Bad news for Bond fans today. In a press release that’s currently making the rounds, EON Productions have announced that they have suspended development on the 23rd James Bond film and it is currently unknown when production will resume.
“Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on ‘Bond 23’ indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of ‘Bond 23,’ ” read the joint statement from Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
EON Productions have produced every Bond film since 1962 and their withdrawal of what is easily their most lucrative franchise from development definitely paints an ever darkening picture for the state of MGM. ‘Bond 23’ (along with “The Hobbit”) were long seen as the two franchises that would add appeal to any potential sale of the studio that is nearing $4 billion in debt. With EON officially holding “Bond 23,” suddenly MGM’s future rides entirely on “The Hobbit.”
However, as we reported just a few days ago, “The Hobbit” still isn’t greenlit by the studio. Peter Jackson is currently getting together a budget, but with the studio seemingly with nothing in its stable (they have “Red Dawn” and “The Zookeeper” coming out this year, while “Hot Tub Time Machine” underperformed), are they going to be able to get financing for a project that won’t start seeing profit for at least three or four years? We don’t see it happening (but then again, it is Hollywood, and if guys like David Bergstein can keep moving, so can MGM).
The most likely scenario we see playing out — and the one that was long figured to happen (though MGM is trying to avoid it) — is that the studio is going to be sold off piece-by-piece. That means, someone is going to pick up their catalog of titles and someone else will shell out the bucks for the rights to take on “The Hobbit.” And if that happens, we don’t see the film getting in front of cameras until next year after all the paperwork is sorted out, the production is re-upped at its new home, and Jackson gets the budget he needs and the new owners slate in their schedule.
Again, this is all just speculation, but the writing appears to be on the wall. It will be interesting to see how this affects the sale of MGM in the coming weeks. We would hate be in those studio offices today.