A key, if imprecise, date for Bond 25

Image for the official James Bond feed on Twitter

With the lack of any substantive news about Bond 25, 007 fans are wondering if the next James Bond movie can make a 2018 release.

Here’s a key date that could tell the tale, even if it’s not a precise one.

If — and that’s a big if — a first draft script is delivered in the spring of 2017, then a 2018 release for Bond 25 could still happen.

With SPECTRE, released in the fall of 2015, scribe John Logan told Empire magazine in March 2014 that the first draft was “almost done.”

The script went through a lot of changes after that — including reworking by the likes of Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth. Still, there at least was a starting point.

The problem is nobody outside of Eon Productions knows whether anybody is actually working on a Bond 25 script at this point.

Logan’s hiring to write what would become SPECTRE was announced in November 2012. That was the same month Skyfall was released in the United States.

Originally, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer disclosed that Logan was hired to write two 007 movies, but that plan was later scrapped — in part to lure Skyfall director Sam Mendes back for SPECTRE.

No announcement has been made concerning a writer or writers for Bond 25.

With the lack of any official news, fans have looked for any tidbits, even rumors. For example, THIS REDDIT POST by someone who knows “people in London who work in the film industry” caused a buzz on some 007 message boards this week.

This is from the same Reddit user WHO HAD A POST IN JUNE that has been contradicted by the new post.

If you want to check out the two posts, feel free. The point for providing the links here is that drastically different, and unconfirmed, stories/rumors are being told.

As this blog said recently, 2016 is shaping up as a lost year for the film 007. Spring 2017, as imprecise as that may be, is a key date that could tell us much about Bond 25.

Just another wacky week for James Bond fans

Daniel Craig in SPECTRE’s main titles

It’s only Wednesday but it’s already been a weird week for the serious 007 fan. Let’s get to it.

CRAIG WHIPLASH: Early Tuesday, the LIVERPOOL ECHO ran a short story Tuesday about actor Daniel Craig that had the following quote about playing James Bond again:

Speaking to the TV Times the Wirral actor said: “I have no thoughts about it. What the future holds, I don’t know. That’s the honest truth.”

Some Bond fans spotted that and viewed it as a sign that the four-time 007 might still be available for Bond 25. However, reader James Page (who saw this post when it was first published) advises the quote is from 2015.

Later on Tuesday, DEADLINE: HOLLYWOOD reported Craig was in talks to star with Halle Berry in a drama set during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. Other entertainment websites, such as VARIETY, quickly confirmed the development.

The possible project for Craig comes on top of a Steven Soderbergh heist movie (filming this fall), an off-Broadway play (to occur during the 2016-17 season) and a 20-episode limited series to be produced in 2017 to run on the Showtime premium cable channel in 2017 and 2018.

Never say never, the saying goes. Still, Craig’s schedule is getting full.

Your intrepid James Bond reporter in action

REDDIT, YOUR SOURCE FOR 007 NEWS: So it’s come to this: James Bond fans are so starved for news, an anonymous Reddit post this week about 007 film gossip in London generated buzz.

Citing “the world around London,” the post said Bond 25 pre-production “has officially begun,” that Steven Knight is writing the script and that Daniel Craig hasn’t made a decision about returning as Bond. The post also references three directors — Joe Wright, Yann Demange and Paul McGuigan — who have been rumored to have met with producer Barbara Broccoli.

It also says Sony Pictures will distribute Bond 25. That’s interesting because Sony executive Tom Rothman told The Hollywood Reporter this month that Sony hasn’t even started talks with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about a new Bond distribution deal.

Regardless, news-starved fans like a thread on message board of the MI6 James Bond website and social media such as Facebook were linking and commenting about it in detail.

Early Tuesday, the original poster posted a follow-up comment. For what it’s worth:

The British film community is surprisingly small in London. This was the ‘news’ I was hearing over the last week.

EON had been more involved in distributing the long delayed ‘The Silent Storm’ and making ‘Film Stars’. Pre-production for B25 has just begun in earnest.

I’ve heard plenty of other directors mentioned (all with varying degrees of credibility), but those three come up the most often.

The other film often being discussed around Soho VFX houses is ‘Rogue One’ which is said to be in more turmoil than imaginable. People love to gossip.

Your mileage may vary. For the moment, caveat emptor.

ACTUAL NEWS: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on Monday extended its contract with 20th Century Fox to distribute MGM productions via home video, including the Bond films, though June 2020, according to a press release.