The future of James Bond

The Black Oil · 24-07-2017 10:54pm

Bond 25 will be released on November 8th, 2019. Little else known.

Hollywood Reporter

CPSW · 25-07-2017 1:04pm

Hopefully they can convince Daniel Craig to play him one last time, then recast with a younger actor.

BuilderPlumber · 25-07-2017 1:24pm

CPSW wrote: »

Hopefully they can convince Daniel Craig to play him one last time, then recast with a younger actor.

That's what I'd be hoping for too. Get Daniel Craig to do one more. Tie up the loose ends from the previous 4 films and then recast but not reboot Bond. I also feel that it is time for a return to the rogue industrialist/businessman type villain too as defined by the likes of Stromberg, Drax, Zorin and Carver.

JP Liz V1 · 25-07-2017 9:50pm

Daniel Craig returning apparently

Wedwood · 25-07-2017 9:55pm

If so, Craig's played a blinder. He's probably negotiated a huge payday, reminiscent of EON getting Connery back for Diamonds are Forever by making an offer he couldn't refuse !

Hopefully, Aidan Turner gets the gig afterwards, he's definitely a Bond in waiting.

BuilderPlumber · 25-07-2017 10:08pm

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Daniel Craig returning apparently

That will be good. Daniel Craig deserves to finish on a high and let's hope his fifth film will be one of his best.

Wedwood wrote: »

If so, Craig's played a blinder. He's probably negotiated a huge payday, reminiscent of EON getting Connery back for Diamonds are Forever by making an offer he couldn't refuse !

Hopefully, Aidan Turner gets the gig afterwards, he's definitely a Bond in waiting.

You can be sure that was Craig's plan. Aidan Turner would make a good Bond too. Like Diamonds Are Forever finished all the Blofeld and SPECTRE themes in the early Bonds, I think the last Craig film needs to do same. Then as with Roger Moore and Live And Let Die have a different type of enemy for the first post-Craig Bond. We have had too much of the personal vendetta type enemy in the last 2 films.

The Black Oil · 25-07-2017 10:20pm

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Daniel Craig returning apparently

Seems the media is mostly citing the New York Times, who in turn, are basing this on two anonymous sources. I don't have much faith in that.

Agent Coulson · 07-09-2017 6:10pm

Apple, Amazon Join Race for James Bond Film Rights

The James Bond sweepstakes has taken an unexpected turn. While Warner Bros. remains in the lead to land film distribution rights to the megafranchise — whose deal with Sony expired after 2015’s Spectre — a couple of unlikely suitors have emerged that also are in hot pursuit: Apple and Amazon.

The tech giants are willing to spend in the same ballpark as Warners, if not much more, for the rights, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. MGM has been looking for a deal for more than two years, and Sony, Universal and Fox also had been pursuing the property, with Warners and Sony the most aggressive.

But the emergence of Apple — which is considered such a viable competitor that Warners is now pressing MGM hard to close a deal — and Amazon shows that the digital giants consider Bond one of the last untapped brands (like a Marvel, Pixar or Lucasfilm) that could act as a game-changer in the content space. Apple’s and Amazon’s inclusion in the chase would indicate that more is on the table than film rights, including the future of the franchise if MGM will sell or license out for the right price.

Sources say newly arrived executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht are spearheading the effort on Apple’s behalf. Given their background (the pair served as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television and shocked the industry when they announced in June that they were leaving for Apple), this would suggest that Apple is interested in cutting a larger rights deal or acquiring full ownership to exploit Bond’s largely unmined TV potential. Valuation of the franchise may be anywhere between $2 billion and $5 billion, says an insider.

“In the world of Lucasfilm and Marvel, Bond feels really underdeveloped,” says someone familiar with the bidding process. Sources say that, along with the tech giants, Chinese companies could come in from the cold to pursue not just movie rights but massive licensing rights that could push deals into the billions of dollars.

