
Apple, Amazon Join Race for James Bond Film Rights - tim_sw
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/apple-amazon-join-race-james-bond-film-rights-1035539
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mortenjorck

      Some observers feel that the franchise, by only limiting 
      itself to theatrical movies, remains vastly under-utilized by 
      21st century standards, where expectations are to exploit IP 
      across all mediums, push out merchandising for all age 
      brackets and have spin-offs and cinematic universes.
    

As unlikely as it may seem for Apple to be bidding on the rights to 007 in the
first place, it seems vastly _less_ likely for Apple to use them for anything
less focused than a franchise of films or an iTunes-exclusive TV series.
Disney-level, cross-media IP exploitation has to be among the most foreign
concepts I can imagine for the company.

~~~
achamayou
Not sure why they'd think that, there's been video games (some good ones,
even), there are regular limited edition watch releases, perfume, there's
plenty of product placement in the movies themselves (cars, bikes, drinks...).
Could they do much more of it without going over the top? It's not that clear.

~~~
smegel
> spin-offs and cinematic universes.

I suspect it is about this. TV shows, spin-off movies based on Felix...

But I think that would tarnish the brand. Bond has always been about long-
awaited epic movies, not yearly re-hashes of the same stuff.

~~~
pamqzl
So was Star Wars. But it turns out it's more profitable as the latter.

~~~
smegel
I'm pretty sure Bond has grossed a lot more than Star Wars. I wonder how
profitable Star Wars will be after the 24th installment. I'm guessing not
very.

~~~
nickonline
You'd be wrong.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-
grossing_films...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-
grossing_films#Highest-grossing_franchises_and_film_series)

Imagine how much further ahead Star Wars will be after the 24th installment

~~~
smegel
> The films in the cross-franchise Marvel Cinematic Universe have collectively
> grossed the most, amassing over $12 billion at the box office, although the
> Eon James Bond films have earned over $14 billion in total when adjusted to
> current prices

I'm not even sure Star Wars is in the top 3.

And I think interest will wane after the current crop of movies being ~12 let
alone 24. Its all character exploitation at this point, and there aren't many
left who's lives haven't been explored yet.

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Animats
Charles Stross points out that too many major real-world figures are like Bond
villains now.[1]

[1] [http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2017/07/paging-a...](http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-
static/2017/07/paging-agent-007.html)

~~~
_pmf_
I'll just leave this here:
[http://imgur.com/gallery/Lww4Z](http://imgur.com/gallery/Lww4Z)

~~~
odiroot
So he went from friendly Kevin Spacey to skinny Dwayne Johnson?

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frik
Can we get a 'British Gentleman' as actor for reboot of James Bond franchise?

like previously Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan

All the James Bond USP got lost in recent years - where is the humor, the
British gentleman behavior, the spectacular but not unrealistic script, etc ?
So is James Bond really about a blond short humorless brutallo with little
charisma? I don't think so.

~~~
modeless
Idris Elba is the only person I want to see as the next Bond.

~~~
ablation
100% agreed with this. He would be a superb choice.

~~~
pamqzl
Sure, as long as we can have a white Shaft.

Seriously though, Britishness (in the genetic sense) is a fundamental part of
James Bond's character. He isn't just British by citizenship, he's emblematic
of Britain.

~~~
coob
There's no such thing as 'Britishness in the genetic sense'.

Idris Elbra is as British as they come.

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daviddumenil
This article reads like a thinly veiled attempt by MGM to encourage two more
bidders into the race.

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gehsty
Disney seem to be the only company capable of taking stewardship of such huge
important characters in a way that keeps fans happy.

They seem to understand that they need to respect the history of the IP and
allow the brand to grow in as high quality way possible. Look at Marvel and
Star Wars, both huge success stories.

In fact if Disney got Bond, the only mega IP / Brand / Universe I can think of
outside of their control would be Harry Potter, and as a huge Harry Potter
fan, I’d much rather HP was with Disney than Warner Bros.

~~~
ryanwaggoner
DC Universe?

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gehsty
I guess, I’m not that big into comic books, most of my exposure has been
through cinema and the DC universe movies have overall been very
disappointing... Characters like Superman and Batman are up there with the
biggest & best of them though.

Who do you think would be a good steward for the DC Universe?

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shmerl
_> But the emergence of Apple — which is considered such a viable competitor
that Warners is now pressing MGM hard to close a deal — and Amazon shows that
the digital giants consider Bond one of the last untapped brands (like a
Marvel, Pixar or Lucasfilm) that could act as a game-changer in the content
space._

So Apple want to get into film publishing business? Expect them to become DRM
sick even more than they are now.

~~~
morganvachon
I generally agree with your posts but in this case I think you're forgetting
that Apple (specifically, Steve Jobs) was squarely behind the big push to
remove DRM from online music sales about 10 years ago[1]. Apple forced all the
major and several indie record labels to remove DRM over the following years.
That's not "DRM sick", that's about as healthy and consumer friendly as it
gets.

[1]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070207234839/www.apple.com/hot...](https://web.archive.org/web/20070207234839/www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic)

~~~
shmerl
Indeed, but that was a long time ago. Today they are pro-DRM way more. For
instance, Apple Music has it.

~~~
morganvachon
All music streaming services use DRM, out of necessity; it's a service of
convenience. You don't buy the songs, you listen to a broadcast of them.
Consumer ownership doesn't apply, and if you _do_ want to buy DRM-free songs,
Apple and many other digital music vendors will gladly sell them to you. That
way you don't have to use Apple Music or any other encumbered service.

~~~
shmerl
DRM has nothing to do with convenience or streaming. There are DRM-free
services which provide convenience of streaming all the same (Bandcamp for
example).

You probably meant that DRM is related to renting (which again, is completely
orthogonal to streaming, see above). I find the concept of digital renting to
be weird in itself anyway, and the fact that it drags DRM along demonstrates
it.

