While Amazon, Denis Villeneuve, and Steven Knight et al. undoubtedly want Bond 26 to succeed, box office performance may no longer carry the same weight it once did when MGM operated independently. For a company with Amazon’s scale, a swing of $100 million is far less consequential than brand value, subscriber growth, and long-term franchise health.

Ideally, success will be measured less by opening weekend totals and more by the consistent delivery of high-quality Bond movies. A streamlined two-year release schedule paired with more controlled budgets could easily offset a film that falls short of No Time to Die‘s nearly $800 million haul, and in that model and with Bond’s brand, I wouldn’t doubt two movies over two years could make $500 million each, or even more.

With creatives like Denis Villeneuve and Steven Knight at the helm, Amazon would be better served empowering their vision rather than micromanaging it. What’s the worst they could come up with? Killing off James Bond?