Very few movie or pop-culture properties quite rival the splashiness of the Bond franchise, which remains one of the most iconic brands with worldwide appeal. And unlike Star Wars, which was not owned by a major corporation until Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, it is still somewhat independently owned. Some observers feel that the franchise, by only limiting itself to theatrical movies, remains vastly under-utilized by 21st century standards, where expectations are to exploit IP across all mediums, push out merchandising for all age brackets and have spin-offs and cinematic universes.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/apple-amazon-join-race-james-bond-film-rights-1035539

BuilderPlumber · 14-09-2017 3:32pm

From reading the latest on the next Bond film, it seems to be going down the On Her Majesty's Secret Service route. Bond gets married, Blofeld kills Bond's wife (Madeleine) and Bond goes out for revenge. This sounds like an expanded version of the last 5 minutes of OHMSS and the first 5 minutes of Diamonds Are Forever.

FunLover18 · 14-09-2017 4:43pm

BuilderPlumber wrote:

From reading the latest on the next Bond film, it seems to be going down the On Her Majesty's Secret Service route. Bond gets married, Blofeld kills Bond's wife (Madeleine) and Bond goes out for revenge. This sounds like an expanded version of the last 5 minutes of OHMSS and the first 5 minutes of Diamonds Are Forever.

Is there anybody who actually wants Bond to go through more personal tragedy and the story to have another personal angle?

loyatemu · 14-09-2017 4:46pm

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

From reading the latest on the next Bond film, it seems to be going down the On Her Majesty's Secret Service route. Bond gets married, Blofeld kills Bond's wife (Madeleine) and Bond goes out for revenge. This sounds like an expanded version of the last 5 minutes of OHMSS and the first 5 minutes of Diamonds Are Forever.

Doesn't he drop Blofeld down a chimney in FYEO?

McLoughlin · 14-09-2017 4:50pm

loyatemu wrote: »

Doesn't he drop Blofeld down a chimney in FYEO?

Well he did and he didn't, he dropped a bald man in a grey Nehru jacket with a white cat whose name was unknown. The director said "We just let people use their imaginations and draw their own conclusions ... It's a legal thing".

loyatemu · 14-09-2017 5:00pm

Well provided Craig finally skis off a cliff with a Union Jack parachute, I'm happy :pac:

buried · 14-09-2017 7:58pm

More personal $hite. Absolute wankery. Nobody gives a tuppenny f**k about Bond's emotional pain. He's an assassin for christsakes. This lame soap opera shtick they've shoehorned into these recent films is pathetic. It's obvious the studio's do not want to offend any sort of modern political milieu existing anywhere in the modern world by not having the James Bond character being exactly what he's supposed to be, a state sponsored killer sent out to execute other killers. No, lets just offend the fans by turning him and the bad guys into each other's distant cousin's fighting over who got the most attention as a kid or some $hite. Pathetic. Wrap it up. Wrap it up or just go all out and turn it into something like 'The Naked Gun', at least then we could get a laugh out of it again rather than all this grey, grim, uninteresting personal grief wollix

Wedwood · 14-09-2017 8:59pm

When you see the resignation of so many to another Craig glumfest, it makes you yearn for the lighter movies of the Moore era.

Bond is going through a similar crisis of identity as the new movie iteration of Superman. Both have been turned into borderline depressants, rather than the swagger of their movie predecessors.

Superman should inspire/save people rather than kill thousands of them in mass brawls. Bond should should be make you jealous he gets the gadgets and the girls while smugly dispatching the villains.

Craig in fairness is good at what he does, but he's also the first Bond you'd prefer not to be !

buried · 14-09-2017 9:40pm

Exactly what Wedwood has said. Craig has been wasted in the last few apart from Casino Royale. And the makers of these new Bond film's have tried to copy the modern comic book superhero efforts which began with Nolan's Batman works. Those films have tied in all this psychological emotional element to the likes of Batman and Superman in order for the audience to relate to those freaky otherworldly characters. There is no need to do that for the character of James Bond. Bond is a spy, an assassin, a killer and a uppity bastard. Bond is not 'otherwordly' in the sense we need to relate to him. He doesn't dress up as a bat, he is not a alien with superpowers. He is, and always has been, a entertaining uppity assassin bastard. Just give us that. The audience doesn't need anything further than that, they know what he is, they've known it for over 50 years.

I'd really like to see Alex Garland get the screenplay duties for any future Bond efforts. Garland knew exactly how to create the world and feel in that 'Dredd' movie which was exactly true to the whole world of that particular character and it was great action entertainment. That's what Bond movies are, action entertainment, not some deep psychological emotional portrait of what makes the main character's tick. Bond is Bond, a absolute bastard sent out to do in other bastards up to worse bastardry than his bastardry.

