Marvel runs aground

The Marvels poster

Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios is about to come out with a new movie. Four years ago, that would be a big deal. Today? Not so much.

In 2019, Marvel released Avengers: Endgame. It generated almost $2.8 billion in global box office. The long movie (three hours or so) also concluded a series of movies that lasted more than a decade. For Marvel boss Kevin Feige, it capped a series of hits.

Since then? Like other studios, Marvel encountered the COVID-19 pandemic. Releases were delayed.

What’s more, some Marvel characters were done. Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man was killed off. Chris Evans’ Captain America wasn’t going forward. Chadwick Boseman died, and Marvel opted not to recast his role as the Black Panther.

Marvel also pressed ahead with other characters in its catalog. One such property was The Eternals, created by Jack Kirby in the 1970s. The move came and went in 2021 without much excitement.

Marvel’s biggest success during this period was Spider-Man: No Way Home, a joint venture with Sony. That movie featured three Spider-Man actors and was a huge fit. But Marvel couldn’t replicate that success.

Marvel Studios saw its resources stretched making a series of television series for the Disney + streaming service. The studio’s new movie, The Marvels, draws upon 2019’s Captain Marvel and some of the Disney + TV shows.

If you go to YouTube, you’ll find plenty of videos predicting The Marvels will be a flop. Is it because Marvel passed over many of its established characters in favor of newer ones? Or is it because what goes up must come down?

Regardless, Marvel is not what it was four years ago.

007-themed reality show to have theater preview

There will be a one-night theater preview of the 007-themed reality show 007: Road to a Million in the U.K. and U.S. on Nov. 8.

The official Eon Production Bond account on X, formerly Twitter, put out posts on Friday — this one for the U.K. and this one for the U.S. Both posts say to use the code 007 with the link.

The reality show on Amazon Prime has signed up actor Brian Cox to play The Controller, who supposedly is monitoring contestants and making their lives miserable. Teams of two people each are trying to get to various locations meant to evoke Bond movies.

The teams are after a prize of 1 million British pounds.

007: Road to a Million comes as Eon Productions, which makes the Bond films, is trying to decide what it wants to do next. Amazon owns Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio.

The Guardian critiques Mission: Impossible 7

Poster for Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One

The Guardian is out with an examination of how Mission: Impossible 8 has been pushed back a year to 2025. The story looks at how things went badly (in terms of box office)

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One came out in July. There were high expectations. Producer/star Tom Cruise’s previous film, Top Gun: Maverick captured almost $1.5 billion at the global box office. Could that spill over to Cruise’s seventh M:I movie?

The answer: No. The blog observed earlier that this year’s Mission: Impossible installment failed to break out beyond the core M:I movie audience. It didn’t help that M:I 7 had a limited run at higher-priced IMAX theaters before Barbie and Oppenheimer came out.

Here are the numbers for the last two M:I entries, via Box Office Mojo:

Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018): $791.7 million (global), $220.2 million (U.S.)

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (2023): $567.5 million (global), $172.1 million (U.S.)

What’s more, the budgets exploded between the two M:I films. There were delays because of COVID-19 and other issues. According to Variety, Mission: Impossible 8 still has scenes to finish, a process affected by the SAG-AFTRA strike.

An excerpt from The Guardian:

And if the Mission: Impossible films are going to make money again, this can only mean one thing: they need to become a lot cheaper, and fast. There are ways to scrape away at the edges of the budget, of course. They could make the next one in fewer locations, and pare down the cast to its bare bones. But the big money-suck on the Mission: Impossible films are the stunts. I hate to say it, but these might need to be trimmed back. 

Mission: Impossible is hardly alone in dealing with expanding production budgets. No Time to Die’s budget got to the $300 million range (if not above), not including marketing costs. Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel has seen budgets for both films and TV shows expand. Warner Bros.’s DC Films also has seen increases in costs.

What happens now? Who knows? Every so often, studios are like alcoholics coming back from a bender. They vow to spend money more carefully in the future. Yet, that often doesn’t happen.

Ian Jacklin describes the drive to restore a 007 icon

Ian Jacklin channels George Lazenby at the restored OHMSS lamp post (photo courtesy of Ian Jacklin)

In the late 1960s, after five wildly successful James Bond film outings, Sean Connery was done (at the time) as 007. A new Bond actor was announced, the inexperienced George Lazenby. Being a model, however, Lazenby knew how to deliver a memorable image.

