Sony-MGM deal may cover Bond 23 *and* Bond 24, LAT says

Sony Corp.’s possible deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer may include helping to finance both Bond 23, due out in November 2012, and Bond 24, the Los Angeles Times reported in its Company Town blog.

The report is similar to one yesterday on the Deadline entertainment Web site. The LA Times’s report has these additional nuggets:

As part of the arrangement under discussion, Sony would fund half of MGM’s next James Bond movie, which is planned for release Nov. 9, 2012, and 25% of a potential follow-up. Sony co-financed and released MGM’s last two Bond movies, “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace,” making it a logical home for Hollywood’s longest-running franchise.

Sony would also release all future films made by MGM and the studio’s already completed movies “Red Dawn” and “Cabin in the Woods,” as well as handle sales of its 4,000-title library on DVD and digital platforms.

The Times presented a caveat. The talks are “far along,” the newspaper said while adding “people close to the discussions cautioned that there are a number of complex terms still to be hammered out and that it’s not certain a deal will be completed.”