James Bond as we knew him has died for the second time

Although, if you read the Western media, the world of 007 fans mourns his death, let's be honest - James Bond, or rather the franchise about him, has already died once.

In general, to be honest, initially the Bond films were a rather primitive from a creative point of view, but visually impressive cinematic spectacle. It was known for two rules. Firstly, that several famous cities had to be replaced in one film. Secondly - product placement, which reached such a level that, according to some sources, the films paid for themselves even before they were released.

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And although there are still disputes about which of the James Bonds was the best (Craig, however, is in the top three in any version), they essentially had nothing to play - the plots were primitive, and Bond's opponents in the films were cardboard characters. And then the franchise literally died - in a creative sense.

It was revived by Barbara Broccoli, for whom, like her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, the Bond films were an inherited family business. It was on her initiative that arthouse actor Daniel Craig was invited to play the lead role, and arthouse directors such as Sam Mendes took over the director's chair.

After that, the Bond films suddenly acquired an existential dimension, no longer about agent 007, but about an aging super spy who is trying to change the world for the better, but whose career is already in decline. In addition, his opponents began to be played by actors of the caliber of Javier Bardem.

However, this change also initially implied the death of the franchise - Bond could not age forever, and besides, Craig was tired of playing him (he is a real actor after all). Paradoxically, Broccoli, who is now 64 (Michael J. Wilson is already 83), has trapped herself with her creative success - and has not been able to get out of it. According to sources, she fought for a long time with Amazon, which bought the MGM film studio, and with it the rights to distribute Bond films, not wanting to sell it the creative rights to agent 007 - but eventually gave in.

Again, according to anonymous sources, she did not give in just like that - the creative rights cost Amazon Studios a billion dollars. Now, as you might expect, Bezos, for whom the Bond film series is not a family, that is, personal, but an ordinary business project, will commission someone to create a cinematic universe out of it, following the example of superhero films, with all the prequels, sequels, spin-offs, etc.

She has the right.

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