One of them was Lazenby posing as Bond next to a lamp post with Big Ben in the background.

However, in the 21st century, the lamp post had seen better days. Bond fan Ian Jacklin led the charge to have the lamp post restored. This article on the From Sweden With Love website has details. The blog contacted Ian Jacklin to pose a few questions.

THE SPY COMMAND: What inspired you to take this task on?

IAN JACKLIN: You could say that brother Jeffrey Jacklin who was 10 years my senior inspired me way back in December 1969 when I was 5 years old. He had collected all of the available United Artists publicity photographs from OHMSS and one of them was the famous Lazenby lamp post picture. I was constantly looking at the Bond picture postcards.

At this point in time, I had never seen a James Bond film. Jeffrey promised me that he would take me to see OHMSS in January 1970 shortly after his 16th Birthday. Jeffrey introduced me to the fantastic world of James Bond 007.

So, some 50 years later, I returned the favor and introduced Jeffrey to George Lazenby. Shortly after the U.K.’s COVID lockdown had ended, both my wife and I visited London to see No Time To Die in October 2021. We visited the Lazenby lamp post and I was shocked to see it in an awful state.

It had stickers all over it and the top of the post had been removed. Seeing it in such a poor, neglected state made my blood boil. My wife took a photo of me next to the lamp post and then I decided to do something about it.

TSC: What complications did you encounter? Was there something you hadn’t thought of before you started?

IAN JACKLIN: The first obstacle I encountered was to find out which of the two local councils actually owned the lamp post, City of Westminster or Lambeth council?

So I sent a lot of emails over two years asking both councils. They did take their time to reply. The second obstacle was, whether should I short-circuit the “red tape” and raise some funds via GoFundMe for the repair work myself? The next problem is finding which council would carry the restoration work out. Someone on X, formerly Twitter, suggested a petition. (This person will remain anonymous!) So a petition was set up.

TSC: Summarize why this lamp post is so iconic.

IAN JACKLIN: The lamp post is so iconic because of its location. It is opposite the United Kingdom of Great Britain’s Houses of Parliament, The George Lazenby image is still used to this day for posters, Blu-rays, DVD covers.

People travel from all four corners of the world to recreate the Lazenby image.

TSC: Now that the lamp post has been restored, what is the most satisfying aspect for you?

IAN JACKLIN: It gives me a sense of great satisfaction knowing that it has been restored and Bond fans can continue to visit the site and it is there for the James Bond 007 fans yet to come.

We James Bond fans now “Have All The Time in The World,” to visit the George Lazenby lamp post.

Mission: Impossible 8 gets delayed to 2025

Tom Cruise

UPDATE (7:45 p.m. New York Time): The Hollywood Reporter, in its story about the M:I 8 delay, says the movie may not be titled Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part II. The trade publication doesn’t offer up an alternative title.

Mission: Impossible 8 (aka Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Two) has been postponed until summer 2025, Variety said.

The first part of the M:I epic came out earlier this year. The original plan was for M:I 7 and 8 be filmed back to back. But COVID-19 wrecked such production plants.

According to Variety, M:I 8 will now come out on May 23, 2025 from its previous release date of June 28, 2024. An early version of the Variety story said the 2024 release date was in March.

The most recent Tom Cruise M:I epic included the actor/producer executing a major motorcycle stunt (similar to GoldenEye but with Cruise doing it himself) and plot twists including artificial intelligence.

This year has seen a major Writer’s Guild strike (since settled) and a big actor’s strike (still underway). Studios have pushed back movie release dates to ensure a supply of films.

The Cruise M:I films are released by Paramount.

About truth and public relations

Over the weekend, Barbara Broccoli of Eon Productions told The Guardian that nothing much is happening with Bond 26.

Many Bond fans were distressed. But on Sunday there was pushback. Here is a sampling:

Eon really is at work and never stops.

Well, if anyone believes nothing is going on with Bond 26, it’s because they are taking Barbara Broccoli at her word.

Should fans take her at her word? Or not?

Personally, I’d say there are reasons not to. Example: Ben Whishaw was cast as Q while Barbara Broccoli denied it.

