Bond 23 Canceled
MGM's financial woes just seem to continue, and threaten the livelihood of several quality, high-profile projects in the works. First, the continuing delays caused by MGM's money situation forced Guillermo Del Toro's exit from The Hobbit, and now it looks like they're shutting down Daniel Craig's third outing as James Bond.
Just a few months ago, it was reported that acclaimed director Sam Mendes had taken the reigns of the Bond franchise, and even more recently, rumors that Rachel Weisz was to play the bad guy in Bond 23. But now it seems all that has come to a halt.
While Eon Productions had suspended active development of the film back in April, it appears now that the film has been canceled outright. British gossip rag The Mirror has "confirmed the movie has been axed – and it could be years before the secret agent with a licence to kill is back on the big screen."
According to the tabloid, an "insider" told them, "Members of the production crew have been told the Bond film has been canned. There is a lot of bad feeling as a lot of time, money and hard work has already gone into this."
Could this be the end of Daniel Craig's reign as 007?
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November 17th, 2010 5:54 PM
Apparently this same problem is what drove out Timothy Dalton out of the spot of 007, and as much as we don't like it, could hurt Craig in the same way. Overspending and overproducing has led to this, and I urge studios to settle and take a step back. There's no need to develop a thousand films per year, and there's no need to overindulge in 3D or rampant special effects for so many new films. Casino Royale did brilliantly without the same effects as Die Another Day, and received much more excellent reviews. I don't need every movie to be a Michael Bay film in order for me to enjoy it. Work on story, and work on the small things. Special effects didn't make me love J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, it was the performances and the fantastic directing. FX is always secondary.
July 7th, 2010 5:53 PM
@ F.W. Lee
It's happening because MGM is horribly in debt and nobody is stepping up to the plate to purchase the company, because nobody wants to incur that debt. It has nothing to do with the current state of the Bond franchise, but the economy. This is a much bigger problem than Hollywood making crap, and frankly, if things don't improve financially in this country, something that you're going to see more of in the future.
If you really want something to lament, you should hear all the horror stories about good indie films unable to secure financing because they aren't movies driven by big names and product placement deals. The money just isn't out there like it used to be. It's a real problem for the film industry.
July 7th, 2010 12:23 PM
Why, for the love of God would this happen after Craig kicked butt in both Bonds. They were so good that I purchased the DVDs, which I rarely do. Maybe if MGM like Hollywood would stop overproducing crap, they would have been able to produce quality films like Bond. Remember, quality over quantity...
July 7th, 2010 10:58 AM
Damn it! We finally get the first great Bond performance in Daniel Craig since Sean Connery and MGM goes under? Is there no justice in this world? Suffering the douchy-ness of Roger Moore and the wimpy-ness of Pierce Brosnan wasn't enough? The celluloid gods taunt us mercilessly... It isn't fair, (snif) it just isn't fair!