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Bond 25 is definitely coming in 2019. MGM is a business and it needs to establish revenue.//
If it was strictly business, Bond 25 would be out in 2018. However, in entertainment there is also the issue of your relationships with talent.
In this case, both Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig wanted to do other things. So MGM (apparently) decided it couldn't pressure either because it would be bad in the long run. Meanwhile, MGM spent much of 2016 pursuing a sale to a Chinese company that never materialized.
MGM could have used the revenue from a Bond movie this year. As noted above, The Hollywood Reporter and other entertainment sites have noted that MGM's film business is languishing while the TV business is doing well. And the remake of Death Wish and the new Tomb Raider movie aren't doing that well.
But pressuring either Broccoli or Craig could be bad in the long run. Perhaps that why Barber talked about a 3- to 4-year gap after MGM said back in 2010 (as part of its plan to get out of bankruptcy) that Bond movies would get back to an every-other-year schedule.
Fleming´s Bond popping benzedrine here and there isn´t that far from literary Sherlock Holmes shooting himself up from time to time. I don´t think Holmes is depicted as an addict. He uses substances out of boredom, or for scientific research purposes.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/mgm-ceo-gary-barber-was-fired-following-disagreement-with-board-on-strategy-1521651750
Meanwhile, one of the WSJ reporters, sent out this tweet, quoting from a Broccoli-Wilson statement. It's not quoted in the story.
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"Mr. Barber previously had disagreed with some board members over how MGM should make the transition to a combined producer and distributor capable of holding its own against giants such as Netflix Inc. from a pure content-production company, according to people with knowledge of the disagreements."
"Members of the board believe that Mr. Barber was running the company with an eye toward selling it rather than focusing on long-term growth, a contention with which the chief executive disagreed, according to several of the people close to the company."
"A question for MGM’s future will be whether it can turn its premium cable channel Epix into a vibrant digital business that competes with Netflix, HBO and other subscription video services. MGM in 2017 gained full ownership of Epix—previously a joint venture withViacom Inc. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. —in a deal that valued the channel at around $1 billion. Mr. Barber, whose background is in accounting and film, didn’t appear to have a strategy for Epix that satisfied the board."
"Driving the firing was a sense among some board members that Mr. Barber wasn’t being aggressive enough in pursuing new partnerships and growth strategies, as he had previously agreed to do, one of the people close to the company said."
"Mr. Barber, meanwhile, believed he was building shareholder value by executing and then managing acquisitions including Epix and “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett’s production company, another one of the people said. Mr. Barber was working on other potential deals for MGM, this person added."
"Mr. Barber is known as a frugal business person, an aggressive deal-maker and a hands-on operator, said people who have worked with him. That approach has helped to stabilize the company, but it frustrated some colleagues who wanted more autonomy and investment, including Mr. Burnett, according to people who know them both."
"The board is now expected to look outside the studio for a new leader, someone who is likely to have a stronger background in digital media and television than Mr. Barber, some of the people close to the company said."
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My take: If the above is true, then I have concerns about MGM's business strategy. There is a feeling in the investment community that Netflix has run away with the streaming platform and it's a fool's game to try and compete. Even Disney is facing an uphill battle with its nascent streaming offering. So I can't see how little MGM can make the necessary investments to be competitive against that behemoth, let alone Amazon Prime. Quite frankly, I would think that a sale is actually the best option, given the market dynamics and interest in M&A at the present time. The longer Epix is out there stagnating, the more likely they will have to write off a portion of their $1bn acquisition cost.
EDIT: In other news, MGM quietly hired a partner in a law firm in mid-February to be its COO and to oversea business development and strategic growth initiatives. I wonder if they were setting the stage for Barber's exit with this move.
http://variety.com/2018/film/news/mgm-new-coo-chris-brearton-1202696375/
I suppose since Boyle isn't 100% confirmed yet (they could somehow despise the script and opt to go with P&W's take) that we won't have a composer attached until a director officially is.
I wonder if EON is organized enough that they even have a backup plan.
And we most likely won't know until the press conference.
I'd love to see that. Though he did get fired at the end of QoS, so maybe he's around in a more villainous way.
I don’t think there is any chance the script doesn’t “work out”
The’ve chosen the horse they’re riding to the finish line; let’s hope it’s a thoroughbred.
Agreed. He wouldn't publicly talk about it if it wasn't a near-certainty.
The Hollywood Reporter was always THE best place for news and inside scoops on the business. I haven't read it as much in the past few years, but its reporting is generally very solid.
Given David Harbour's new-found fame, he would be great. In terms of Beam, though, I don't remember him getting fired. The last we saw or heard of him, he was shooing away flies in a Peruvian bar and complaining about the water. Or did I miss something?
M says to Bond at the end:
M: "Your friend Leiter's been promoted. He replaced Beam."
Bond: "Well, then the right people kept their jobs."
Ah, yes. Thank you @Creasy47. Like @bondjames I didn't take those lines as him getting fired. But I guess one could look at it that way.
Either way he was at least demoted and nowhere near as influential as Leiter was. That could've irritated him enough for him to quit the CIA and join the bad guys.
From ajb: "Somebody asked about his involvement and he said it wasn’t up to him in the end, but that he always has a special sharpened pencil for Bond..."
It won't happen because Harbour is too big now, unless he's cast as the main villain.
Good that they asked him, though that answer was all we could expect.
Where is the time for Bond?
I think Bond should already be booked for end of 2018/2019 ..if anything then SW9 would be pushed back or an alternative found.