James Bond 007 Reset Thread: Denis Villeneuve Signs On

[sprocket]

Shocking... but is this a factor of people of retirement age and no one in the family wanting to take over?

Its sad for Bond, but it isn't unusual where family run businesses are involved.

[Monterey Jack]

My reaction to the news:

[AndyDursin]

They're excited.

[Eric Paddon]

Shocking... but is this a factor of people of retirement age and no one in the family wanting to take over?

Its sad for Bond, but it isn't unusual where family run businesses are involved.

Exactly. Frequently a crossroads moment is when the second generation must give way to the third generation.

But to me the franchise died long ago. Brosnan was the last real Bond for me as I found nothing of redeeming value in any of the Craig movies.

[Monterey Jack]

Craig had two good movies out of five, a pretty lousy batting average.

[Monterey Jack]

The opening of Adele's Skyfall ballad pretty much sums everything up...

This is the end

Hold your breath and count to ten

Feel the Earth move and then

Feel my heart burst again...

[AndyDursin]

From the articles that went out this wasn't at all about succession at Eon but Amazon wanting full control and butting heads with Barbara Broccoli over the direction of the character. As I wrote they had to have been paid out royally to walk away.

The Broccolis didn't help themselves by letting Craig get full creative control on the last couple of films, but this is going to be a corporate level remake of Bond in a way much as Amazon has already chucked Lord of the Rings into the trash and Disney raped Lucasfilm over.

That Variety article has quotes from some analyst full expecting a Miss Moneypenny series and a Q origin movie. And it's so predictable, tired and sad that I'm already bored. Expect some female Bond spinoff and a person of color ("008") movie and on and on. By that point you've got something like Bourne or Mission Impossible and no longer has any tangible connection with the source other than it's "spy adventure" being aimed at "upscale" Prime audiences.

So in other words, it's over for Bond as we know it, as another beloved fictional character ends up in mega corporate 21st century IP hell.

[Monterey Jack]

Expect a James Bond / Jason Bourne / Jack Bauer mega-crossover event by 2030.

[AndyDursin]

Some interesting comments -- obviously the lack of urgency in making a new movie was a big problem, but MGM clearly let Eon move at their own pace before. Now that's over so away we go -- and let's hope the executives heading Amazon's LORD OF THE RINGS series aren't in charge.

Questioned on what possible Bond spinoffs might emerge, one source offered caution. “It’s not that massive a group of people in the Bond world, you know, the characters Ian Fleming created. I say, ’There is a long way to go.’ And it will be interesting to see how it pans out. But, I have to ask: Do Bond fans want their Bond experience diluted?”

Just don’t shake it up and stir it too much, otherwise the whole thing will shatter.

https://deadline.com/2025/02/james-bond ... 236296552/

[AndyDursin]

I sure hope THE ADVENTURES OF MISS MONEYPENNY is going to be worth it!

https://deadline.com/2025/02/james-bond ... 236296104/

Despite the buyout, people are shocked, after the last couple of years, they're walking away:

Those close to Broccoli and Wilson’s camp are gobsmacked that Broccoli caved to the streamer. “She’s a fighter” says one source, “but she got tired of fighting.” Another acknowledges it had to be an “emotional decision” for Broccoli. Also, with Wilson ready to retire, Broccoli wasn’t going to go at it alone.

[AndyDursin]

Totally agree with Doomcock on his obituary for Bond, who was already killed off literally at the end of the (horrible) last movie.

[Monterey Jack]

http://tenor.com/vF4Z8bA8Oqi.gif

[AndyDursin]

[mkaroly]

I sure hope THE ADVENTURES OF MISS MONEYPENNY is going to be worth it!

https://deadline.com/2025/02/james-bond ... 236296104/

Despite the buyout, people are shocked, after the last couple of years, they're walking away:

Those close to Broccoli and Wilson’s camp are gobsmacked that Broccoli caved to the streamer. “She’s a fighter” says one source, “but she got tired of fighting.” Another acknowledges it had to be an “emotional decision” for Broccoli. Also, with Wilson ready to retire, Broccoli wasn’t going to go at it alone.

There is a series of books (albeit only three or so I think) called The Moneypenny Diaries, so a spin-off in the world of books has already been done (author's name is Kate Westbrook). That being said, I have a great deal of skepticism that anything good came come out of this. Bond is basically dead for me (and, at least according to the previous movie, actually dead....which gives Amazon all the room in the world to do whatever they want).

[AndyDursin]

Hey, the Broccolis deserve some of this and brought it upon themselves when they paid Craig whatever he wanted and let him do whatever he wanted...including killing Bond off.

This is why I feel Doomcock may be right, in that the series itself -- if it's being stripped from the big screen or dilluted with side character spinoffs and such -- is already dead. And the Craig movies manage to do it on their own.

The beauty of the Bond series was always that it was:
-self contained
-offered gorgeous locations around the world viewers may not have seen before
-gorgeous women in supporting roles
-sometimes a big star as the main villain
-big songs often hitting the top of the charts from big musical talents

You could, and still can, drop in on a Bond movie, watch it and move on. That's the beauty of those films. They don't need to be watched in some sequence like a string of endless Marvel movies where you need a roadmap to figure out what continuity they fit into.

"World building" and introspective character development beyond the scope of the story being told wasn't ever why audiences went. Yes there were running characters who returned and always served a similar function, but outside the presence of SPECTRE or whatever lurking in the shadows, there wasn't some serialized story. (It's why when there ever WAS a reference to a previous movie like the opening acknowledgment of Tracy's death in FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, it stuck out like a sore thumb).

The Craig movies tried, and ultimately failed, to connect a running scope of storylines, very badly attempting to trace Bond from a tough brute to a one-woman man with a soft side (and a kid!) who sacrifices himself in the end. That transition was badly botched IMO and bogged down into two of the dullest, hands-down most pretentious movies of the entire series that closed it out. And it was far afield from Fleming obviously -- it was Craig's agenda and the kind of story HE wanted to tell, jarringly out of sync with the franchise as a whole.

If Amazon wants to go that route again, good luck to them, but it's not why the series worked for so long. And if they want to "redefine" Bond, good luck there also. We've seen MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and the BOURNE movies "do Bond" better than recent Bond in terms of entertainment -- and if they change it up too much, the series will immediately become another corporately controlled IP living on past glories that's just a shadow of what it once was.