Over the years, Eon denied other things that were true. Back in the 1980s, Albert R. Broccoli, Eon’s co-founder, said with a straight face that Pierce Brosnan would not have been Bond if NBC did a last-minute renewal of Remington Steele (despite Brosnan signing a Bond film contract).

There’s a right time and a wrong time to start letting people know… there’s a good reason for that.

Then, you say, “No comment,” or a variation of such. If you fib (to be kind), your credibility ebbs. If I made my living as an entertainment news reporter and I heard something from Eon, I would be extremely skeptical.

To be honest, many Bond film fans are just fine with this behavior. It’s reassuring in a way. Eon knows what is doing. That’s how it goes.

About Eon, Broccoli and Bond 26

Eon Productions logo

So, Barbara Broccoli of Eon Productions tells The Guardian the same story she’s stated for more than a year. Bond needs to be reinvented, it will take a long time, we haven’t really started yet.

Despite the lack of news, fans were deflated. Some were starting to buy into the idea that Aaron Taylor-Johnson was about to be cast or that Christopher Nolan was about to come on board as director.

There were always caution signs concerning both ideas. A director usually signs on before a new Bond actor is cast. Nolan demands the kind of control that Eon might not want to grant. Still, hope springs eternal.

A few things to keep in mind:

Eon is a cinematic mom-and-pop shop: Danjaq/Eon is a small family-owned business that just happens to own the film rights to a major property, James Bond.

Eon simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to do much more than one film at a time. Clearly, Barbara Broccoli is interested in topics other than Bond.

Recent examples: Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017), a drama about actress Gloria Grahame, with a global box office of $4 million. The Rhythm Section (2020), a spy movie with global box office of just under $6 million. Till (2022), a fact-based drama about a murder in the 1950s American South, with a global box office of $11.3 million.

Whatever the critical merits of such productions, they generate much smaller business than Bond.

On the other hand, Eon might be further along than they’ve let on: Eon can be, shall we say, truth-challenged when it comes to public pronouncements.

Back in the 1980s, Albert R. Broccoli, Eon’s co-founder, denied Pierce Brosnan was seriously considered to play Bond and that Timothy Dalton was always its No. 1 guy.

This aired on national television in the U.S. Except, Brosnan had actually signed a contract. It came undone when NBC abruptly renewed Brosnan’s Remington Steele series.

Cubby Broccoli was asked if Brosnan would have been Bond if NBC hadn’t renewed the TV show. “I don’t think he would,” Broccoli said with a straight face.

More recently, Eon denied Ben Whishaw had been cast as Q. Except, Whishaw’s agent had left the cat out of the bag. It denied that Naomie Harris was playing Moneypenny in Skyfall. Except, she was. It denied that Christoph Waltz was playing Blofeld in SPECTRE. Except, he was.

Could Barbara Broccoli have been less than truthful in her comments to The Guardian? Who knows?

Patience, patience: Some will tell you to be patient. A new Bond movie will be out eventually. Except, given the aging demographics of Bond fandom, each year brings the demise of older Bond fans. First-generation Bond film fans have to wonder how many 007 movies they have left.

Broccoli says again Bond 26 work hasn’t started

Barbara Broccoli, boss of Eon Productions

Barbara Broccoli, the boss of Eon Productions, said in an interview with The Guardian that work on Bond 26 is not yet underway.

Here’s the key excerpt:

Producer Barbara Broccoli said there is “a big road ahead” before the character is “reinvented for the next chapter”, and that executives “haven’t even begun” the process of modernising the franchise.

She added that the next film will have to reflect the way the world has changed in the two decades since (Daniel) Craig was confirmed as the sixth 007 and pointed out that Bond has often been reinvented.

Some observations:

–Broccoli’s comments are little changed from the past

In a Sept. 28, 2022 Associated Press video, she said: “We’re really at the beginning. We’ve got to reinvent it for the future. That’s going to take some time. We won’t start casting until we kind of have a sense of what we’re planning to do.”

In a Feb. 20, 2023 AP video, she said: “It’ll be awhile. We have a lot of work to do before we start casting…We’re on the case.”

