Alex Ritman, with blockbuster news at Variety:

Amazon MGM Studios is set to take creative control of the James Bond franchise. The shock announcement — which is sure to shake and, indeed, stir the industry — was made Thursday, alongside the news that long-time producers and custodians of 007, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, would be stepping back.

As per details of the historic agreement, Amazon MGM Studios, Wilson and Broccoli have formed a new joint venture to house the James Bond intellectual property rights. The three parties will remain co-owners of the iconic franchise but Amazon MGM will have creative control.

The villains in Bond stories are often bald billionaire industrialists who either build rockets or own media companies, with lasciviously-dressed women on their arms. It’s hard to imagine how we could come closer to a real-life Bond villain taking control of the franchise. (At least it wasn’t Musk.)

“Nepo babies” is a term that tends only to be used pejoratively, but family ownership is a proven model to nurture and maintain — to protect — exceptional companies with exceptional cultures. Berkshire Hathaway owns several where their agreements not only allowed, but encouraged, the families to maintain control post-acquisition. See’s Candies comes to mind. This letter from Warren Buffet describes their strategy. But Berkshire is itself an exceptional company. Most corporate conglomerate acquisitions of creator/family-run endeavors wreak devastation upon everything that made those smaller operations unique and special. Look at what’s happened to The Washington Post now that Bezos owns it. There’s much to complain about The New York Times in general, and current publisher A.G. Sulzberger in particular (sixth generation of family control since Adolph Ochs bought the paper in 1896), but The Times is still The Times.

Heretofore, Barbara Broccoli did that with the 007 franchise. The output was uneven under her and Wilson’s producing stewardship, but the Daniel Craig era was a splendid return to form. There’s no other movie franchise like it. The closest is Mission Impossible but that franchise is a distant second place, in my mind. It lacks a certain magic, a timeless but yet somehow always modern je ne sais quoi of the 007 franchise. Always the same, but somehow always fresh.

I expect Amazon to bleed it dry, alas. Spinoffs and “universe” expansion galore, of generally low quality in all regards: writing, casting, production values. But most of all I expect they’ll make the same fundamental mistake Disney has made with Star Wars — instead of leaving us craving more, they’ll produce as much dreck as they can and leave us saying “enough, stop”, with the occasional gems fighting for attention in a river of downright embarrassing unwatchable crap. Somehow they managed to ruin Boba Fett.

What’s the best original show or movie Amazon has ever made? The Peripheral was pretty good but they cancelled after its first season. Reacher is fun but it’s junk-food fun, not serious fun. Amazon taking control of James Bond is like McDonald’s taking over a great steakhouse chain like Del Frisco’s.

I have a bad feeling about this.