of view in having someone there they've already worked with.
    I obviously only know this from the trades and tealeaf-reading, but at the end it seems like BB got a group close to what she wanted at the head of MGM with Valenti, Kroll and Wilson. It still remains to be seen how close to the mothership they have to play everything, but the basis of a good working relationship between EON and MGM seems to be there. Now they just have to weather this strike and actually start producing a film.
  • Posts: 309
    Wasn’t sure where to put this…

    https://variety.com/2023/film/global/rebel-wilson-james-bond-audition-senior-year-1235624156/amp/

    “ Wilson explained that she had to clear some Bond-related jokes with the producers ahead of the awards, which put them in direct contact and ultimately led to an audition.

    “What was really cool was getting to audition for Bond,” said Wilson, who stressed that the role she went for wasn’t actually James Bond, but rather another character in the movie. The audition took place last year, though the star played coy about whether or not she landed the gig.”



  • Posts: 309
    While this isn’t definitive evidence that Bond 26 is anywhere near production, I never really believed Barbara Broccoli when she said no work had been done on the next film. The easiest way to avoid answering questions is to deny that there’s anything to report.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    Posts: 2,895
    If it was an audition, she can't have got the job or she wouldn't be talking about it now, right?
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,482
    Thanks for sharing @Burgess

    Not sure how I feel about Rebel Wilson in Bond film, it seems like stunt casting they did away with after the Brosnan era. She's alright in comedies but she's essentially a comedic actor

    Exciting about the potential of Bond 26 moving forwards behind the scenes if true
  • Posts: 6,682
    Rebel Wilson IS Q
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,050
    Jordo007 wrote: »
    Thanks for sharing @Burgess

    Not sure how I feel about Rebel Wilson in Bond film, it seems like stunt casting they did away with after the Brosnan era. She's alright in comedies but she's essentially a comedic actor

    Exciting about the potential of Bond 26 moving forwards behind the scenes if true

    I'd say that stunt casting was on full display in the last 3 movies, particularly with the Oscar-winning villains.
  • LucknFateLucknFate 007 In New York
    Posts: 1,419
    Someone could write a book about all these "Bond auditions" over the years. The producers should be more explicit when they invite folks to what's probably just lunch.
  • Posts: 309
    My completely unsubstantiated guess is that we’ll get a director and release date announcement—similar to Casino Royale’s early 2005 press release—sometime this Fall, after the writer’s strike ends.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 13,879
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Rebel Wilson IS Q
    Yeah I can see this, would be great.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    Even with a reboot, Eon didn’t really go for bringing back Miles Messervy or Major Boothroyd, opting for whole new characters for different dynamics. Rebel Wilson possibly auditioning for Q is sort of in that same wheelhouse.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 5,921
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Rebel Wilson IS Q

    No, Rebel Wilson IS May.
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,494
    @MaxCasino Do you have the direct link to Road To A Million Amazon listing?
  • zebrafishzebrafish <°)))< in Octopussy's garden in the shade
    edited August 2023 Posts: 4,311
    Who are the contestants, how and when were they cast? Most members on this forum would at least get their bond trivia right.
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,050
    Red_Snow wrote: »
    @MaxCasino Do you have the direct link to Road To A Million Amazon listing?

    No unfortunately.
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,494
    zebrafish wrote: »
    Who are the contestants, how and when were they cast? Most members on this forum would at least get their bond trivia right.

    They were cast last year.



  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,050
  • MalloryMallory Do mosquitoes have friends?
    Posts: 2,035
    Let’s hope cracking on with B26 is top of his to do list.
  • Red_SnowRed_Snow Australia
    Posts: 2,494
    Wont be much cracking on until the strikes are over.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Bond 26 has just been listed days after this news.

    https://www.productionweekly.com/
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,050
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Bond 26 has just been listed days after this news.

    https://www.productionweekly.com/

    With hopefully the writer's strike ending soon, I think we'll maybe get some true rumors by the end of the year.
  • Jordo007Jordo007 Merseyside
    Posts: 2,482
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Bond 26 has just been listed days after this news.

    https://www.productionweekly.com/

    Seems like some progress. Obviously the strikes change the timeframe but for context, does anyone knows how long it takes from listing this to actual production news (casting and stuff)
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 7,999
    Jordo007 wrote: »
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Bond 26 has just been listed days after this news.

    https://www.productionweekly.com/

    Seems like some progress. Obviously the strikes change the timeframe but for context, does anyone knows how long it takes from listing this to actual production news (casting and stuff)

    I figure once the strikes are resolved the first bit of news we’ll ever hear is who’s hired to direct and what the release date is.

    If we should expect a Fall 2025 release, I don’t think we’ll hear about casting until Fall 2024.
  • MaxCasino wrote: »
    Bond 26 has just been listed days after this news.

    https://www.productionweekly.com/

    Does anyone here have access to Production Weekly? I wonder what the status of the movie is according to them and which producers they’re listing.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    edited September 2023 Posts: 7,999
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Bond 26 has just been listed days after this news.

    https://www.productionweekly.com/

    Does anyone here have access to Production Weekly? I wonder what the status of the movie is according to them and which producers they’re listing.

    It’s just a list of film titles greenlit by studios, the only real significance of that list is that “Bond 26” has now been added.

    MGM, like other studio projects, is likely laying the groundwork for a potential Bond 26 pre-production, so that in the event that both the strikes are resolved, things will then already be set for writers to start/resume work and castings being announced. But don’t expect Eon to make any big announcements until both strikes are resolved.
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