–Eon has reinvented Bond before in less time

It has been about four years since No Time to Die, Eon’s most recent Bond film, wrapped production. To be sure, the pandemic had an impact (the movie didn’t come out until fall 2021). Still, between 1985 and 1987, Eon changed the tone of its Bond productions to be more serious when Timothy Dalton was cast. And things were reinvented in a four-year period between Die Another Day (Pierce Brosnan) and Casino Royale (Craig).

Eon spent 2022 celebrating Craig’s five-film tenure as Bond. In January of that year, Broccoli told a Hollywood Reporter podcast she was in no hurry concerning Bond 26.

“We are living in the present moment and it’s a joyful moment, it’s a celebratory moment. We’re celebrating Daniel’s extraordinary achievement over 16 years.”

“We want to live in this moment for as long as possible and really applaud Daniel and really enjoy it. At some point later, we’ll sit down and think about the future. Right now, I want to live in the present and it’s a very happy place to be right now.”

–At least one film industry professional may have expressed some skepticism

It’s pretty clear there’s some bad blood between Eon and director Matthew Vaughn. The latter on a recent edition of the Happy Sad Confused podcast said Eon “is not keen on me.”

There was also the following exchange about Eon and Bond 26.

INTERVIEWER: Currently they are about to do their next reboot.

VAUGHN: Are they? (Pause) I actually don’t know.

One shouldn’t read too much to such a brief part of the interview. Vaughn wasn’t asked to expand on that comment. Even if he was being skeptical, Vaughn is hardly an unbiased observer. Still, it was an interesting exchange.

Matthew Vaughn on Bond, Argylle

Director Matthew Vaughn appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast where he talked about losing out on directing James Bond. He also discussed his upcoming Argylle spy movie.

BOND/CASINO ROYALE: Vaughn says he was contacted by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and was told he was getting the job of directing Casino Royale. “You’ve got the gig, don’t tell anyone,” the director quotes an MGM executive as saying.

According to this version, the MGM executive told Vaughn he was then to meet with Eon Productions “and they will tell you.” Vaughn said he went to that meeting and “I wasn’t offered it.” Vaughn says he contacted MGM and the reply he got was, “Ahh, we spoke too soon.”

The 2006 film was released by Sony through its Columbia Pictures brand.

“My skill set was making movies for a small amount of money,” Vaughn added. “I learned later that budget and schedule is totally irrelevant to these guys…It comes in at some ridiculous number and that’s that.”

The director said it was unlikely he’d ever be asked to direct a Bond movie by Eon.

“They’re not keen on me,” Vaughn said of Eon.

ARGYLLE: The spy movie is scheduled for release in February 2024. It concerns an author (Dallas Bryce Howard) who has written a series of Argylle spy novels, with Henry Cavill as the embodiment of the lead character.

The author finds herself being hunted by real spies because her stories have a way of happening in real life.

Vaughn has said Argylle is based on an unpublished novel. The director said next February’s movie is based on the fourth novel of the as-yet unpublished series. A trailer debuted late in September. Vaughn says on the podcast the trailer only uses footage from the first 28 minutes of the movie.

The YouTube version of the podcast is below. The Argylle comments begin at the 8:46 mark. The Bond comments start at the 23:01 mark.

As time passes, more 007 collections get auctioned

First edition copy of 1953’s Casino Royale sold at auction

It’s the way of the world, as Lt. Columbo once said. When it comes to James Bond fandom, which dates back to 1953 (literary) and 1962 (cinema), collectors are deciding it’s time to cash in and find new homes for what they’ve acquired over the decades.

This blog has detailed a number of such sales over the years.

In 2010, there was an auction of John Griswold’s collection, which included a first-edition copy of Casino Royale, the first Bond novel, and Robert McGinnis artwork for Bond movie posters. That collection also included a Mort Drucker illustration of Ian Fleming. Griswold died in 2016.

In 2011, Doug Redenius of the Ian Fleming Foundation sold off his collection in a private sale, which included costumes from the Bond films along with various Bond-related games.

In 2015, collector Gary J. Firuta auctioned first-edition Bond novels (both U.K. and U.S. versions), page proofs and vintage movie posters.

Other collections are coming on the auction market. U.K.-based Ewbank’s has scheduled a two-part Bond auction of 007 items belonging to collector Steve Oxenrider. The first part will be in November, with the second in the spring of 2024.

Undoubtedly, there will be more sales and auctions in the coming years.