Tag: EON

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Bond Producer Says ‘No Time To Die’ Supporting Characters Won’t Be Getting Spinoffs & Dismisses Idea Of Future Spinoffs Too

No Time To Die will see the end of the Daniel Craig era opening the door for a hard-reboot recasting all roles, not just James Bond. However, EON’s Barbara Broccoli has now downplayed the idea of spinoffs or even seeing more of the supporting characters of No Time To Die in solo projects.

Here is what she said to Fandango.

“We have not done [a spinoff] in the past and I don’t think we have any plans to do it in the future.”

I’m sure folks had been banking on Lashana Lynch’s Nomi getting her own movie or spinoff, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards.

At one time, there had been rumblings of Michelle Yeoh and Halley Berry’s characters from the Pierce Brosnan era getting their own films, that also never materialized.

This likely means that they’d push against the idea of branching-out of the franchise drowning in content and will seemingly simply focus on the Bond movies, given how tough they are to put together. While MGM Studios is most likely going to be bought by Amazon (hasn’t been approved or finalized), this doesn’t mean that the streaming service will be suddenly able to bully EON around, who are the main stewarts of the Bond franchise and will likely continue to keep creative control.

Broccoli has also previously told BBC Radio 4 they’re not rushing into Bond 26 and won’t even consider the casting search until 2022 at the earliest. Meaning that there aren’t any frontrunners or anyone signed on, despite years of internet rumors.

“We want Daniel to have his time of celebration. Next year we’ll start thinking about the future.”

Today, marks the wide release of No Time To Die.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: FANDANGO

Posted on in Film News, News

Denis Villeneuve Willing To Tackle Big Challenge Of Rebooting James Bond After Daniel Craig’s “Ultimate” Incarnation

French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve is doing a heap of press for the upcoming released of Dune and was asked by the Happy Sad Confused Podcast about his continued desire to tackle the next era of James Bond after Daniel Craig steps down with the latest/final installment, No Time To Die.

Admittedly, he hasn’t watched No Time To Die, but would love the challenge of rebooting Bond after Craig’s unmatched/ultimate version of the iconic spy character.

“Franky, the answer would be a massive yes. I would deeply love one day to make a James Bond movie. It’s a character that I’ve been with since my childhood. I have massive affection for Bond. It would be a big challenge to try and reboot it after what Daniel did. What Daniel Craig brought to Bond was so unique and strong and honestly unmatchable. He’s the ultimate James Bond. I can’t wait to see Cary’s movie. I’m very excited. I’m one of the biggest Bond fans.”

While we’ve been getting a lot of sci-fi from Villeneuve with Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune, his other impressive pics such as Prisoners and Sicario would certainly be an excellent resume alone to nab the James Bond gig.

Interestingly enough, Sicario had British actor Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Widows, Black Panther) in a supporting role years before he’d nab an Oscar for his work on Judas & The Black Messiah. Kaluuya would make an excellent Bond candidate as he’s in the right age-range and isn’t leading multiple franchises.

Director Christopher Nolan (Inception, Tenet, Dark Knight Trilogy) has also been vocal multiple times in interviews wanting to tackle a Bond reboot himself, however, we’re still in the dark what EON/MGM are planning to do with Bond 26. Producers have said they won’t even begin thinking about recasting the role until next year (Sorry, nobody has been cast despite what the internet has said), that’s not even guarantee they won’t wait longer given the time between these movies and how long development can take.

Villeneuve’s Dune will hit theaters on October 22.

DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

SOURCE: HAPPY SAD CONFUSED PODCAST

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‘Bond 26’: Producers Say Search For A New James Bond Actor Won’t Begin Until 2022

Despite years of tabloid reports/online rumors of various frontrunners and shortlists for a new James Bond actor (to join the yet-to-be-titled Bond 26), franchise producer Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions is pouring cold water, yet again, on the idea they’ve even started looking for someone new to replace Daniel Craig.

While speaking with BBC Radio 4’s Today (via Deadline), the producer revealed they won’t even begin “thinking” about starting the search until 2022.

“We want Daniel to have his time of celebration. Next year we’ll start thinking about the future.”

The assumption is that they likely didn’t think Daniel Craig was ultimately retiring, because she also suggested in the interview it took her a while to accept that was happening jokingly stating she was in “denial.” Adding that the Craig was reluctant to even take the part in the beginning.

“He knew it would change his life, which it obviously has. He enabled us to explore the emotional life of Bond, to go deeply into the personal, complexity of the character.”

I don’t think they would have minded another film with Craig, but it certainly sounded like when he accepted to return for No Time To Die, he was serious about it being his final outing as James Bond, something that has been part of the marketing of the film.

