Jaded James Bond fans are so sick of waiting for the next 007 film they reckon producers should kill off the franchise.
It’s now three years since the last movie featuring the super-spy was released – with 2021’s No Time To Die seeing Daniel Craig’s Bond killed by a missile blast in its finale. Producer Barbara Broccoli, 64, who controls the 007 series with her half-brother Michael G Wilson, 82, has announced there is still no script, director or lead actor to step into Daniel’s shoes as the secret agent.
But even if a new creative team got to work today, it would take two years to release a film. It would bring the gap between Bond films to the third longest since the franchise kicked off in 1962.
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Fans have fumed online the problems range from producers taking too long to choose Daniel’s replacement to their fears the spy isn’t “woke” enough to resurrect in his current form.
(Image: PA)
One said about the wait: “James Bond? James Bored… RIP 007.” Another huffed: “Just kill it off – he’s dead!” while yet another Bond fan said about the delay: “Sure to be woke paralysis.”
One more hit out: “Craig and the current team of execs have killed Bond. It’s now too po-faced.
“Bond always differed from other spy movies, as it had a bit of humour and bawdiness, now it’s got no Unique Selling Point. It needs to go back to the spirit of the original Connery/Moore movies.”
No Time To Die was slated as the wokest version of Bond in history, with the formerly heartless, womanising spy getting so sentimental at the end he sacrifices his life to protect his love and daughter.
Industry insiders say the delay over the next 007 installment is down to complex cash deals.
Ajay Chowdhury, an entertainment lawyer and former president of the James Bond International Fan Club, blamed a change in the business model for the franchise after Amazon bought half the rights to Bond for $8.5billion.
Amazon bought up MGM in May 2021 – putting an end to decades of financial turmoil for the 100-year-old studio.
(Image: MGM)
It means producers Barbara and Michael, who make the 007 films through Eon Productions, are now able to plan the next three or four films.
Mr Chowdhury said about the impact of the MGM acquisition: “When Disney bought Lucasfilm there wasn’t a film for three years. Tonnes of work is being done, it’s just not sexy things like scripts. The Bond franchise is like a plot of land and Amazon are building the utilities.”
There are rumours there will be an announcement about the start of shooting for a new Bond flick when Barbara and Michael receive the Irving G Thalberg movie award in November. Experts also say the next Bond movie should trace the spy’s early days in the 1950s.
But the original 007 created by Second World War naval intelligence officer turned writer Ian Fleming has been accused of being a misogynistic, racist, alcoholic rapist who has no place in today’s “woke” cinema landscape.
(Image: Getty Images for TIFF)
Edward Abel Smith, author of an examination of Fleming’s writing titled Ian Fleming’s Inspiration, said the movies should be rebooted in a period setting to “get radical” and differentiate them from the introduction of Daniel Craig’s more sensitive Bond.
Possible candidates for director of the next 007 movie include Edward Berger – the German behind 2022’s All Quiet On The Western Front.
No actor has been chosen, but rumours are growing Max Irons, 38, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 34, Jack Lowden, also 34 and Taylor Swift’s ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn, 33, are in the running for what will be the 26th movie outing for Bond.
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