It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
I don't know about record-breaker, but a Bond film that lands culturally like Goldeneye would be a major win. Between that and Prohect 007 Bond could be as relevant as he was in the mid to late 90's again.
Yeah, absolutely! I’d just never bet against Bond.
Could the next film be a bust? Sure, anything can happen, but there’s just no evidence that the producers have lost their way, or they’re cutting corners, or the money isn’t up on the screen, or the talent in front of, and behind the cameras have diminished…
If there was some kind of shaky ground that was evident, as it was for other film series like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, earlier Batman films (post Keaton/pre Bale/Nolan (but even that last one in the Nolan trilogy showed me a fourth film had the potential to be a bloated mess), the Alien series, DC and Marvel, I mean, all of these series were seriously running out of steam, they couldn’t hide it, they had no solutions and they’re done, in one way or the other.
But Bond is Bond and he really went through a tough time in the mid to late 80s, but since his triumphant return in ‘95, the films, and the producers. have only grown stronger. The talent in front of, and behind the camera is unmatched.
Until I see this series wobble out of the gates, like Tyson Fury in Round Nine vs Usyk, I’m not worried in the least (whether I’m a fan of the next era or not, this series is in good hands at the moment. When they release the next era, it’ll be bananas).
No one has done what EoN has done in 60 plus years. It’s amazing.
Great post @CrabKey
I couldn't agree more.
Great post!
Also a great post!
As for the movie theater business.As someone who works in the movie theater business, it was busy where I was at. I think one of the honest reasons that Garfield didn’t do as well is that people are getting sick of Chris Pratt and Samuel L Jackson do the same things over and over again. And he shoved in our faces as “talent.” People do get tired of actors doing the same things. There’s no surprises with those two anymore, honestly. Bond thankfully has changed in little ways, without losing the appeal. It has a set formula, sure, but also, isn’t afraid to shake things up a bit. The MCU hasn’t changed much, just more cringeworthy one-liners. Also, thankfully EON (and IFP)has taken breathing room for us. We are truly lucky fans.
I think It might be time we stop holding out hope that Bond 26 is being released in 2 years when we haven't even heard news of a writer or director being approached for the film. Better just accept that EON are taking their time to make the best film they can. A cinematic misfire in the current climate could spell serious trouble, even for something as seemingly boxofficeproof as Bond. The extra diligence by EON is well worth it in the long run.
Thanks @MaxCasino , and I think you're onto something: Bond has found ways to change in a surgically precise way, with, as you said, not losing the appeal.
The same old, same old, actors doing the same roles, looking the same, sounding the same, MCU rotting in stagnation at the moment, nobody having the balls to keep evolving, progressing, moving forward.
Nothing in this world is perfect, including EoN, but we have been blessed with gatekeepers who have protected the legacy, but they have adjusted with the times, keeping things feeling fresh... And just as it feels as something may be going a little stale, they find ways to give the series a jolt.
You're right, man, we are truly lucky.
This obsession with release dates is starting to get problematic, @Mendes4Lyfe. I think you'll end up needing therapy long before B26 is announced. If a picture of Vin Diesel sends you down the path of depressing over EON’s current silence, I don't see how you get your sleep at night anymore.
Just have to play it by ear really. At some point we'll have a timeframe.
Both Bond 24 and 25 were announced in July two years before the movies' (scheduled) releases.
https://www.sonypictures.com/corp/press_releases/2013/07_13/071113_bond24.html
https://www.jamesbondlifestyle.com/news/bond-25-be-released-2019
Thank you @peter we think a lot alike!
I think the closest series for me that has the Bond luck is Batman with Michael Uslan. He's been there since Batman '89 and helped Batman in cinema (live action and animated), for over 30 years. He was one of the people who pushed for a dark and serious Batman as well. While not the head person in charge, he has proven that he cares, akin to the Broccoli's and even Harry Saltzman when he was on the series. Superman came close, but the Salkinds ruined and tried to ruin it before Donner and Company got on. As for Batman, it was more Warner Bros, than Joel Schumacher and Zack Snyder (who does deserve some blame, honestly), shoving in everything at once. Bond thankfully hasn't gone too far with this route, and when they do, they know how to fix it. They (both EON and IFP) have survived this long for a reason.
As for Bond as a character, he's extremely adaptable. He can be portrayed as light-hearted (yet serious) or dark and gritty, (yet have a sense of humor). Not many fictional characters can do that, and still appeal to mass audiences, appreciating of both. Even the far off characterizion of Bond in Carte Blanche, Jeffery Deaver did his supporting cast great, and tried something different. Even Sebastian Faulks wrote his novel just to try something different for himself. He deserves points for that alone.
The MCU can rebound, but they need to cut back on two things: too much content at once and cringing humor (namely the one-liners). Thankfully, one movie this year could help them. Some of the actors have gotten in trouble for some of the things they have said. Cough, Brie Larson Cough Simu Liu Cough. The press has hurt them as well. Bond generally has had a good relationship with the press, minus DC and his SP comments.
