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News Daniel Craig signs up for Bond 25, Christopher Nolan in talks to direct

I wonder how many more films they'd have been able to make with Craig, or if he'd have finished his tenure and we'd be onto another Bond by now if either:

a.) Eon had total ownership of the Bond franchise, or
b.) a different film studio besides MGM that wasn't always finding themselves financially in the shit owned the other half?

Yes, No Time to Die was derailed by the departure of Danny Boyle long before COVID was a thing, but the long delays between Craig's films (especially the four-year gap between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall) have mostly been due to MGM's eternal financial woes and their need to work with another studio (Sony [Columbia] on the first four, Universal on NTTD) to do the heavy lifting on distribution.
 
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It still irks that if they hadn't wasted time on Boyle I'd have a shiny Blu-ray of NTTD (though maybe it wouldn't have been called that) on my shelf and likely would have watched the film five or six times (seen all the Craig films at least twice if not three times at the cinema).

I've got the feeling a lot of issues were down to Eon and Craig. Barbara Broccoli definitely wanted to explore other avenues and likely a sizable gap (though nowhere near as sizable as we ended up with) between films was a prerequisite of Craig coming back. Re the gap between QoS and SF while not the major reason I do wonder if the perceived failure of QoS had made them rethink the logic of trying to pump a Bond film out in 2 years?

Maybe there's an alternate universe where Risico starring Henry Cavill came out in 2018 ;)
 
Starkers said:
Re the gap between QoS and SF while not the major reason I do wonder if the perceived failure of QoS had made them rethink the logic of trying to pump a Bond film out in 2 years?
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In 2009, MGM replaced their CEO with a guy who helped wind down Enron after their scandal and restructured Krispy Kreme in the mid-00s; they subsequently restructured themselves via Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010. I think that had as much or more to do with the long gap between Quantum and Skyfall than any perceived failures of the films themselves.
publiusr said:
Now Thunderball is kind of its own thing—remade as Never Say Never Again.

Any movement on that front?
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There were plans in the late '90s to remake it again as Warhead 2000 A.D. (possibly starring Timothy Dalton, after he'd moved on from Bond). MGM sued to stop production, and eventually settled with Sony; the film was never made.

In 2013, MGM and Danjaq (Eon's parent company) acquired all the rights and interest to Thunderball from Kevin McClory's estate, so no, unless it's Eon, nobody will be remaking that story again.
 
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I'd have delayed it still further to October 2022 so that they could release a film for the franchise's 60th anniversary and be (fingers crossed) absolutely sure of clearing the pandemic.
 
What's the point in delaying a bog standard Bond film even further just to tie in with the 60th? SF was specifically made as a celebratory film as was DAD (40th anniversary and the 20th film) whereas NTTD wasn't. Sod waiting another 18 months. If they can't release in the cinemas come Oct they need to seriously consider the VOD route.
 
Starkers said:
What's the point in delaying a bog standard Bond film even further just to tie in with the 60th? SF was specifically made as a celebratory film as was DAD (40th anniversary and the 20th film) whereas NTTD wasn't. Sod waiting another 18 months. If they can't release in the cinemas come Oct they need to seriously consider the VOD route.
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I doubt they'll ever go for VOD, and tbh I hope they hold out. Even though I don't even particularly love Bond movies, they're one of the few things I'll actually go see at the cinema. More than most movies, they feel made for the big screen. I guess they know that and want to retain the prestige.
 
The COVID-related delays in releasing NTTD are screwing with the film's product placements, especially Nokia:
Although the film will reportedly feature Omega watches, Bollinger champagne, and Adidas footwear, it seems likely that HMD Global’s Nokia phones are at risk of dating most quickly. HMD Global announced last year that the film would include its Nokia 8.3 5G from last year, and TechRadar reports that the film is also set to include the Nokia 7.2, which was first released in 2019.

The Sun reports that the movie could face reshoots to hide its outdated products, and quotes a source as saying that some scenes may be “carefully edited.”
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Source: The Verge
 
Words fail me. The whole world is facing its biggest crisis in modern times, and here we have Hollywood Suits worrying that a movie that won't see a release any earlier than a year and a half after its original release will have outdated product placement and are fretting over what to do about it.

