Daniel Craig in “Dying Can Wait”. – Universal France
My name is Bond, James Bond and I’m worth almost $ 9 billion. Indeed, Amazon will buy the famous Hollywood studio MGM, whose most famous current franchise is James Bond, for the trifle of 8.45 billion dollars. The retail giant is thus getting its hands on a vast catalog, able to pursue its streaming ambitions with its Prime Video platform. It is the second most expensive acquisition in Amazon’s history after buying US supermarkets Whole Foods for $ 13.7 billion in 2017.
A treasure trove of intellectual property
“MGM has nearly a century of cinematic history and complements the work of Amazon Studios, which has primarily focused on producing TV show programs,” commented Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video. and Amazon Studios. The true financial value of this deal is the full catalog intellectual property treasure that we plan to reinvent and develop with the talented team at MGM. “
James Bond in cinema, streaming or both?
However, Amazon assures that it will help “to preserve the heritage and the catalog of films of MGM, and will offer to the customers a better access to these existing works”. Like many American movie studios, MGM has suffered greatly from the Covid-19 pandemic and the prolonged closure of movie theaters around the world.
It remains to know the strategy of Amazon on films like James Bond, streaming or cinema… or both? Initially expected in theaters in March 2020, Agent 007’s latest opus, To die can wait, has seen its release postponed several times and should finally be released from September 30 … in theaters.