It’ll be interesting if they continue the trend of keeping on supporting actors with the new James Bond actor as they’ve previously done with the various incarnations or will take a more drastic hard-reboot approach by replacing everyone.

There had been previous rumblings that co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (No Time To Die, Fleabag) has already started working on Bond 26, but remains to be seen when they’ll actually get that up and ready for cameras.

Names such as Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, Jamie Bell, Rege-Jean Page, Riz Ahmed, Richard Madden, Henry Golding, Aidan Turner, James Norton, Cillian Murphy, Sam Heughan, and Jack Lowden have been previously asked to comment on potentially taking on the role or have been mused/rumored for it (the latter doesn’t seem to be terribly trustworthy).

However, multiple statements from producers would suggest they haven’t even started thinking about actors. Then again, since franchise producers rarely comment on Bond stories it allows tabloids to post fake casting stories without much rebuke.

Fans will just have to be patient.

No Time To Die will release domestically on October 8.

The rest of the cast will include Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) as a new villain named Safin (Dr. No?), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Felix Leiter, Ralph Fiennes (The King’s Man) as M, Christoph Waltz returning as Spectre’s Blofeld, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out) as Paloma, Ben Whishaw as Q, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: BBC

Posted on in Film News

Amazon-MGM Deal Likely Won’t End James Bond Franchise’s Theatrical Run

Today, it was announced that Amazon is going to purchase MGM Studios for an impressive $8.45 billion, which includes co-ownership of the James Bond franchise alongside EON Productions. However, as mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter, this won’t impact the release of No Time To Die’s October release and might not overturn the franchise’s box office dominance or future theatrical release.

As they point out, the deal likely won’t close and the distribution for No Time To Die will most likely stand as is.

On the theatrical front, it’s unlikely that MGM and United Artists Releasing would change plans for their remaining 2021 theatrical releases — including the James Bond pic No Time to Die — particularly since the deal is likely to take months to close. UAR is a subsidiary of MGM and handles domestic distribution duties for MGM titles (Universal has international on No Time to Die).

They also highlight that EON wouldn’t be terribly keen to pull James Bond from theaters for streaming only as the franchise is best known for a big screen presence and given Amazon won’t have full ownership they’ll have to play nice. Given the amount of money Amazon would be giving up to make Bond a streaming property wouldn’t make a lot of sense from a business standpoint, as it could be just as lucrative to make Prime Video being the streaming home for the franchise.

The Bond franchise has always been a marquee theatrical franchise that’s well known around the globe. And Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, whose U.K. production company EON is 007’s home, are especially keen on the big-screen experience. (EON and MGM share rights via a holding company.)

Daniel Craig is expected to retire from the Bond role, allowing a new unnamed actor to step in for the untitled Bond 26, which is said to be developed by No Time To Die screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

No Time To Die will hit theaters on October 8.

The cast will include Daniel Craig as James Bond, Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Rami Malek (Bohemian Rapsody) as a new villain named Safin (Dr. No?), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Felix Leiter, Ralph Fiennes (The King’s Man) as M, Christoph Waltz returning as Spectre’s Blofeld, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) as Nomi aka the new Agent 007, Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049) as Paloma, Ben Whishaw as Q, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Posted on in Film News

‘No Time To Die’ Officially Delayed To October 8th

EON has officially announced that No Time To Die has been bumped from April 2nd to October 8th. A rumored fall delay had been making the rounds lately which has now been confirmed by the studio.

It looks like other studios are delaying their big films coming in the spring as well.

The cast will include Daniel Craig as James Bond, Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Rami Malek (Bohemian Rapsody) as a new villain named Safin (Dr. No?), Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) as Felix Leiter, Ralph Fiennes (The King’s Man) as M, Christoph Waltz returning as Spectre’s Blofeld, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel) as Nomi aka the new Agent 007, Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049) as Paloma, Ben Whishaw as Q, Billy Magnussen, Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, David Dencik, and Dali Benssalah.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: EON

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MGM Reportedly Exploring Sale – EON’s Partners On The James Bond Franchise

In a report coming from the Wall Street Journal, there are claims that MGM Holdings Inc. aka MGM Studios is now exploring the idea of a sale which includes their massive film library and involvement in the billion-dollar James Bond franchise (working with EON on the films as co-owners of the rights). Mentioning that the company is currently valued at $5.5 billion which could give you an idea of what their asking price might be.

MGM Holdings Inc., the movie studio behind the James Bond franchise, is exploring a sale, according to people familiar with the matter, betting that its library of content will prove attractive to companies pursuing growth in streaming video.

The company has a market value of around $5.5 billion, based on privately traded shares and including debt, some of the people said.

