State of the 007 film franchise summer 2018

Omega advertising image released hours before Eon Productions announced Danny Boyle was exiting as Bond 25 director.

The James Bond film franchise is either experiencing an unusual run of bad luck or it’s adrift and taking in water.

Either way, there was an omen on Aug. 21. Omega released an image of tuxedo-clad 007 star Daniel Craig, mostly underwater but promoting an Omega watch. A few hours later, Eon Productions announced that director Danny Boyle had exited Bond 25 because of “creative differences.”

It was the latest in a series of whipsawing developments with the 25th James Bond film produced by Eon.

For a long time after the release of 2015’s SPECTRE, Eon was quiet amid speculation that Craig wouldn’t be back. Finally, in July 2017, it said it had retained veteran 007 screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to write Bond 25.

This after the duo said writing Bond films were very hard in the 21st century. “I’m just not sure how you would go about writing a James Bond film now.” Purvis said in a January 2017 interview with The Telegraph.

In August 2017, Craig announced on CBS’s The Late Show that he was, indeed, coming back.

Yet, as 2017 ended, no real word on how things were going. Eon boss Barbara Broccoli said in a Hollywood Reporter podcast that Purvis and Wade were hard at work.

Until, a few months later, when Danny Boyle and his screenwriter, John Hodge, became the 007 flavor of the month. The duo pitched an idea. Hodge began writing. If his script was deemed acceptable by Eon, that would be Bond 25’s new direction.

On May 25, the Eon brain trust, doing its best Jean-Luc Picard imitation, proclaimed: “Make it so!” Boyle was now the official director and Hodge the new writer. Good-bye, Purvis and Wade.

Less than three months later? No so fast. The Boyle was lanced. No word on Hodge’s script, based on the supposedly spectacular idea Boyle and Hodge pitched.

What happens next? Your guess is as good as mine. Eon seemed to love working with “auteur” directors such as Marc Forster and Sam Mendes. Boyle’s hiring (however brief) seemed a natural.

The bigger question: Does Eon really know what it wants to do with Bond?

Both Broccoli and Craig clearly wanted a break from Bondage after SPECTRE. They both went about various projects, including a stage production of Othello where Craig appeared and Broccoli was a producer.

The break is over. Aside from keeping Craig in the Bond role, what does Broccoli have in mind? Eon has burned through three writers from 2017 through the present.

Will the next installment be helmed by another “auteur” director? If so, how long does it take to find a Boyle replacement?

At the very least, Bond 25’s announced fall 2019 release date looks shaky. Eon had a bad experience trying to make Quantum of Solace on an accelerated schedule. Does Eon have the stomach to try to find a new director fast? Or should it take a deep breath and start over?

Eon, of course, has business partners it must consider. Universal now does the international distribution. A joint venture of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Annapurna Pictures is distributing the movie in the United States.

More broadly, the movie business is in the midst of great change, under pressure from streaming services such as Netflix.

Bond is a franchise that has enjoyed enormous longevity. It still generates interest worldwide.

But continued longevity isn’t automatic. At the very least, the 007 film franchise faces renewed uncertainty.

Bond 25 questions: The panic button edition

Some 007 fans reaction to the latest Bond 25 news

James Bond director Danny Boyle, we hardly knew ye. Like a comet, the possibility of the Trainspotting director helming Bond 25 lit up the sky, only to dissipate into the vacuum of space.

Boyle’s departure was the subject of a very brief announcement by Eon Productions. The blog has few answers, but as usual it loads up on the questions.

What happened? The only stated reason was “creative difference,” an often-used description when a project hits a major bump.

In some ways, Boyle was an odd match. Yes, he directed a 007-themed video with Daniel Craig for the 2012 Olympics in London. But Boyle is known for lean productions. Eon is used to mounting hugely expensive ones with long shooting schedules.

On the other hand, Eon has been enamored of “auteur” directors such as Sam Mendes and Marc Forster. Mendes, in particular, seemed to get just about everything he wanted during production of Skyfall and SPECTRE. Boyle’s hiring appeared to fit that pattern.

What happens to the script? Boyle’s hiring was just as director. He and writer John Hodge (who scripted Trainspotting) had pitched an idea. Boyle’s participation depended whether a script Hodge wrote based on that idea would be accepted by Eon.

It was. Eon tossed out a script by long-time 007 screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

So does a new director (whenever he or she is hired) work with Hodge’s script? Does the new director want to start over? Could Purvis and Wade get called back yet again with either their rejected script or to rewrite Hodge’s work?

What about the start of Bond 25 production? It was supposed to start Dec. 3. You’d think that’s questionable. On the other hand, directors can get hired in a hurry.

Could they bring Sam Mendes to direct a third 007 film? Don’t even think it.

What about Bond 25’s release date? That likely will depend on the answer to the question about starting production.

Is Daniel Craig being promoted to producer? Craig shared the title of co-producer with two others in SPECTRE. The announcement about Boyle’s departure cited Eon’s Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson as well as Craig in disclosing the development. Will Craig share the Bond 25 producer’s credit with Broccoli and Wilson?

Danny Boyle no longer directing Bond 25

Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle is no longer directing Bond 25, Eon Productions said in a very short statement:

Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig today announced that due to creative differences Danny Boyle has decided to no longer direct Bond 25.

Some things of note:

–The prominence of Daniel Craig’s name. He was one of three co-producers for 2015’s SPECTRE. Has he been promoted to share the Bond 25 producer’s credit with Broccoli and Wilson?

–No mention of how this affects the Bond 25 schedule. In late May, Eon said Bond 25 would start filming on Dec. 3.

–Creative differences has long been used in the movie business to explain away things when a production hits a major snag.