>>211489028
No Time To Die didn't break even (even if it made nearly 800 million during COVID, coming in second to only that Spider-Man movie in 2021) it still went massively overbudget and overschedule. Amazon is looking at that and going "okay, this is our first try at this, it's a whole new reboot, the last thing we want is to splurge cash and have it fall flat". They know the real draw is the 007 IP and they can spare expenses because of that. It's in a big flux right now because they can't quite agree on what this new Bond is yet.

Pascal/Heyman can both agree he needs to lighten up but they also realize that nearly all blockbusters these days are too quippy/fluffy and they want a script which balances both gritty/funny just right. They aren't quite there yet. They want this movie to cap at a 100 million budget, no more than that. Pascal is advocating for ATJ because she likes him and thinks Bond needs a big name actor to make a splash in the public consciousness. Heyman thinks that's misguided and wants an unknown like Suter to fully embody the role and be free for the next 10 years. ATJ wants to be Bond but he also wants Amazon to allow him to be in other movies on the side which is a huge deal breaker. I expect it to go like this:

Heyman gets his way
Suter is cast
Wheatley directs
100 million budget
October 2025 shoot
May 2027 release
No connection to the new video game (though media has been pushing this narrative)