Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

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AndyDursin
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Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

Worth noting this is the first production Eon (Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson) have signed on for outside the Bond series in, like what, decades? Since Cubby Broccoli's heyday in the '60s?

Also that they signed on with Paramount and not crash-strapped MGM too.
EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures just landed itself a potential new global franchise. The studio will team with IM Global and James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli for The Rhythm Section, a female global espionage thriller to star Blake Lively, with The Handmaid’s Tale director/exec producer Reed Morano to helm the first of what they hope will become a franchise. Paramount acquired the film and will release it in most world territories.

Both Paramount and IM Global confirmed the deal. Said new IM Global chief Rob Friedman, “I’m thrilled to be working with Barbara and Michael on this very exciting project.”

Lively, Morano, Eon Production and recently exited IM Global head Stuart Ford aligned earlier this summer to the thriller that is fueled by the work of British novelist Mark Burnell, who wrote the script. Ford, who forged a relationship with Broccoli on the Toronto-bound Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, will be exec producer along with Greg Shapiro and Burnell. It is worth noting that for the producers of the iconic male 007 franchise, this is the first espionage thriller they’ve done outside that, and they’ve chosen one built around a female protagonist. Production will begin in the fall.

Lively plays a woman who is on a path of self-destruction after her family dies in a plane crash — a flight that she was supposed to be on. After being told by a journalist that the crash was an act of terror covered up by intelligence agencies, and then watching that journalist get killed, the woman’s anger awakens a new sense of purpose and she rises to uncover the truth by adapting the identity of an assassin to track down those responsible. The new and lethal Stephanie Patrick is on a mission to fill the void between what she knows and what she is told.

Other novels in Burnell’s popular series include Gemini, The Third Woman and Chameleon.

Lively is coming off the sleeper summer 2016 hit The Shallows, the Woody Allen-directed Café Society and The Age Of Adaline. She also co-starred in the Ben Affleck-directed The Town. The cinematographer-turned-director Morano most recently helmed (and was DP on) I Think We’re Alone Now, with Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning. That film is in post for a 2018 premiere.

Eric Paddon
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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#2 Post by Eric Paddon »

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was the last non-Bond film Broccoli produced, though he was doing that solo without Saltzman who made his own string of non-Bond films before he and Broccoli split. I think "Call Me Bwana" might have been the only film they did together after the Bond series began.

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#3 Post by AndyDursin »

Movie finally opens January 21st.

Going to have a tough time with that title...


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Monterey Jack
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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#4 Post by Monterey Jack »

If the box office response to last summer's "sexy spy lady" thriller Anna is any indication, this is gonna tank.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#5 Post by Paul MacLean »

I gave-up on the trailer at 50 seconds.

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#6 Post by Edmund Kattak »

Monterey Jack wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 12:15 am If the box office response to last summer's "sexy spy lady" thriller Anna is any indication, this is gonna tank.
The one thing that ruined it for me on ANNA was, there was no USB technology or 2.5" SATA hard drives during the film's time setting of 1985-1990. Sorry, those details make me nuts.

She would have to be carrying a hard drive the size of her head, if this was 1990.
Indeed,
Ed

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#7 Post by Monterey Jack »

Edmund Kattak wrote: Fri Jan 17, 2020 1:33 pm
The one thing that ruined it for me on ANNA was, there was no USB technology or 2.5" SATA hard drives during the film's time setting of 1985-1990. Sorry, those details make me nuts.

She would have to be carrying a hard drive the size of her head, if this was 1990.
That bugged the hell out of me, as well. Eh, I enjoyed the film for the bracingly R-rated Cold War espionage throwback it was (how many thrillers aimed at adults -- replete with verboten nudity -- do you see these days?), so I could let those anachronisms slide.

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#8 Post by AndyDursin »

Lively channeling Craig? No thanks.
Blake Lively receives above-the-title billing in The Rhythm Section, but the profusion of wigs she dons deserve equal credit. Playing the central character in this thriller based on the first book in Mark Burnell's popular Stephanie Patrick series, the actress wears so many headpieces that the proceedings begin to resemble a Carol Burnett Show sketch. It's but one of the many unintentionally comic aspects of the film, which otherwise strains for a seriousness it doesn't deserve.

That solemn tone may perhaps be attributed to producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who have invested their James Bond franchise with similar angst (the once gloriously hedonistic secret agent seems to get more and more depressed with every installment).
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/revie ... ew-1274004

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#9 Post by Monterey Jack »

5/10

Gimme Atomic Blonde or Anna any day, both of which spun through their rote espionage clichés with far more visual panache and compellingly convoluted plotting. This isn't terrible, but it seems like the type of generic, middle-of-the-road thriller you usually see on Netflix these days. No real surprises, no action that you haven't seen a million times before (there's a decently-staged car chase which takes place in one apparent handheld take from the passenger seat of Blake Lively's car, but even there, I flashed back on how much better Atomic Blonde pulled off the same basic idea), and Lively looks frumpy and disinterested throughout. :cry: Definitely wait to see this at home.

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#10 Post by AndyDursin »

Should've sent it off to Netflix -- will barely scrape up $3 million over the weekend. Terrible title and she's not nearly enough of a name to carry something like this.

Paramount knew it was DOA, they spent nothing on advertising:
With Paramount shelling out $30M for most of the world on this $50M production, the studio is going to get hurt here, as well as those who took foreign i.e. Germany. China I heard was initially taken by Daniel Tang, but then I heard there was a default on the rights in the wake of Global Road shuttering. So as of right now, the bank is trying to find a new distributor for China. Friday’s figure looks to be $1.2M, including Thursday night’s dismal $235K. Big upset here for Lively as she’s been a dependable star of low-budget fare, i.e. A Simple Favor ($97M+ WW box office) and The Shallows ($119M).

Lively broke her knuckle during production, which was then stopped for six months. Insurance took care of the cost gap, I hear. P&A at minimum here is $20M-$25M. No reason for Paramount to spend on this when it knew it was destined to die; this wasn’t a scenario like Crawl, where the studio went thrifty, betting that the critics would deep-six a genre pic (turned out reviewers loved it at 83% certified fresh, even though Paramount didn’t screen for them. Nonetheless, Crawl was profitable for Par at $91.5M WW box office and $13.5M production cost; it’s just that it could have made much more).

Rhythm Section was supposed to come out a year ago, on Feb. 22. The pic was moved to Nov. 22, then moved again to this weekend. I understand the last release date push to this year for the film had to do with Lively being able to promote the film in the wake of welcoming her third child.
https://deadline.com/2020/01/gretel-han ... 202847821/

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Re: Eon, Paramount Sign Up for Blake Lively "Female Bond" Franchise

#11 Post by AndyDursin »

Now holds this dubious distinction:
Rhythm Section is also the lowest opening ever for a movie debuting at 3,000-plus theaters.
also this:
I hear that a fall 2018 test screening at the Sherman Oaks Arclight didn’t go well, with Rhythm Section having the stink of being one of the worst-tested titles in Paramount history.
Here's Deadline's lengthy breakdown on "what went wrong", though starting with the title and Lively as the star is probably all you need to know.

https://deadline.com/2020/02/rhythm-sec ... 202849211/

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