Image for the official James Bond feed on Twitter
This week, a website I am totally unfamiliar with stated that Tom Hardy is definitely the next film James Bond.
Naturally, Bond fans jumped in to debate, argue and discuss whether this was so. I’m not going to link to it because there has been enough heat and no light.
Perhaps a better subject would be under what circumstances a Bond 26 movie would occur.
Specifically, with the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), is making a $200 million to $250 million movie practical anymore?
The Christopher Nolan-directed Tenet was supposed to save cinema. It’s not happening in the United States (still a major movie market). Warner Bros., Tenet’s studio, has responded by delaying (again) Wonder Woman 1984 to Christmas.
But, Bond fans say, James Bond is different. It’s an established intellectual property (known as IP).
Sure. But a second COVID-19 wave is occurring internationally. And the U.S. as a whole, still has yet to get the pandemic under control. Major states such as Florida, Texas and Georgia are a big mess. Theaters in New York and California are still closed.
The traditional business model was movies came out in theaters, followed by video on demand, followed by home video. All of those sources were vital.
Movie studios (including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio) were grappling with the future before COVID-19. Netflix was the main source of pressure and the studios were coming out with their own streaming competitors.
The pandemic puts more pressure than ever on studios. What’s the future for movies in theaters?
Tom Hardy is guaranteed to be the next James Bond? The question is whether James Bond movies are guaranteed in the future.
No Time to Die is a pre-COVID-19 film trying to come out amid COVID-19. The future for Bond is uncertain — as uncertain as it is for movies generally.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Bond 25, Bond 26, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Netflix, No Time to Die, Tenet, Tom Hardy, Warner Bros. |
The Spy Command 
This was a very cogent comment on the reality of the future of the Bond franchise. Without taking sides, you presented the facts well. I pray it does survive, even if I don’t. James Bond is to much of an entertaining gift for the future which will be in need of entertainment once it survives Covid-19. The world will be a different place for all of us to live in.
I’d like to see Clive Standen the guy who plays Rollo on Vikings be the next Bond. At least a screen test.
Bill, I understand where you stand politically but saying Florida, Georgia and Texas are a mess is incorrect.
The CDC site will confirm that not only do they have it under control but so does the US as a whole. CNN and MSNBC by admission practice activism and do not deliver the straight news.
Per Johns Hopkins University (a non-political source), these counties among the top 50 U.S. counties by number of coronavirus cases:
2. Miami-Dade (Florida)
5. Harris (Texas)
6. Dallas (Texas)
7. Broward (Florida)
16. Tarrant (Texas)
21. Hillborough (Florida)
28. Hidalgo (Florida)
30. Duval (Florida)
32. Travis (Texas)
36. Fulton (Georgia)
38. Gwinnett (Georgia)
47. El Paso (Texas)
50. Pinellas (Florida)
Put another way, as of Sept. 20, Texas and Florida accounted for four of the 10 highest U.S. counties for COVID-19 cases.