BuilderPlumber · 14-09-2017 11:37pm

I have mixed views on the modern Bond films. Casino Royale is an excellent film and told the story well of how an agent became a 00 and was vulnerable. This film balanced the act of staying faithful to the fundamentals of Fleming's original book and being modern very well.

I feel that audiences do not take as well to a Bond who has self doubt, depression or demons haunting him as well as they can take to this for other characters. For Batman, this is natural: his parents' Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered and this made Batman who he was. Likewise with Max Rockatansky (better known as Mad Max), he becomes Mad Max when his wife is murdered and the world quickly crumbles. For Nidge, the balance between killing sanctioned targets and his friendship with those targets often caused him to be depressed and in a state of guilt despite his status as a gangland kingpin. Even John Rambo is shown as a man haunted by the demons of the Vietnam war. For ALL these, it was perfectly ok to see them less than confident but not for Bond for some reason?

Perhaps we are so used to Sean Connery or Roger Moore keep calm and always come out on top defeating the villain, saving the world and happily getting the girl? No scenes are shown where Bond has flashbacks to some demon from his past unlike what we get in films like Mad Max 2, Mad Max Fury Road, First Blood, Batman 1989 or Batman Begins. Or either would audiences expect it! Connery and Moore made Bond their own and played him differently in some ways but fundamentally, the message was the same: no deep emotions and always stay confident and calm no matter what. Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan stayed close to that rule too and while Dalton's second film was revenge, he always kept calm and did not let Sanchez get to him. OHMSS and the start of Diamonds are Forever are the brief exception to the rule but we never see a Bond who is unconfident here. Bond never looked vulnerable no matter what was fired at him: locked in Goldfinger's cell, in a coffin on fire, strapped under a laser, etc. did not unnerve him.

Craig tore up that rulebook. Bond could look vulnerable and his enemies could be 100% personal. M likewise could look vulnerable and have personal enemies. SPECTRE and the new personalised Blofeld somehow does not rest easy. Perhaps if I hadn't seen FRWL, Thunderball, YOLT, OHMSS and Diamonds Are Forever, I could take to this new incarnation more but I prefer the old Blofeld. It is a pity because the actor playing the new version is excellent and could have played a traditional Blofeld very well. A missed opportunity.

Agricola · 15-09-2017 12:36am

I've enjoyed the Daniel Craig films but I think at this stage I'd prefer a return to the lighter, less dark and depressing style of the older films.

There's a sort of inconsistency at the heart of the recent films whereby they've gone down the dirty, gritty Jason Bourne route while showing Bond as a complex, dark and troubled character, but at the same time making sure to have the contractually agreed number of high octane chase sequences complete with Bond theme and contractually agreed number of sexual liaisons with "Bond girls"

I just don't think the "Bond formula" really suits this approach. If they must stick to a cartoonish formula, then a return to the old tongue in cheek style might suit better imo.

the_syco · 15-09-2017 12:41am

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

The other type of Bond was the all action all stunts hero who engaged in humour and showcased the most elaborate gadgets. This started in Connery's later films, was carried through in the earlier parts of George Lazenby's film, was perfected in Moore's tenure and even was present to a certain extent in Dalton's first film and was revived bigtime in Pierce Brosnan's films. More often than not, the plot centred on a madman who wanted to destroy the world or a city unless he got money or in order to create a new society. Space and underwater themes were often in place and an all-gadgets car (or helicopter!) was often featured in a chase.

You'd swear this is the angle that Kingsman is going for?

BuilderPlumber · 16-09-2017 9:46pm

Agricola wrote: »

I've enjoyed the Daniel Craig films but I think at this stage I'd prefer a return to the lighter, less dark and depressing style of the older films.

There's a sort of inconsistency at the heart of the recent films whereby they've gone down the dirty, gritty Jason Bourne route while showing Bond as a complex, dark and troubled character, but at the same time making sure to have the contractually agreed number of high octane chase sequences complete with Bond theme and contractually agreed number of sexual liaisons with "Bond girls"

I just don't think the "Bond formula" really suits this approach. If they must stick to a cartoonish formula, then a return to the old tongue in cheek style might suit better imo.

