James Bond bosses 'don't know' how Amazon deal will impact franchise

James Bond bosses "don't know" what Amazon's purchase of MGM Studios means for the franchise.

The online giant are awaiting approval from the Federal Trade Commission for their $8.45 billion agreement to buy the film company, which jointly owns the spy saga with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson's Eon and though the production company appears to still hold creative control, the producers admitted they haven't yet spoken with Amazon as to their vision for the future of the beloved series.

Barbara said: “The truth is we don’t know. Until the deal is approved and we are able to get into deep discussions with them we don’t know. At the moment we’re not really any more enlightened about what they want to do and how they see things and how we fit in."

Although Barbara "hopes" Amazon are still going to push for "strong" theatrical releases, she just doesn't know.

She added to Sunday Times culture magazine: “We’re hoping that they are going to want a strong theatrical line-up. Let us hope that’s the case, but we won’t know until later this year, or next year, what the plans are.”

Some fans are concerned the franchise faces dilution with multiple spin-offs and TV series, as was the case with 'Star Wars' after being bought by Disney, and Barbara admitted it is something they have always tried to avoid with Bond.

She said: "“We haven’t done that because, for us, Bond is the character — it would be like doing Hamlet without Hamlet.

"We’ve been interested in making Bond films and they take a long time to make and a lot goes into them. That’s why they’ve survived almost 60 years. We’ll see what the future brings, but who knows?”

When the Amazon/MGM deal was announced, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos admitted he was looking forward to "reimagining and develop" some of the studio's "much-loved" content.

He said: "MGM has a catalogue of much-loved intellectual property. We can reimagine and develop that IP for the 21st century."