Who will be the next actor to play 007, the agent with license to kill?
Though that very much hasn’t been decided, James Bond‘s new owners — Amazon MGM — stopped by Las Vegas for CinemaCon, the annual convention of movie theater owners, to talk up the future of Britain’s favorite martini-drinking spy.
“We are committed to honoring the legacy of this iconic character while bringing a fresh, exotic new chapter to audiences around the world alongside Amy [Pascal] and David [Heyman],” the studio’s executives Courtenay Valenti and Sue Kroll said Wednesday night on stage at Caesars Palace. “They’re both in London getting started and couldn’t be here tonight, but we wanted to thank them for what we know to make an incredible partnership.”
Earlier this year, long-time producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli made the shocking decision to step back from the James Bond franchise and cede creative control to Amazon MGM. The three entities, Wilson, Broccoli and Amazon MGM, formed a joint venture to house the intellectual property rights while allowing all three to remain co-owners of the property. Last week, Pascal and Heyman were tapped to produce the next Bond installment.
With Amazon’s $8.5 billion purchase of MGM in 2021, the streamer acquired the rights to distribute all James Bond films but only owned 50% of the franchise and was relegated to being a passive partner in terms of artistic choices. Since Daniel Craig’s fifth and final turn as Bond in 2021’s “No Time to Die,” there has been endless press speculation about the next steps. But that’ll likely change soon, given Pascal and Heyman’s new gigs. They were appointed by Amazon MGM’s head of film Courtenay Valenti, who newly reports to chair Mike Hopkins after Jen Salke’s exit as studio chief.
“James Bond is one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema,” Pascal and Heyman said in a statement about their hiring. “We are humbled to follow in the footsteps of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson who made so many extraordinary films and honored and excited to keep the spirit of Bond very much alive as he embarks on his next adventure.”
