Villeneuve. Denis Villeneuve.
Amazon MGM has just announced that Dune director Denis Villeneuve will be directing the first James Bond film under the franchise’s new owner.
Not much more was announced outside of the fact that Villeneuve will also sport an executive producer’s credit on the film alongside Tanya Lapointe. Amy Pascal and David Heyman have already been will serve as producers. No writers have been announced nor has a new Bond actor.
Before he can start in on this new Bond film, Villeneuve has to get through the production on his Dune 2 follow up, Dune Messiah. New casting for that film has been recently announced and it is set to get in front of cameras later this summer. Given that Dune: Messiah is targeted for a late 2026 release, it is probable that we won’t be seeing Villeneuve’s Bond film before mid-2028 at the earliest unless this new Bond film undergoes .
In a statement released by Amazon MGM, Villeneuve said –
Some of my earliest movie-going memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr. No with Sean Connery. I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor. Amy, David, and I are absolutely thrilled to bring him back to the screen. Thank you to Amazon MGM Studios for their trust.
The Bond franchise came under the aegis of Amazon, after the tech conglomerate bought MGM, the studio that owned the franchise in partnership wit Eon Productions, in 2022. The new studio tried to work with Eon’s Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, the children of producer Cubby Broccoli who launched the successful franchise back in the 1960s. After butting heads over how best to move forward with the franchise, Amazon MGM bought them out to the tune of $1 billion, and set about following their own course to take the iconic secret agent into the twenty-first century.