For me, films like Octopussy, For Your Eyes Only, Moonraker, You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, etc. combined fun elements well with a serious plot. Moving out of the Connery and Moore era, films like The Living Daylights with Dalton and Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies with Brosnan to me ticked all the right boxes when it came to delivering a good Bond.

The personal vendetta/conspiracy theory type Bond film has been done to death at this stage and it would be good to move past this and a return to a film like Tomorrow Never Dies to name the last Bond film of the classic Bond format.

buried · 16-09-2017 9:58pm

It won't be long until Christopher Nolan starts directing the franchise. Cillian Murphy as Bond. And even more personal emotional family history pain nonsense to go with it. Grim family personal pain up to 11. I really think this is going to happen. Most of the action set-pieces Nolan likes to create are straight up James Bond homage's. That entire plane hijack at the start of the last Batman film he did was totally like something out of the start of a old Bond movie until the title credits and song break in. The snow fortress in Inception too.

BuilderPlumber · 19-09-2017 6:34am

buried wrote: »

It won't be long until Christopher Nolan starts directing the franchise. Cillian Murphy as Bond. And even more personal emotional family history pain nonsense to go with it. Grim family personal pain up to 11. I really think this is going to happen. Most of the action set-pieces Nolan likes to create are straight up James Bond homage's. That entire plane hijack at the start of the last Batman film he did was totally like something out of the start of a old Bond movie until the title credits and song break in. The snow fortress in Inception too.

I think that the personal emotional stuff has been done to death at this stage and handled rather poorly as well in the Bond franchise. Blofeld should have remained faithful to Fleming's character of him and not crossed with this Oberhauser character.

Oberhauser's back story was reported in Fleming's short story Octopussy akin to Major Dexter Smythe. While the latter is featured as the background story for the character Octopussy in the film, Oberhauser is totally ignored as a character in that film or any other film prior to SPECTRE. He was not connected in any way to Blofeld and should not be in my view. In SPECTRE, Oberhauser was turned into Blofeld and the character was essentially just another variation of the Silva character from Skyfall.

I too feel that Craig's Bond has been wasted in one of the post Casino Royale films namely SPECTRE. Sadly, we are stuck with this new Blofeld backstory and it will tarnish the future films. I think Casino Royale and Skyfall are classics and are well liked by critics and many fans. Of course they are not for everyone but they are great films of their type. Quantum of Solace is underrated. SPECTRE though (while not a disaster) is a disappointment and tried too hard to be many things and in the end failed to fulfill them.

I think the place to have Oberhauser as Oberhauser (and not Blofeld) would have been Skyfall as it was about Bond returning to his past. I like Skyfall and it handled a lot of these personal things better. I feel SPECTRE tried to proceed in a similar manner and then tacked the Blofeld dimension onto it and it was not as successful. Oberhauser was deemed not essential when they made Octopussy in 1983 and none of the 2 main villains in it (Kamal Khan, General Orlov) were in any way based on him. Skyfall may have been the best place for him as said and I could see him and Silva teamed up to exact revenge on a shared enemy being the secret service.

BuilderPlumber · 24-10-2017 6:42am

An interesting thing in the early Bonds is the evolution of how communist China is depicted. The first villain we are introduced to, Dr No, is part Chinese but there is no mention of politics. Jump forward to Goldfinger and we are told he is working for the Chinese and (though not mentioned but visible) with the help of a North Korean army and henchman. Next we see in You Only Live Twice that the Chinese may be working for the villains instead as we see 2 Chinese agents argue with Blofeld who threatens them with his piranha fish. By now, the relationship between SPECTRE and China is poor and China no longer find them an ally. In Diamonds Are Forever, China along with the USA and USSR is a target for SPECTRE's attacks on nuclear facilities and SPECTRE is a common enemy of all 3 nations. Jump forward to The Man With The Golden Gun and you have Scaramanga residing on a Chinese island and he is tolerated as long as he does some work for China. His other activities is his own business. That's the last we see of China in Bond until 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies where Bond and a Chinese agent stop a plot to cause a war involving China and the UK. Finally, Skyfall becomes the first Bond to be filmed in communist China.

SimonTemplar · 24-10-2017 11:40pm

Having recently seen The Man From Uncle and Atomic Blonde which were set in the 60s and 80s, I think the best thing for Bond post Craig era would be to make it a period piece, preferably the 60s. I think it could really work if they get stylish directors who also know how to film action.

