In celebration of the impending arrival of Global James Bond Day on October 5, Amazon Prime Video is now the official home of James Bond... again. But will 007 stay put this time?
The past few years have been something of a transitional period for Bond. That’s due in large part to Amazon’s acquisition of MGM Studios, which owns Bond producers at Eon. Now that Amazon is technically “Amazon-MGM,” we can expect the streamer to take advantage of its massive library of IP. Bond is inarguably the biggest get for Amazon, and there’s no telling how this merger will truly affect the franchise. For now, though, Bond fans can at least enjoy unfettered access to the saga: all 25 Bond films are now streaming on Prime Video.
This isn’t the first time the 007 collection has been available in its entirety on Prime. In 2022 — right at the beginning of Amazon’s MGM acquisition — the Bond films were all together on the streamer. That was Prime’s way of commemorating Bond’s 60th anniversary; the release of a new documentary, The Sound of 007, only sweetened the deal. The collection was only available “for a limited time,” but two years later, Amazon finally brought it back. (Hopefully, they’ll be available to stream permanently this time around.)
To be clear, when we say all the James Bond films, we mean the 25 “official” films produced by EON, which began with Dr. No in 1962 and ran through Daniel Craig’s final film in 2021. The 1967’s spoof version of Casino Royale and 1983’s old-Bond-returns, Never Say Never Again, are both not included in this list.
This announcement comes at an interesting time. It’s been three years since we’ve gotten a new Bond film, and though MGM and Eon are reportedly hard at work on that imminent reboot, it may be a while before any concrete reports emerge. We could take the return of the Bond collection on Amazon as a sign of a future Bond update (casting, maybe?). There’s no telling what reaction the next Bond is going to get, so perhaps Amazon has brought back the old films to smooth over any apprehension with some well-timed nostalgia.
The Bond saga could — and should — be on the cusp of major change. Fans don’t always take well to a huge shake-up: Daniel Craig is beloved now, but when he was first cast as the gentlemen spy, the backlash was overwhelming. The next Bond could be facing a similar reaction, which would be a shame. The times are changing, after all, and Bond does need to change with it. But the old films will always be there to enjoy, and their return to Amazon is a comforting reminder of that. Even if there’s no good intel on the horizon, it’s still exciting to have all the films in one place again.
