What you need to know
- Apple is reportedly in the hunt to land the next James Bond film, 'No Time to Die' for Apple TV+.
- Or at least, it was.
- A new report says Apple considered offering some $400 million, but that this was less than MGM was hoping for.
A new report says Apple considered offering MGM as much as $400 million for Bond 25, No Time to Die, to secure the title for Apple TV+.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
In recent days, Hollywood producers and executives have been taking part in a guessing game: How much is a complete, unreleased, James Bond movie worth? The short answer: Even the worldwide rights are not enough. Multiple sources confirm that MGM did explore a licensing deal for the latest 007 movie, No Time to Die, before the movie was delayed from its Nov. 12 global release date to April 2, 2021. But only one streaming giant, Apple, was interested enough to throw out a number...Multiple sources say Apple kicked the tires on Daniel Craig starrer No Time to Die and mulled an offer in the $350 million to $400 million range for what would have been a 12-month license. (Bloomberg first reported Apple's offer.) That was far short of the $650 million to $700 million — one source tells THR that even $800 million was mentioned — that MGM was hoping to get to make such a deal worthwhile.
The report claims that streamers like Netflix were turned off by the mammoth price tag for the film, and that it simply wasn't worth the money for one title. The report further states that co-owner of the film's rights, EON Productions were not on board with a proposed streaming pitch, and are staunchly in favor of a theatrical release.
As noted, MGM was reportedly hoping to land as much as twice as much as Apple was prepared to offer, and that the price was already so high that Apple was the only streaming service to show enough interest.
