Amazon is buying MGM for $8.45 billion.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

 

From the AP link...

Quote

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Online shopping giant Amazon is buying MGM, the movie and TV studio behind James Bond, “Legally Blonde” and “Shark Tank,” with the hopes of filling its video streaming service with more stuff to watch.

 

Amazon is paying $8.45 billion for MGM, making it the company’s second-largest acquisition after it bought grocer Whole Foods for nearly $14 billion in 2017.

 

The deal is the latest in the media industry that’s aimed at boosting streaming services to compete against Netflix and Disney+. AT&T and Discovery announced last week that they would combine media companies, creating a powerhouse that includes HGTV, CNN, Food Network and HBO.

 

//snip

If it weren't for the Handmaid's Tale and Creed, I would have forgotten MGM still existed.

[Xenon]

It wouldn't surprise me if there is now gonna be a James Bond reboot as a Prime Series.

[McCordRm]

I was about to bring up that very thing. I'm  not sure if I should be worried about

an Amazon-run James Bond. We'll see.

[Steven P. Administrators]

1 hour ago, Xenon said:

It wouldn't surprise me if there is now gonna be a James Bond reboot as a Prime Series.

 

14 minutes ago, McCordRm said:

I was about to bring up that very thing. I'm  not sure if I should be worried about

an Amazon-run James Bond. We'll see.

MGM doesn't own the James Bond franchise outright, they co-own it. "Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli own EON Productions Limited which is the UK based production company that makes the James Bond films." source: https://www.eon.co.uk/james-bond/

[SidVicious]

21 minutes ago, Steven P. said:

 

MGM doesn't own the James Bond franchise outright, they co-own it. "Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli own EON Productions Limited which is the UK based production company that makes the James Bond films." source: https://www.eon.co.uk/james-bond/

They can now have a Neo-Bond. 

Ok, i'm out.

[Xenon]

27 minutes ago, Steven P. said:

 

MGM doesn't own the James Bond franchise outright, they co-own it. "Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli own EON Productions Limited which is the UK based production company that makes the James Bond films." source: https://www.eon.co.uk/james-bond/

The more I think about it, the more I wish that ownership of it would change. It could use some new blood. 

[George P Global Moderator]

MGM was bought up some Sony led group back in 2004 if I'm not wrong.  For around $3-$4 billion (if you add in the debt as well), so this isn't the first time someone's grabbed it.  And MGM has a pretty big library that Amazon can now dip into.   These streaming wars are going to end up giving us, more or less, a handful of cable like companies at the end.  Only thing missing would be the lock-in via cable box.

 

We just had WarnerMedia (AT&T) and Discovery come together into one big package as well.    So far it looks like it's Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, Waner+Discovery,  as the big ones.   Then whatever Viacom and NBC are doing but those are smaller in scope.

[George P Global Moderator]

11 hours ago, Xenon said:

The more I think about it, the more I wish that ownership of it would change. It could use some new blood. 

It got new blood, creative wise, when they did Casino Royale.    We would've been talking about something new yet again if the pandemic didn't hit.  No Time To Die is the final film in this version of Bond.   After that, once you get a new actor on, you have your new blood.