007 film franchise at mid-year

Image for the official James Bond feed on Twitter

The year is half over and the first six months of 2016 has been a bit of an odd one for the James Bond film franchise.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: The lack of real news.

At the end of 2015, we ran a post about Bond 25 news to look for this year. Have we got egg on our face so far.

Bond 25 distributor selected by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 007’s home studio? Nope.

Bond 25 release date? You can’t have that without a distributor. Bond 25 director revealed? No, again.

Daniel Craig decides if he’s coming back or not? If he has, nobody has said anything officially. The Daily Mail in March and 007 Magazine (in a Facebook post in June) had stories with sources they didn’t identify said Craig has quit.

BIGGEST NEWS THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED? Obituaries as major series contributors passed away.

Four-time director Guy Hamilton, seven-time production designer Ken Adam and Live And Let Die composer George Martin all died. All left a mark on the 007 films.

Hamilton directed the series’ first mega-hit, Goldfinger. Adam’s stupendous set designs, such as the Fort Knox interior in Goldfinger, in effect created a world for the film Bond to call his own. Martin, the one-time Beatles producer, was instrumental in selling the Paul and Linda McCartney title song for Live And Let Die to producer Harry Saltzman.

Seven-time 007 star Roger Moore took to Twitter following each death. After Hamilton’s death in April, his tweet included this line: “2016 is horrid.” Many fans probably felt the same way.

THINGS TO WATCH: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s finances continued to improve after the 2010 bankruptcy of the studio.

That’s not as sexy a story as whether they’ll be a new James Bond or not. But, potentially, it could be significiant. Various MGM financial turmoils in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s negatively affected the Bond franchise. So, financial stability at MGM would be a good thing for the film 007.

MGM wants to be a publicly held company in the next three to five years. Presumably, MGM’s interest in the 007 franchise will be a selling point if and when that occurs.