James Bond to survive Amazon's MGM takeover

He's proved hard to kill...

Now James Bond seems certain to survive another challenge.

Movie business experts say the super-spy can't be killed off by Amazon after it takes over MGM.

Variety Intelligence media analyst Heidi Chung says any change can be blocked by the Broccoli family, who produce the Bond films:

"We're probably not going to see any differences when it comes to what happens to the James Bond franchise. The family still owns the rights to most of the distribution there. They even have a say on who gets to play James Bond so I don't think Amazon's going to have too much power in that regard."

Some, however, may see Amazon boss Jeff Bezos as a bit of a Bond villain.

After news of the takeover broke, Republican Senator Josh Hawley called Amazon a "monopoly", and said it shouldn't be allowed to buy anything.

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar - who chairs the Senate's antitrust panel - called for a thorough investigation of the deal.

But analysts say the takeover actually poses few antitrust concerns.

Though MGM content will boost Amazon's Prime Video service, it will still face fierce competition from the likes of Netflix and Disney+.

The bigger worry may be for cinemas.

Heidi Chung again:

"AMC, chains like that, are really struggling to find a way to bring people back to the theaters but if all this great content is not being shown in their theaters, what are they going to do?"

The $8.45 billion deal is Amazon's biggest since its takeover of supermarket chain Whole Foods in 2017.

That deal was rapidly approved by regulators, and Jeff Bezos will be banking on the same outcome this time.