Apple’s increased focus on original video content now means that they are one of many companies bidding on the rights for the James Bond franchise. Sony’s deal for the series expired in 2015 after the release of ‘Spectre’ and now both Apple and Amazon are in pursuit to take it over.
Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are leading the negotiations. The two recently joined the company to lead its efforts in original content. However, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, at present, Warner Bros are in the lead although Apple and Amazon are willing to spend “in the same ballpark” or more. It remains unclear just how much this is, the franchise is said to be worth somewhere between $2-5 billion. This price tag would exceed the $1 billion budget that Apple originally dedicated to original content
Its not clear what Apple would do with the rights but its likely that they would extent beyond film and TV to apps and other types of digital media. What we do know is that with Sony, Fox, Amazon, Warner and Universal all in the running alongside Apple, the competition is fierce.
