Fox has dated Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile for Nov. 8, 2019, which is the same weekend where the $349 million-grossing (on a $55m budget) Murder on the Orient Express was released in 2017. That makes sense, but it now puts the movie directly in the path of the 25th James Bond movie. And since that early November slot has been pretty good for the 007 franchise of late, I imagine Annapurna may not want to budge either, even if both films are British, adult-skewing franchise offerings. I guess this means that Fox probably won’t end up with the international distribution rights for that next James Bond flick.
Rumblings seemed to be that we’d get an announcement in the new year and i think we all expected that to be the Director.
Well, nothing from Eon, but we did get an announcement from Villeneuve that he was committed to Dune and so would not be doing Bond 25.
Joining the dots it seems Eon pinned all their hopes upon villeneuve and the fact that they’ve remained silent suggests to me there was no plan b in place. Right now they’re probably scrabbling to decide which of the other 2 they named, if either, will get the gig.
It could be that announcing a Director just after villeneuve has publicly declined the gig might take some of the fizz out of it, so they’re waiting for that to be forgotten.
Or, it could be that in true Eon tradition the other 2 names were used merely to provide a sense of competition, helping Eon’s bargaining position and they never really wanted either of them for Bond 25.
Imo Mackenzie’s talent for storytelling with gritty realism will work well with Craig’s Bond. However, also being the writer of some of his own movies he’d probably have a lot of issues with the plot holes, absent character motivation and hackneyed dialogue of a P&W script.
If Mckenzie did come on board he could possibly bring the excellent Ben Mendelsohn along as the villain; they worked together on Starred Up. I’m sure Mckenzie would give him something to get his impressive acting chops into, as opposed to his criminally underwhelming villain in Rogue One.
I wouldn’t worry just yet. If we hear nothing by the end of March, then I’ll start to feel a bit nervous. If we hear nothing by the end of May, then I’ll likely be in virtual panic mode.
I was always a bit skeptical about Craig’s announcement on Colbert to begin with. The whole thing just seemed odd, and like one of those moments that might not actually hold up when the cards all fell into place. Very well could have been something that was done in an attempt to get the whole process kickstarted, and if that was the case, then it obviously failed.
At this point, I’d say it’s probably 50-50 whether Craig or someone else appears as Bond in BOND 25. I’d be shocked if MGM were able to get it’s crap together and actually get a major $300 million film out the door by the end of 2019.
I had the same thought, honestly. The only thing that makes me think I’m wrong is that DC was supposed to shoot that Showtime series “Purity” this year and somebody conviced them to put that off until Bond 25 finished…
Let’s wait and see. Even if Craig’s announcement maybe didn’t blow away all major obstacles it stands to reason development on BOND 25 must have made some kind of progress. Perhaps to the point where there is only a single hurdle left before the machinery gets up to speed…
I guess we all can be realistic enough to see that Villeneuve´s stock has fallen immensely after the financial disaster of BLADE RUNNER 2049 and that his DUNE will not happen. BOND 25 will, in one way or another, and it does not need Villeneuve.
And never underestimate EON. Of course, they will not gamble on only one director and then look down puzzled if this choice becomes unavailable. Villeneuve is a great director, no question, and he was on EON´s radar because they are now in the business of getting A-listers for Bond, just for the shock value of “oh, man, that artist is doing Bond now?”
But they will have lined up many other possibilities, and in the end it´s all just a matter of timing… and money.
I’m fairly confident the movie will go ahead with Craig in the lead role. I haven’t had any real reason to doubt their announcement. It’s just jumping to conclusions to suggest otherwise. Let the process play out.
Since Craig is a hugely successful Bond they probably will do everything they can to mount the next film with him.
But actors being attached to long-gestating projects often drop out when they want to pursue other things. Granted, Dalton was not a hugely successful Bond but he would have made a third one if production had begun earlier. If BOND 25 gets delayed again I can easily see Craig stepping down because he does not need Bond anymore and he desperately wants to do other things with his career.
I’m absolutely sure EON has made plans for BOND 25 with Craig. But announcing the film two years before it is in theaters was already suspicious, especially with no other names attached. If they had said: this director will helm but we wait for him (as we did for Mendes) it would have sounded perfectly right. This long silence, also concerning the distribution deal, does indicate that there are huge problems that have not been solved yet.
It all seems to depend on BOND 25 really making its release date in 2019. And although I argued that there is enough room for other films during the November period, I wonder if it is already an open secret in Hollywood that BOND 25 will not be out in 2019 and that this is why they move their high profile films into those slots now. It is getting crowded there, and with the concluding Star Wars chapter a month later, repeat business for BOND 25 will be already smaller.
I sent EON an email and, to my surprise, they responded.
Here’s the exchange:
"Hello,
My name is ---- -----, and I have been a longtime fan of the James Bond series.
Many 007 fans have been speculating as to who will direct Bond 25. We recognize and understand that EON is not able to divulge that information until the proper time. But I was wondering if you are able to share with me when EON anticipates announcing the director.
A large portion of the die-hard fan base is a bit restless at the moment, and any nuggets of information you can provide (even if not the director’s name) would be deeply appreciated.
Thank you in advance for any help you are able to provide,
----- ------"
And this was their response:
"Hi ------,
Many thanks for your enquiry. We don’t have any information at the moment and we are working on other projects.
Best wishes
Rosie Moutrie
EON Productions"
What do you make of this? Obviously I wasn’t expecting much from them, so the fact that I got a response at all was a pleasant surprise.
Not sure what to make of “we are working on other projects.”
It sound like other projects, like Rhythm Section, are the proverbial wolf closest to the sled. They’ll focus on Bond when those other projects will allow.
First of all: thank you, Tiin007, for directly contacting EON and getting an official statement out of them.
Let´s interpret it, shall we?
EON, naturally, does not give anything away until they want to, so a non-committal answer like this one was to be expected.
However, they could have replied: we cannot say anything at the moment but stay tuned for more news on BOND 25.
Actually stressing that they are working on other projects is a weird way to draw attention away from Bond.
One could get the feeling that this means: don’t bother us about Bond, we have other projects that interest us now.
Maybe plans fell through for BOND 25 and the current strategy is: let’s just forget about Bond for a while.
In any event, it adds to the feeling of the Craig era being the time in which Bond lost its status of being a priority, due to the lack of enthusiasm by its main actor and the obsession with becoming respectable by going for A-list directors.
Around this time before a new film, there is always panic among the fan cognoscenti that Eon quite clearly have no idea, that they are bored, they are not serving the fans’ needs and are quite possibly just irresponsibly sitting on their billions and having some time out.
The difference this time being that Eon do have another project which actually is lagging behind. It’s perfectly possible that extended break in RHYTHM SECTION gave them more than just a headache.
Whatever the reason(s), we shall see soon either way.
