Well, if true, this could be a major event for movies and TV.
Word on the street is that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM if you prefer, is in “preliminary talks” with both Netflix and Apple for a possible acquisition.
MGM’s signature franchise of course, is James Bond 007 which means that, should this occur, Bond’s new home will have a major big title in the streaming wars.
Bond’s rights are complicated ones with the movies being produced by Eon Productions, while the company’s copyrights and trademark are held by the Danjaq LLC and United Artists corporation, which was bought by MGM in 1981 and, on top of that, the video rights for Bond movies and all other potential productions are completely owned by MGM.
MGM Also has a massive back catalogue of movies and still owns the rights to Rocky, Creed and the Hannibal Lecter franchises, so it’s by no means down and out.
MGM has been partnering with Sony and Universal in recent years to get their Bond movies distributed.
While the idea of Bond being on streaming services – imagine, let’s say, a Bond TV series which adapts the carious Flemming books into seasons each year, allowing one connected cast to cover the whole history of the character – is an attractive one, it would also be a (sad) game-changer as 007 is the longest running cinematic franchise in the world and many – myself included – would argue it belongs on the big screen.
We’ll keep you posted if and when more news becomes available.
Source: CNBC
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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