State of the Bond film franchise fall 2020

James Bond, trying to keep his head above water.

In the fall of 2020, James Bond is trying to keep his head above water.

His newest film adventure, No Time to Die, figuratively sits on the shelf. Its release date has been delayed a number of times. The last two delays stemmed from COVID-19. It remains to be seen whether the current date, April 2021, will be a reality.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, according to various news reports, shopped the 25th James Bond film to streaming services to get some cash now.

An Oct. 27 account in The Hollywood Reporter indicated that Apple Inc. considered offering $350 million to $400 million for a one-year license so the tech company could televise No Time to Die on its streaming service.

That wasn’t enough for MGM, according to THR. But MGM managed to alienate Danjaq LLC, parent firm of Eon Productions. MGM and Danjaq jointly control the Bond film rights.

So we’re back to a familiar spot.

MGM is under financial strain. It’s paying interest monthly on the money it borrowed to finance No Time to Die. MGM, meanwhile, is getting nothing while No Time to Die goes unseen.

Danjaq and Eon can’t make movies without MGM. MGM flops around while trying to diversify its business so it’s not as Bond dependent.

One example: The Epix premium channel was supposed to boost MGM’s prospects. It has yet to be the cash cow MGM envisioned.

MGM bought the company of reality television guru Mark Burnett, who gave the world Survivor and The Apprentice. It also made Burnett a studio executive.

But, as The New York Times noted earlier this month, Burnett is losing his touch. His recent reality TV efforts haven’t caught on the way his old shows did.

So once again, James Bond is MGM’s main asset.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Only this time around, Bond — at least his newest film adventure — isn’t an asset that’s bringing in money right now.

Once again, there’s tension between MGM and Danjaq/Eon. That’s been true much of the time since 1981, when MGM bought United Artists, Bond’s original studio home.

On the MGM side, the names change. From Kirk Kerkorian (more than once) to (among others) Gary Barber (the MGM CEO ousted in 2018) to Kevin Ulrich Ulrich. He heads up the hedge fund that’s MGM’s biggest owner and is chairman of MGM’s board.

The fundamental dynamic, though, hasn’t changed. MGM and Danjaq/Eon are in a troubled marriage.

James Bond is a film franchise that’s nearly six decades old. That’s remarkable by any standard. It’s especially remarkable because Bond’s biggest foe isn’t Blofeld or Goldfinger or Dr. No or Le Chiffre or Silva.

His biggest opponent may be Leo the Lion, the mascot of MGM.

Maybe that would change if MGM’s hedge fund owners finally sell the studio. But maybe not.

MGM’s lead owner under pressure to do deal: WSJ

MGM’s Leo the Lion logo

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s lead owner, hedge fund Anchorage Capital Group, to do a deal involving James Bond’s home studio, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The person in the center of all this is Kevin Ulrich, head of Anchorage and chairman of MGM.

Anchorage is MGM’s largest owner. Anchorage had hoped that the release of No Time to Die would boost MGM’s value for a deal, the Journal said. But the newest delay in the 25th James Bond film has complicated the situation. Here’s an excerpt:

Some Anchorage clients have asked the hedge fund whether the perks and privileges that come with being a Hollywood chieftain have influenced Mr. Ulrich’s call to stay with MGM, the lengthiest and largest investment in Anchorage’s history. Other MGM investors have asked the same.

Ulrich declined to be interviewed by the Journal.

The Journal also said Ulrich has indicated he is working toward a deal and referenced Amazon.com, Apple Inc., Comcast Corp. (parent company of Universal, which is releasing No Time to Die internationally), and Facebook Inc. as possible buyers.

The financial news outlet also said CEO Gary Barber was fired in 2018 for holding “unsanctioned” talks with Apple. Barber was never replaced and MGM is governed by an “office of the chief executive.”

