Throughout all of MGM’s current spate of financial woes, the development of the next James Bond movie has quietly proceeded under the optimistic belief that the studio’s money issues would be straightened out and a greenlight would be given for the super spy’s next cinematic outing. But it seems that MGM’s fiscal crisis has gone on a bit too long as Bond franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson announced today that they are suspending that development indefinitely-
Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on Bond 23 indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of Bond 23.
Bad news for Bond fans and those of us who have been enjoying the renaissance that the franchise has undergone in recent years with Daniel Craig in the role of James Bond. It was looking like we would be seeing Bond 23 sometime in late 2011/early 2012. Unless things are unexpectedly quickly resolved, it looks as if we won’t be seeing the film until much later.
What we do have is lots of questions as to how this hiatus will affect the franchise, chief among them being what will happen with all the work already done? When they finally resume development, will Broccoli and Wilson keep the screenplay they have from writer Peter Morgan or throw it out and start over? And when things do start up again, will director Sam Mendes still be able to helm the picture? If this hiatus stretches too long, he is liable not to just sit around, twiddling his thumbs. According to his IMDb profile, Mendes has four other projects in development and if he moves on to one of them, he may not be able when Bond 23 does start up again.
Via Coming Soon.
