Tinsel Town Deathwatch 2/20/2025

Two items today. The future of James Bond, (who appears to have one) and Doctor Who (who does not).

There has been a semi-public fight between Barbara Broccoli and Amazon Studios over the future of James Bond. Amazon has stated they want James Bond turned into a franchise universe.  Barbara Broccoli has been very forthright about how stupid an idea she thinks this is. 

However, all that has suddenly changed.  Broccoli is standing back and turning creative control over Bond to Amazon.  She is however firm about how she is retaining ownership. This indicates to me the lawyers butted heads and Amazon’s won the dominance battle. 

Indicating, unsurprisingly that Amazon is a major stakeholder.  When Doctor No was first released, it was distributed in America by United Artists. Since it was a British production and back then the British film industry was perennially strapped for cash, United seems to have sunk some capital into what was a book series so popular the president of the US was a known fan.  

The reason I say that is that United Artists released all subsequent James Bond movies until the studio was bankrupted by Heaven’s Gate in 1980.  MGM was having one of its periodic bouts of wealth between its more periodic bouts of poverty, so they snapped up UA. After that it was MGM releasing James Bond movies through UA nameplate.  When Amazon snapped up MGM, the James Bond franchise went along for the ride. Bad contract there, it should have had a self destruct clause built in.

Anyway, MGM/UA released No Time to Die in 2021, Daniel Craig did everyone including himself a favor and shambled away from the franchise. The rumor is that he contractually required that his bond die as a condition of his returning one last time. 

Barbara Broccoli had been making a lot of very worrying noises about creating a Current Year Bond for Modern Audiences. She had already made Bond a bisexual (possibly a public school thing? Then again, I don’t care). But now she has stepped away, and I don’t think she would have done that without her arm getting twisted out of its socket.  The question is who put the chicken-wing on her? Who is ramrodding this 007 project through Amazon? 

Have noticed that it feels like there are two Amazon Studios. One makes the flaming Woke horrifying flaming garbage heaps like Circle of Time and Rings of Power

The other makes some really good stuff like The Terminal List and (despite its star’s public effort to destroy it) Jack Reacher. 

If James Bond is going to be made by the latter then I couldn’t be happier but it could just as easily be the former in which we’ll have a current-year setting with a current-year cast. That means we’ll have 00-Girl boss, 00-Supergay,00-Black & Body Positive, 00-Purple Hair Prison Yard Lesbian, and everyone’s favorite 00-Trans.  If there is a 00 traitor he’ll be the white guy. 

Who pushed this through? If it was Jennifer Salke then it’s going to be Ncuti Gatwa as James Bond. If it was…

Well, that answers that. Jeff only uses that X account once a month.  The big question now is which Bezos is the one that pushed this through.  The post before this one was praising Trump to the rafters and generally facing 2025 political reality. 

Anyway, we’ll know which one it is when they announce who the new Bond will be.

Darklings: We thought Ncuti Gatwa was tied up with Doctor Who for the immediate future?

Dark Herald: Yeah, about that…

Right now everybody connected with Doctor Who is waiting for Disney to say if they are going to give them a third season.  Although, it seems Gatwa decided he had better things to do than wait for a renewal that is almost certainly never going to come.

It sounds very much as if the gay young black Scots-m-a-n(?) has passed on renewing his contract.  He is getting a whole bunch of offers from Hollywood and many of them are for work.

Truthfully, Ncuti Gatwa is exactly the kind of purse puppy hire they would love to attach to their projects. He had a speaking role in Barbie which was a billion-dollar hit. Doctor Who on the other hand is now a resume stain.  If he doesn’t get signed for something before the disastrous second season is streamed, they will have forgotten all about Barbie.    

There was a report that shooting was completed this week and that it included a regeneration scene.  That part is interesting because shooting should have been completed months ago.  Indicating that this was a call-back shoot specifically for that scene.  So yeah, Gatwa has walked off Doctor Who.

After announcing his ultra-woke additions to the show’s writers’ room, showrunner Russel T Davies has also just announced his next show.  It’s called Tip Toes and I don’t have to even guess what it’s about. He never writes about anything else these days.

There was some guessing as to who would be the new who but every name mentioned was met with immediate and frantic denials by the actors in question.

There is always the David Tennant Break Glass in Case of Emergency Doctor they left on Earth with Donna and her (gag) b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l daughter, (the one with the Y chromosome).  But he isn’t making any noises about coming back either.

And there is NO Holiday special this year.  On the basis of that alone, I’d say stick a fork in the Tardis.

It hasn’t quite happened yet. But it looks like one of the great franchises that was destroyed by the Great Awokening is going to be put in mothballs, where it needs to go.

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