If the Journal’s reporting is accurate, No Time to Die is one of the main bargaining chips concerning MGM’s future. Another excerpt:

A person close to Anchorage said Mr. Ulrich believes MGM is a more-attractive asset because it hasn’t released “No Time to Die,” giving a buyer control over its launch and distribution.

If MGM were sold, Universal would need to be compensated, the Journal said. Presumably, that wouldn’t apply if Comcast were the buyer.

Epilogue: Why MGM dumped its CEO

MGM’s Leo the Lion logo

One of the oddities of the long hiatus between SPECTRE and Bond 25 was how Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer extended the contract of CEO Gary Barber in October 2017 and then got rid of him in early 2018.

MGM, of course, has been the home studio of the 007 film series since the company acquired United Artists in 1981.

The New Yorker on Dec. 27 came out with a lengthy profile of Mark Burnett. Formerly, he was a reality TV mogul whose company made Survivor and The Apprentice. The latter featured now-U.S. President Donald Trump and helped shape his image in the 21st century. (That’s the primary reason for the Burnett profile.)

MGM acquired Burnett’s company in 2015 to bolster its TV operations. Burnett now oversees those operations, both reality programs and scripted dramas such as The Handmaid’s Tale.

According to the profile, Burnett worked with Kevin Ulrich, MGM’s chairman, to have Barber “kicked off the island.”

Barber was interested in selling the studio—a move that Ulrich opposed. According to several sources, Burnett began cultivating Ulrich, inviting him to events and introducing him to celebrities. Then, last March, M-G-M’s board informed Barber that he had been fired; he had just signed a contract extension, so the studio would pay him two hundred and sixty million dollars to leave. Despite this payment, he was incensed.

The disagreement about strategy between Barber and Ulrich was reported earlier this year by The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Deadline: Hollywood. The New Yorker article provides some additional color.

“People who know Ulrich describe him as someone who relishes the flashy perquisites of Hollywood moguldom,” according to The New Yorker. “Whereas Barber liked to spend weekends quietly tending to the racehorses he owns, Ulrich liked going to parties and premières.”

MGM has yet to hire a replacement for Barber. Since Barber’s ouster, MGM has been run by a committee of executives. On the studio’s website, there’s a page featuring three key executives. One is Burnett. Another is his wife, Roma Downey,

There’s no business like show business.

THR says Broccoli & Wilson had rift with deposed MGM chief

Barbara Broccoli

The Hollywood Reporter, as part of a followup story about the firing of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer chief Gary Barber, said Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions also had major differences with Barber.

“(I)nsiders say a rift had also developed between (Barber) and 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson,” according to the story by THR’s Paul Bond. ‘“There was a revolt,’ says an insider who claims the Broccoli camp ultimately refused to work with Barber.”

The THR story  was posted this morning. Variety and Deadline: Hollywood had new or updated stories Tuesday night. All three outlets described how Barber and board chairman Kevin Ulrich disagreed over strategy. Ulrich, according to the accounts, wants MGM to get bigger amid changes in media.

Variety said MGM’s board “had doubts about whether Barber had the right strategic vision and willingness to take big risks.”

Deadline said: “Ulrich saw an opportunity for MGM to remake itself into a digital powerhouse by renaming Epix with the MGM brand and making it a subscription streaming service that could line up favorably along the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Disney’s new service, Hulu and others that come along. The idea would be to include the upcoming James Bond film’s pay window as part of this.”

The upcoming film, of course, is Bond 25, which has an official U.S. release date of November 2019. Ulrich heads a New York investment company, Anchorage Capital Group, a major shareholder in MGM.

UPDATE (2:35 p.m.): The Wall Street Journal weighed in with an MGM story I can’t access because it’s behind a paywall. However, one of the reporters, Ben Fritz, sent out this tweet quoting from a Broccoli-Wilson statement that’s not referenced in the story.

Didn’t mention in our story because not relevant to his firing, but “Bond” producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli issued a statement saying they “enjoyed a close relationship” with Gary Barber and “wish him all the best.”

— Ben Fritz (@benfritz) March 21, 2018