Amazon MGM Studios and their head of film Courtenay Valenti officially announce that producers David Heyman and Amy Pascal will take on the Broccoli baton and produce Bond 26.
“We are approaching every creative decision with James Bond, which Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have so masterfully steered, with the greatest sense of responsibility. Part of an elite group of producers who have developed and managed massive film franchises to box office success and critical acclaim, Amy Pascal and David Heyman are two of the most accomplished, experienced, and respected film producers in our industry. We are honored to be working with them on James Bond’s next chapter and are excited to deliver to global audiences storytelling that upholds the impeccable legacy of this beloved character.”
– Courtenay Valenti, Head of Film, Amazon MGM Studios
With the February 2025 news that EON Productions, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson would be sharing ownership of the James Bond brand with Amazon MGM Studios but not creative control moving forward, the Bond, movie and entertainment world wondered if was both a thunderball and a wrecking ball moment for the franchise.
Ultimately, the most important question for 007 right now was never ‘who is the next Bond?’. It was always ‘who would be producing the next film?’
With this announcement should come a certain relief, reassurance and positivity for 007’s futures. The new Bond producers did not require the caliber to make one brilliant 007 film for Amazon MGM Studios. They needed to be experienced enough to have the caliber to return and start again for Bond 27 and beyond – as EON Productions did successfully for twenty-five films and sixty years of bespoke movie-making and box-office prowess.
Both Pascal (Spider-Man, Spider-Verse, Narnia) and Heyman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Marriage Story) are perfectly placed to take on this 007 baton. Both have a long history of wrangling big, new, sprawling stories and franchises and creating box-office gold with originality, creative momentum and repeat business. Heyman and his own production entity Heyday Films are currently overseeing Taika Waititi’s Klara and The Sun (2025) for Sony Pictures. Pascal has overseen the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies and the wholly successful and creatively esteemed Spider-Verse spin-off animated features. Both are deeply respected by crews and the industry. Both know UK and European production rhythms. Both know how to come back.
Pascal has already been a Sony Pictures executive producer on the initial run of Daniel Craig bullets and was a substantial name in overseeing the sixth 007’s launch, stability and tenure. Heyman has overseen eleven Harry Potter films and its imminent new HBO adaptations, the first two Paddington movies (both of which are British cinema classics), The Secret Garden (2020), Wonka (2023) and all manner of UK and international stories and characters.
Heyman has also worked with a range of top screenwriters including David Hare (Page Eight), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Noah Baumbach (Barbie), Dahvi Waller (Mad Men, Klara and the Sun) and Jack Thorne (Adolescence, The Secret Garden, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).
with pageboy and family friend David Heyman (Getty Images)
Curiously echoing the movie background and British production DNA of Bond producers Broccoli and Wilson, David Heyman grew up with cinema. His father was famous producer John Heyman (The Go-Between, A Passage to India, D.A.R.Y.L.). As a talent agent in the late 1950s he represented the Bond likes of Shirley Bassey and Burt Bacharach.
David’s mother Norma Heyman is a renowned producer and actress. She was responsible for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Gangster No. 1 (2000) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005). Diana Dors was David Heyman’s godmother and he not only grew up in the spheres of cinema, in 1987 he became the Vice President of United Artists – the original studio that greenlit and bankrolled the James Bond franchise in 1961. His debut film was Juice (1992) starring Tupac Shakur.
One major film to be mindful of that Heyman was responsible for was Barbie (2023). Not only was Greta Gerwig’s hit also evidence of Heyman able to take a late 1950s hero and transform it into box-office gold via British production creativity, hitting the zeitgeist and an Oscar winning Billie Eilish theme song – not totally removed from the necessary beats of our man James Bond. It was also a globally discussed moment. Its world, pop culture heroism and nostalgic brilliance became a cultural event. That can and needs to happen with the next James Bond film.
Barbie also enabled Heyman to work with Amazon MGM’s Courtenay Valenti (whose father Jack was a Hollywood name and peer of Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli) as well as a new batch of great new era actors, designers and technicians who could well make their way onto a Bond soundstage in times to come. Director Greta Gerwig is now helming Jay Kelly for Pascal and Heyman. Gerwig is married to writer-director Noah Baumbach and the pair co-wrote Barbie.
Bond is Kenough!
Nearly thirty years after Pierce Brosnan’s Bond first set up a studio facility at a disused former WW2 aircraft factory near Watford, GoldenEye and the Bond machine earned the 2023 UK economy at least a sizeable £80 million.
Throughout 1994 and 1995 what became known as Leavesden Studios was nicknamed ‘Cubbywood’. A working studio was adapted and gave Brosnan’s debut a production home after Pinewood Studios was booked up. So good were the new facilities that other productions soon flocked to The House that Bond Built – including The Phantom Menace. And eventually the complex housed the Harry Potter franchise and studio tour.
In 2022 David Heyman’s Barbie shot at Leavesden Studios. Not only were 685 jobs created, it is estimated that the film made £80 million in direct spend to the British economy, 8,000 extras were employed, 754 local companies benefitted, a further £40 million was paid in local wages, and £95 million revenue was made at the UK box-office alone. That is not bad for a sexist, misogynist dinosaur.
Directors that Heyman has worked with and return to collaborate with include Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Mike Newell, Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, White Noise), Paul King (Paddington 2, Wonka), and David Yates (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Harry Potter). He has also worked with Alfonso Cuaron on both Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Gravity (2013). It is no secret that Cuaron would be very up for directing a Bond film.
Amy Pascal is also currently working with Greta Gerwig on a reboot of Narnia (2026) for Netflix. She has also worked alongside directors Luca Guadagnino (Challengers), Aaron Sorkin (Molly’s Game) and Steven Spielberg (The Post).
Both Pascal Pictures and Heyday Films will co-produce Bond 26 with Amazon MGM Studios.
In terms of production ambitions, Amazon MGM Studios recently invested in the UK’s Bray Studios and Shepperton – where it has leased nine soundstages already. And Shepperton is the sister site of 007’s spiritual home, Pinewood Studios. “With Bray as our creative home in the UK, we are committed to deepening our relationships with the UK creative community, which is rich with world-class storytellers and creative talent of all kinds,” said Mike Hopkins (Head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios) in July 2024. He continued, “the acquisition of a studio with such a storied heritage not only empowers us to produce more film and television in the UK, but also unveils a wealth of opportunities in the local community with respect to jobs and skills training at all levels of the production process.”
Time will of course tell. And if any studios needed a Bond film right now is it is the impoverished British Home Counties studio belt that includes Pinewood, Bray and Shepperton. EON Productions and Bond’s commitment to British crews, eco-systems and employment was sizeable. Bond 26 would be naive to sail without those navigation charts, trade routes and compasses in its arsenal.
As a Bond commentator, journalist and author, this bullet catcher firmly believes that of all the incarnations and captains that could have taken 007 into his 007th reign, David Heyman and Amy Pascal could not be better placed, ready and skilled to navigate, establish and push Bond’s new Amazon MGM Studios era. And they may just have some cracking ideas for who the next tuxedo might belong to…
“James Bond is one of the most iconic characters in the history of cinema. We are humbled to follow in the footsteps of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson who made so many extraordinary films and honored and excited to keep the spirit of Bond very much alive as he embarks on his next adventure.”
– David Heyman and Amy Pascal, producers, Bond 26