The only real drawback is that you wouldn't have the high tech gadgets but the Craig era has downplayed the gadgets anyway.

I say this as a life long Bond fan. Would be good way of distinguishing itself from the likes of the Mission Impossible franchise which is bound to continue even after Cruise leaves.

Wedwood · 25-10-2017 9:59pm

Even the weaker Bond films have made huge amounts at the box office, so it's unlikely they'd do another reboot set in the '60's anytime soon.

The problem is that they've done just about everything you can think of with the character, so there's few enough surprises left after more than 50 years of Bond movies. When the best ideas to freshen up the franchise are to change the gender or race of Bond, maybe it's time to let the series rest for a while like they did between Dalton and Brosnan.

BuilderPlumber · 26-10-2017 4:10pm

SimonTemplar wrote: »

Having recently seen The Man From Uncle and Atomic Blonde which were set in the 60s and 80s, I think the best thing for Bond post Craig era would be to make it a period piece, preferably the 60s. I think it could really work if they get stylish directors who also know how to film action.

The only real drawback is that you wouldn't have the high tech gadgets but the Craig era has downplayed the gadgets anyway.

I say this as a life long Bond fan. Would be good way of distinguishing itself from the likes of the Mission Impossible franchise which is bound to continue even after Cruise leaves.

A 1960s set Bond might well work. Some gadgets of course could be included. It is very obvious that a lot of the subsequent films in the series took a lot from Goldfinger especially the car and the chase. Variants of this feature in The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies and SPECTRE (and You Only Live Twice with a helicopter and Moonraker with a boat).

Could a modern made film capture the magic of early 1960s classics like From Russia With Love, Goldfinger or Thunderball? Answers seems to be yes: The Spy Who Loved Me and Tomorrow Never Dies afterall were more or less just variations of another early classic, You Only Live Twice. The next film ironically seems to be a modern update of yet another early classic, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

BuilderPlumber · 26-10-2017 4:16pm

Wedwood wrote: »

Even the weaker Bond films have made huge amounts at the box office, so it's unlikely they'd do another reboot set in the '60's anytime soon.

The problem is that they've done just about everything you can think of with the character, so there's few enough surprises left after more than 50 years of Bond movies. When the best ideas to freshen up the franchise are to change the gender or race of Bond, maybe it's time to let the series rest for a while like they did between Dalton and Brosnan.

A 1960s set Bond would be good but I too don't see it happening. Remakes of elements from some of them will and have featured. I can't think of how many times something originally from Goldfinger has been in the mix in some way in many of the subsequent films.

Changing the gender of Bond would be a disaster I think. Such a decision would I feel kill off the series for good. Let's stick with what we have and not tamper with Fleming's character in too radical a way. A Bond like film with a female agent would be the way to go. She could be introduced as 008 or something in a Bond film and then get her own film.

Dr Brown · 26-10-2017 9:05pm

Changing the gender or ethnicity of Bond would only be playing into the hands of Political Correctness.

BuilderPlumber · 28-10-2017 9:24pm

Dr Brown wrote: »

Changing the gender or ethnicity of Bond would only be playing into the hands of Political Correctness.

That's true. Too much of this and the series would fall apart. It would make a joke of the whole thing. I think Bond should stay at least a male heterosexual anyway. Tampering with the character too much would ruin the feel of things. If they got away with it for Bond, then Indiana Jones and others would be next. I think it's best to leave classic characters alone and to invent new ones to represent other types.

Harry Palmr · 28-10-2017 9:39pm

Wedwood wrote: »

Even the weaker Bond films have made huge amounts at the box office, so it's unlikely they'd do another reboot set in the '60's anytime soon.

The problem is that they've done just about everything you can think of with the character, so there's few enough surprises left after more than 50 years of Bond movies. When the best ideas to freshen up the franchise are to change the gender or race of Bond, maybe it's time to let the series rest for a while like they did between Dalton and Brosnan.

That wasn't voluntary! It was a legal dispute. But yes the rest was actually a good thing. People had the chance to forget 007 somewhat and then rediscover it in a slight altered renewed form.

I like the idea of going back in time - dare I say an origins story (hate the very term!) would actually be completely justified with the first post Craig bond that story would have to be set in WW2 and go from there. That would be quite a step change for the series.

The future of James Bond

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