The 007 franchise has a new home, as the rights toJames Bondhaveofficially been acquired by Amazon. While the upside is that the next installment of the film series can move forward, many fans are rightly concerned about what this will mean for the substance ofBondstories moving forward – and oneNew Yorkercartoon just summed up the skepticism perfectly.
As shared on social media byThe New Yorker, cartoonist Ellis Rosen summed up what fans of the archetypal secret agent have to look forward to in this new era ofJames Bond, with a panel that is as succinct as it is savage in its takedown of IP storytelling.
Riffing on the legendary “do you expect me to talk?” scene fromGoldfinger,Rosen has his supervillain instead opine that he anticipates “Mr. Bond” to suffer a fate worse than death: “star[ing] in a series of increasingly bland spinoffs and TV shows.”
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OneNew YorkerCartoon Sums It Up
In 2023, Amazon acquired MGM, thestudio long-affiliated with theJames Bondfranchise, but it took until now for the monolithic corporation’s content wing to be able to wrest full creative control of the series from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson – at the cost of an additional billion dollars. This is just another example of the increasingly disproportionate value of highly regarded IP, and as franchises likeBondbecome increasingly expensive, many pop culture critics are worried that the resulting content is being increasingly devalued.
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New Yorkercartoonist Ellis Rosen speaks to these concerns with his latest panel, whichfeatures a Bloefeld-esque – with a hint of Jeff Bezos about him – character looming over Bond, who is strapped to a table underneath a giant Amazon logo.The caption reads as the answer to Bond’s query of “do you expect me to talk?,” with Bloefeld/Bezos retorting:
No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to star in a series of increasingly bland spinoffs and TV shows that have significant viewership decline after the first episode.
Notably, while the “bland” comment will get all the attention, it is actually the second half of the caption that contains the most insightful part of Rosen’s criticism.
Critics Like Ellis Rosen Argue Franchise IP Like James Bond Is Becoming More “Bland” As It Becomes More Commodified
The Pitfalls Of Commercial Appeal
As Ellis Rosen coyly notes in hisNew Yorkercartoon, studios like Amazon aren’t investing in the long-term prosperity of franchises likeJames Bond; rather, they are pumping obscene amounts of money into stories that prioritize spectacle over substance, and as such, are all-but-guaranteeing themselves diminishing returns in terms of viewership and engagement. That is because,while big franchise IP likeBond– orStar Wars, orJurassic Park, or Marvel and DC films – are no longer solely under the purview of hardcore fans, only hardcore fans will stick with these franchisesno matter what.
While a significant number of viewers will check out a newJames Bondshow or movie on Amazon, many won’t stick with it, because there is nothing in the story to keep them hooked, beyond the fact that it is calledJames Bond.
That is to say, franchises likeJames Bondare now being directed toward the widest, most commercial possible audience – yet in doing so, they are all-too-often robbed of the unique qualities that made them appeal to generations of fans in the first place. As such, while a significant number of viewers will check out anewJames Bondshow or movieon Amazon, many won’t stick with it, because there is nothing in the story to keep them hooked, beyond the fact that it is calledJames Bond.