Because when this movie does get a theatrical release, someone in the audience is going to lose it when they recognize something from 2019 and walk out of the theatre and get their money back as a result.
 
Ugh, this is why product placements are garbage. It's just as bad as McDonald's dictating movie releases because of Happy Meal toys.

Yeah, yeah, I know it's all about the money but fuck.
 
A friend of mine, who is a watch vendor and who has a podcast about watch manufacturing, mentioned the Omega becoming outdated way back when the film was first postponed. But the Sun always has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
 
A brand name is a brand name. I mean, who here is going to watch a Bond movie and splash down money on new Omega after? How big a loss is it going to be? Sure, we all want to buy an Omega but to me Omega is a brand that Bond wears. I don't really give a damn whether it's an Omega from 2019 or 2020. If by chance I did buy an Omega what ass is going to notice it and come up to me and say, "2019 Omega, tsk tsk".
 
Saul said:
A brand name is a brand name. I mean, who here is going to watch a Bond movie and splash down money on new Omega after? How big a loss is it going to be? Sure, we all want to buy an Omega but to me Omega is a brand that Bond wears. I don't really give a damn whether it's an Omega from 2019 or 2020. If by chance I did buy an Omega what ass is going to notice it and come up to me and say, "2019 Omega, tsk tsk".
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It may be niche, but according to my friend, promoting the latest (at that time) model was important to Omega. But yeah, I imagine most of us won’t be rushing out to buy one, any more than I’ll be buying an Aston Martin.
 
Captaindemotion said:
It may be niche, but according to my friend, promoting the latest (at that time) model was important to Omega. But yeah, I imagine most of us won’t be rushing out to buy one, any more than I’ll be buying an Aston Martin.
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2021 Omega watch and 1963 aston? How's that gonna work?
And from what I've read there are 4 aston martins from different years.
 
Captaindemotion said:
It may be niche, but according to my friend, promoting the latest (at that time) model was important to Omega.
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It still seems a bit silly. It's not unusual for a movie's product placement to be outdated by the time the movie hits home media, and no one gets upset over that. The company isn't going to go bankrupt just because a movie in theatres in late 2021 shows the product that was made available in 2019.
 
The Wormhole said:
It still seems a bit silly. It's not unusual for a movie's product placement to be outdated by the time the movie hits home media, and no one gets upset over that. The company isn't going to go bankrupt just because a movie in theatres in late 2021 shows the product that was made available in 2019.
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There's a difference between being outdated by the time it hits home media (now around 3 months after theatrical release; remember when it was 6 months to a year?) and outdated when it hits movie theaters; the latter is often carefully timed to coincide with product releases and ad campaigns. In the case of Nokia, by the time NTTD finally opens in October, a year and a half will have passed since the pre-COVID release date, and it's entirely possible Nokia will have released new phones that supersede the models depicted in the film. It seems stupid to us, a phone is just a phone, but for them, that exposure can be the difference between a good year and a bad year.

And yes, Omega and Aston Martin are niche brands that most of the people who'll eventually see NTTD can't actually afford. OTOH, a lot of them may be in the market for a new cell phone, and seeing it in a Bond movie could tip the balance between them buying a Nokia vs. a different brand.
 
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I think if this had happened 6 months ago we might have had NTTD streamed by now. I think now they'll wait for the cinema release (or do a joint cinema/streaming premiere)
 
I was reading one of those dubious-at-best interwebz articles the other day that suggested one of the big negotiation points was Amazon exploring the idea of franchiseifying Bond and Babs was none too happy.
 
CorporalClegg said:
I was reading one of those dubious-at-best interwebz articles the other day that suggested one of the big negotiation points was Amazon exploring the idea of franchiseifying Bond and Babs was none too happy.
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I can definitely imagine Amazon wanting to look at a Bond tv show or some sort of expanded universe. I know I harp on about this, but I think a streaming platform would be ideal for doing risky, offbeat takes on Bond, such as period-set ones, more character-driven stories, etc.
 
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