Amazon might have already made a major fumble in its new ownership of the legendary Bond name, as fans have expressed their outrage at a major change to some of the series' most iconic posters.
One of the biggest shakeups in the film industry occurred back in 2022 when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) was purchased by Amazon for a staggering $8.5 billion figure, bringing with it the distribution rights to the iconic James Bond franchise.
Many speculated that this would bring about significant changes to the traditionally cinema-based franchise that had recently seen Daniel Craig let go of the role after nearly two decades, yet it wasn't until creative control of the series was also purchased for an additional $1 billion that people started to get worried.
Almost immediately after this sale went through stories started to crop up that Jeff Bezos was insistent on granting his now-wife Lauren Sánchez a starring role in the next big production, and now the company has been forced to make an embarrassing u-turn after fans noticed a key missing detail across various posters.
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As reported by the Independent, fans noticed that a number of posters from the Bond franchise featured a distinct lack of weapons, appearing as if they had been artificially airbrushed or photoshopped out while on Prime Video.
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Titles that had been affected included Dr. No (1962), A View to a Kill (1985), GoldenEye (1995), and Spectre (2015), and all four feature bond awkwardly grasping a fist where a gun should otherwise be.
Considering that arguably the most iconic image that most would associate with the Bond series is of the spy shooting the camera down the barrel of a gun, it is understandably a worrying alteration.
It comes as part of a wider art change for the Bond franchise on Prime, with all 25 films in the series receiving similar design transformations that people have taken issue with outside of the removal of guns.
"That's bad they removed the pistol, but there is an even bigger sin being committed here, they made the art so bland," writes one frustrated user on X. "Bond isn't bland, and should never be portrayed as bland or dull."
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Another wrote that it's a "ridiculous" change, adding that "we can already get a good idea of what direction the franchise will take in Amazon's hands."
Others, as always, have also used this to highlight the importance of buying physical media, as that can never change or be interfered with once you've handed over the money.
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"This is why I own as many physical things as possible," explains a third user, and it's certainly not an unpopular perspective as things like this continue to happen.