As for actors, and their trademarks, that's one of the reasons John Wayne or Woody Allen aren't as popular with my generation as they once were. That, and they are terrible people in general. While they aren't the first or last people guilty of this, it can hurt an artist if they do the same thing over and over again. You have to change it up once in a while. Bond and his actors, (and his authors) have done that for years now.
All in all, while there are flaws, we are still lucky fans, in more ways than one. Happy birthday, Ian Fleming, and thank you for your creation.
Simu Liu is an arrogant and pretentious little snot. Before Marvel came calling he was a small Canadian actor working on a series here called Kim’s Convenience. A few of my friends were behind camera talent and thought he was a monster and bit their tongues on more than one occasion.
And then he was cast in Marvel, and; he turned around and slammed the producers of the TV show for being “overwhelmingly white” who didn’t take feedback from their Asian cast— which just wasn’t the case. But as he threw these ppl under the bus, they took the high road and buttoned any kind of response.
He left behind quite a few people injured by his passive aggressiveness. On top of all of this, I find him to be an incredibly weak presence, especially in feature films.
I hope he enjoys his fifteen minutes, 😂!
But I hear you that MCU needs to pull back on content and make their slate as strong as possible. Flooding the market with all those films and tv shows blew up in their faces….
Yep, there's a reason that his career hasn't gone anywhere. Plus, the MCU usually doesn't put up with difficult people. Let's see what happens. Even George Lazenby learned from his mistakes, somewhat. Thankfully, EON is similar in that regard. I also want to give Lucasfilm credit for taking a break from Star Wars, at least on a cinematic level. I think that EON will better plan a multi-story arc after the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy mess and a lot of the DC arc, Goldeneye Reloaded and Bloodstone included. I still think EON will try a two-part story. Namely, because Amazon will be helping finance it, and they like to push a second film with a Bond actor as soon as possible.
Maybe, as I said before, EON knows what they're doing, in particular with schedules. Let's see what happens.
I don't know. People love the gunbarrel and the James Bond Theme and they are "trademarks".
The plus for EON is that if they did make two Bond films back to back I don’t think it would be a ‘part 1/part 2’ situation. Even films like DN and FRWL/CR and QOS are all Bond adventures with their own identities, stories, villains, and styles, even though they’re sequels to each other. Bond films tend to all be their own thing in that sense. We were never going to get a CR part 2 for instance.
Then again that might be a major reason not to bother. It’s probably best to give each Bond film their own writing/development time. Sometimes different directors/writers can benefit different adventures, so you don’t necessarily want the same team behind that second film. It’ll also prove a problem if some course correction is needed.
I’m personally of the opinion they won’t do a back to back. Getting a bit more of a fixed schedule for the next three films would be cool (one every three years maybe) but I understand there’s always things out of their hands as we’ve seen during the Craig era.
Plus I think you need a bit of time to judge what the reaction was to the last one and steer a course with the next: I think there's an argument that films like Thunderball or QoS went into production a bit too soon.
Thunderball didn't "go into production too soon". The movie was as successful as it could be.
Anyway, I do kinda agree about QOS going into production maybe a bit too soon. TMWTGG is another example of a film which may have benefitted from being released a bit later.
Sure but TB was the first "big Bond movie" and possibly the first pure action movie of all time.
;)
Yes I think that's right, plus there were probably lots of double bills going on where it literally was partnered with Goldfinger. I think it's more down to Goldfinger's quality than its own in some senses as you say; not that TB is awful, I just think it could have been better had they looked more at why GF was such a hit.
Yes, I also think they did learn one thing from GF, and that was get a big, bombastic theme song. Tom Jones was a star, and I think the big Bond movie-specific song is one of the things that a 007 film always has. It's a really great marketing tool.
Although on the subject of being a star: he'd only had his first hit a few months before that same year, so picking a Billie Eilish-style rising star isn't a new thing!
I dunno about the first pure action movie, but agreed, it was a bigger Bond film.
It feels like Young was the wrong director. Not to say he was always masterful but FRWL showed he was perfectly able to craft a tight, solid Bond film, albeit a more low key one. GF simply took the absurdity up a notch and made certain things more vivid, and I don’t think Young was ever really able to understand what that movie did in that regard (even when he’s made to direct actors during certain scenes - ie the Q gadget scene - Bond’s childishness is notched up a bit too much, and Q seems just a bit too fussy. As if it’s almost a bad impression of the scene from GF, without the charm almost. It really feels like Connery and Llewelyn have been directed in that specific way. Then there’s of course the jetpack scene which perhaps an alternative director would have tried to incorporate into a bit more of a memorable stunt/scene).
Ah, I didn't realise Jones was so early in his success. I think Bond producers are always trying to tap into the zeitgeist in one way or the other.