Apple allegedly making big push for $5 billion James Bond 007 movie franchise rights

After a 2015 expiration of the last deal for the James Bond 007 film franchise, a new report claims that Apple, Amazon, and Warner Bros. are sparring over production rights for future films.

An account published by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday notes that Apple's emergence into the bidding process is forcing Warner Bros. to press MGM and Eon "hard" to close a deal for the franchise. Sources claim that the future of the franchise is at stake, beyond just film rights.

Reportedly, Apple's new hires of ex-Sony Television Studios executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are driving the effort. They may be fighting an uphill battle, as Eon producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson "remain traditional" in thinking, and appear to be most focused on theatrical movies, rather than digital distribution deals, or migration to a television series format.

MGM has recently secured Daniel Craig to return, after the actor said that he would never return to the role. The next film in the series is expected to release on Nov. 8, 2019.

"Apple is the biggest digital outlet for movies," United Talent Agency's Yale Chasin said to The Hollywood Reporter on background. "I think they are always present in the conversation whether they're upfront or behind any other distributor out there that's turning to them for real control in the digital market."

If Apple is in the running for the franchise, it isn't about profitability. In an email released during the Sony hack and document dump, the former head of Sony's business affairs noted that Bond flick Spectre needed to gross $1.1 billion to earn the studio $35 million. The film actually garnered around $900 million in ticket sales.

Valuation of the franchise is said to be between $2 billion and $5 billion.

Sony programming attributed to Apple executives Van Amburg and Erlicht include "The Blacklist," AMC's "Breaking Bad" companion and spin-off "Better Call Saul," and Netflix's "The Crown."

Other less standard deals for the pair include the revival of "Timeless" after its cancellation by NBC, plus migration of "Community" from NBC to Yahoo, "Unforgettable" from CBS to A&E, and "Damages" from FX to DirecTV.

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41 Comments

SpamSandwich 19 Years · 32917 comments

About 7 years ago

If accurate, I really don't understand the thinking behind this. These new guys need to think like a lean startup, not a flush with cash arm of Apple. That's a sure fire way to lose your shirt going into negotiations. But hey, it's not THEIR money, right? Jeez.

wigby 15 Years · 692 comments

sog35 said:

SpamSandwich said:

If accurate, I really don't understand the thinking behind this. These new guys need to think like a lean startup, not a flush with cash arm of Apple. That's a sure fire way to lose your shirt going into negotiations. But hey, it's not THEIR money, right? Jeez.

act like a start up? Why?

Apple is already a decade behind Netflix.

Apple has $250 billion in cash. At this point time is more valuable than money. Its the same reason they bought Beats instead of growing their own streaming platform.

I have no problem with Apple spending HUGE cash in growing their video platform.

As a shareholder I see them spending billions on content as an investment.

I disagree that they are in a race. All it takes is one hit 5 years from now and Apple will be setup and ready to go. No need to rush good content. Good stories and storytellers will always be valued and Netflix does not have any kind of monopoly on that.

In the meantime, they can throw their cash around as a negotiating tactic. They might not even be serious but by upping the bidding, they can damage their competition. Of course that also raises prices for us too eventually.

ireland 18 Years · 17436 comments

It’s not clear with this article what’s meant. Obviously the streaming rights aren’t $5B. And if not it should be more clear. It’s also not clear by how it’s written whether Spectre lost the studio money or eared it $900M.

christopher126 16 Years · 4366 comments

Daniel Craig certainly gave new life to a tired franchise. Prior to him it had become too stupid and cartoonish.

Mike Wuerthele 8 Years · 6906 comments

ireland said:

It’s not clear with this article what’s meant. Obviously the streaming rights aren’t $5B. And if not it should be more clear. It’s also not clear by how it’s written whether Spectre lost the studio money or eared it $900M.

You have what we have -- and the original (linked) source is less clear.

Also, the studio hasn't said what it earned or lost on Spectre.