Jason Bourne ad debuts during Super Bowl

The new Bourne movie now has a title, simply Jason Bourne, and a 30-second ad aired during CBS’ telecast of the Super Bowl.

The ad didn’t reveal much, mostly showing Matt Damon in action as Bourne. Tommy Lee Jones wonders “why would he come back now?”

The movie, due out July 29, is the fifth Bourne film released by Universal and the fourth with Damon. The most recent entry in the series, 2012’s The Bourne Legacy, featured Jeremy Renner as another character, Aaron Cross.

Damon’s three previous movies were made from 2002 through 2007. Jason Bourne was directed by Paul Greengrass, who helmed Damon’s last two Bourne films, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.

Scott Mendelson, a writer at Forbes.com, has A COMMENTARY, where he speculates whether Jason Bourne will acknowledge the events of The Bourne Legacy. Meanwhile, you can watch the ad below.

Sony watch: studio looks for second-half 2012 surge

Sony Corp. and its Sony Pictures subsidiary (which includes Columbia Pictures) is looking for Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond movie, to be part of a surge in the second half of 2012 after a mixed first six months of the year.

Highs and lows in first six months: Last month’s Men in Black 3 (which had Skyfall’s teaser trailer attached): has seen its worldwide ticket sales pass the $500 million mark, according to June 18 story in the Los Angeles Times. The movie, though, had a reported $250 million production budget and a reported total cost of $375 million.

The 21 Jump Street comdedy in March (based on a TV drama that helped make Johnny Depp a star) has been described as a hit, getting good reviews and selling $36 million in tickets its weekend ticket sales in the U.S., and $137 million total versus a $42 million production budget. Meanwhile, Adam Sandler That’s My Boy comedy flopped, selling $13 million in tickets its opening weekend after costing a reported $65 million to make. Sandler movies had been a consistent money maker for Sony.

Second-half hopes: Sony is rolling out The Amazing Spider-Man, starting the Peter Parker saga over following the 2002-2007 three-picture series. Viewers will get yet another take on the original Stan Lee-Steve Ditko origin story. The movie is showing up internationally and will be in U.S. theaters in time for the July 4 holiday.

Sony in August has Total Recall, a remake of a 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film . The new version got a boost this week. Universal decided to delay The Bourne Legacy movie to Aug. 10 from Aug. 3, avoiding a head-to-head competition with Total Recall. According to THIS STORY on Nikki Finke’s Deadline entertainment-news Web site, there had been complaints from movie theater executives about both films coming out on Aug. 3. Sony, meantime, also has a Meryl Streep-Tommy Lee Jones Jones comedy Hope Springs on Aug. 10.

Skyfall won’t be out until the fall (October in the U.K., November in the U.S.), part of a two-picture deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to release 007 movies. Sony and MGM want to get the Bond films back on an every-other-year schedule. It remains to be seen whether Eon Productions, which actually produces the Bond series, agrees.

A Bourne movie without Bourne? Here’s hoping Eon doesn’t copy that idea

Eon Productions has been “inspired” by the Jason Bourne franchise in its last two James Bond films starring Daniel Craig. 007 has been grim, not showing much in the way of humor and, with Quantum of Solace, there were lots of shaky camera shots and it even had Bourne’s second-unit director Dan Bradley.

The Bourne franchise is about to make its boldest move yet, as EXPLAINED IN THIS YAHOO MOVIES STORY:

The next film will be called “The Bourne Legacy,” but even though the name’s in the title, the film will have no Jason Bourne. Thus, no Matt Damon. Interestingly enough, the book “The Bourne Legacy” does have Jason Bourne (though it wasn’t actually written by Robert Ludlum, the creator of the book series).

On the Hollywood Elsewhere Web site, new director Tony Gilroy describes it like this:

“The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal,” Gilroy says. “Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he’s very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I’m building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy…the world we’re making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne’s return [down the road].

OK. Grim avenger Bond? That’s one way to play the part. Shaky camera? It’s kind of an in-thing among filmmakers these days. But we would not be interested in a James Bond movie without James Bond just to explain what the criminal organization Quantum is all about. (And yes, we can already hear a joke one of our 007 friends would tell based on this posting.)