Image: Skyfall, MGM
News that Amazon acquired creative control of the James Bond franchise surprised many in the industry as the franchise has been tightly controlled by the Broccoli family since the first film adaptation of Ian Fleming’s character in 1962. It is not yet clear what direction the franchise will take under its new ownership but since “No Time To Die” came out in 2021 and no Bond movie is currently in production, the current break is on track to be the biggest gap between Bond movies. With audiences missing their favorite secret agent, the stakes are even higher for getting the new 007 right.
Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics data on the value the Bond franchise has delivered for streaming reveals how this long-running franchise has proven its worth not just at the box office but into the modern streaming era.
Since 2020, the James Bond franchise has brought in just under $140M in streaming subscriber revenue for major platforms globally. The pace of streaming revenue earned by this franchise notably accelerated at the start of 2022 when Amazon acquired MGM and began to effectively monetize the Bond library. For years, Hulu had been the main platform cashing in on the Bond franchise to drive subscriber sign-ups and retention, but that ended in 2022 as the franchise found a new home on Prime Video.
Following the announcement of the deal, Jeff Bezos reignited the perennial debate over who should fill 007’s shoes by simply posting “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?” on X. If we look at the revenue brought in by Bond movies based on lead actor, we see that the 6 James Bond movies starring Daniel Craig, while only a fraction of the movies in the long-running franchise, have delivered by far the most value for streaming platforms ($83M since 2020).
This helps to quantify the financial stakes of casting the next James Bond for the streaming era. If Daniel Craig movies (starting with 2006’s Casino Royale) have delivered over $80M in streaming revenue, a new Bond cast for modern audiences with Amazon in the driver’s seat has the potential to well exceed these numbers.
Unsurprisingly, the most valuable Bond movies of the streaming era are dominated by the most recent Daniel Craig led films. Two of these stand in a class above the rest. The most recent Bond movie, 2021’s “No Time to Die,” has brought in over $27M for streaming platforms since 2020. However, 2012’s “Skyfall” leads the pack even though it is nearly a decade older. “Skyfall” has also been the most successful Bond movie at the box office (even when adjusting for inflation) so it is interesting to see the movie translate this dominance to streaming.
“GoldenEye” is the pre-Daniel Craig Bond movie that has delivered the most value for streaming ($10.4M), even beating out some more recent Daniel Craig films. This is a good reminder that whatever immediate value any new Bond content generates, the best content will continue to deliver revenue for decades in the future.