They don’t name potential suitors but allude to their valuation and attractiveness due to streaming services. Netflix and Disney are dealing with a crazy amount of debt which might put them out of the running. While Apple seems like a rational option, they recently backed-out on an offer to buy the exclusive rights to No Time To Die because MGM/EON asked too much, so those deep pockets have a limit. Not every streamer is going to have $5+ billion laying around when the pandemic has hit most entertainment companies hard.

I’m curious what this would mean for EON, who are traditionalists and have a controlling interest in the James Bond franchise and likely wouldn’t be terribly keen on turning their IP into some streaming film franchise. They’d likely want assurances that theatrical would still be on the table or it could turn into a messy legal fight, I would assume any sale would have to need EON’s blessing because the Bond stuff would be the more attractive aspect.

Here is how EON describes their relationship with MGM.

EON Productions Limited and Danjaq LLC are wholly owned and controlled by the Wilson/Broccoli family. Danjaq is the US based company that co-owns, with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, the copyright to the existing James Bond films and controls the right to produce future James Bond films.

We’ll have to wait and see to if things will materialize next year.

SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL

Posted on in Film News

Four-Time Oscar Nominee Saoirse Ronan Would Like A Crack At Playing A ‘Bond’ Villain

With Daniel Craig’s tenure as James Bond coming to end in April, there are plenty interested to see who will end up playing the new 007 after producers confirmed they haven’t even started searching for a new actor despite rumors.

What’s always equally nice hearing is who wants to nab a Bond villain role playing opposite to the iconic MI6 Agent. Irish actress and four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn, Little Women, Atonement, Lady Bird) has thrown her hat in the ring to play a Bond villain if the opportunity ever came her way while speaking with MTV News.

RONAN: “I would love to do a Bond. What I really want to is like, I want to play a villain in a Bond film or something like that. That’d be incredible but I’d love to do something really fucking big.”

It also sounds like she’d love to be involved with a large blockbuster in general.

At one point, during the development of Skyfall, there was consideration to have a leading female villain with Craig’s current wife Rachel Weisz (Black Widow, The Favourite) reportedly wanted for the part in one of the early incarnations. Oddly enough, while producers have been open to giving female characters a larger presence in MI6 they still haven’t recently made the main big-bad a female which isn’t a little crazy given all the female villains that occupied the franchise.

It’s also worth noting that Ronan has previously doubled with the spy genre with her Joe Wright-directed thriller Hanna co-starring with Eric Bana and Cate Blanchette.

When Bond 26 will begin shooting or casting is unclear but No Time To Die co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge is said to be currently working on the script.

No Time To Die is expected to drop on April 2nd, 2021 barring anymore release hiccups.

NO TIME TO DIE – Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. 

SOURCE: MTV NEWS

Posted on in Film News

‘No Time To Die’ Director Cary Joji Fukunaga Interested In Making More Movies With The Next James Bond – Producers Also Keen For Reunion

While the final installment of the final Daniel Craig film in his era of the James Bond franchise with No Time To Die won’t be released until April 2nd, 2021, there is some possibly good news about director Cary Joji Fukunaga potentially returning in the future.

In the Wall Street Journal’s new No Time To Die coverage they were able to get some indication from both Cary and franchise producers that his return in the future could very well happen. They also mention he was courted by Disney for Marvel and Star Wars films.

Hypothetically speaking, Fukunaga would be interested in reuniting on another Bond film, or perhaps a series of films introducing the new 007.

In reality, though, Fukunaga’s future with Bond will depend on the film’s reception. 

FUKUNAGA: “I have never been able to predict how people react to something I’ve made. It could fly or completely fall. It doesn’t change how I view the film.”

Franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson also had kind words for Cary suggesting they’d like to work with him again.

BROCCOLI: “He’s a perfectionist, but that’s what you want. He far exceeded anyone’s expectations. He’s made probably one of the best Bond films ever…. He’s delivered a film on an epic scale, but it also has a tremendous, tremendous intimacy…. It’s a classic Bond movie but also a Cary Fukunaga film.”

WILSON: “He’s certainly someone we’ll work with again.”

This wouldn’t be a strange concept as Martin Campbell directed both GoldenEye and Casino Royale, covering two eras of Bond.

Bond 26 is indeed in development as Phoebe Waller-Bridge was previously linked as writing the script after tackling rewrites on No Time To Die. There have been plenty of rumors concerning the next James Bond actor but nothing has been made official and remain to be rumor/speculation until producers make an announcement. It means we’ll have to endure many more casting rumors for the foreseeable future.

Cary is a busy gent as it was recently announced he will direct three episodes of the Apple TV+ series Maters of The Air, the WWII show produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

SOURCE: WALL STREET JOURNAL