Back in 2010, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Under such a filing, a company produces a reorganization plan with the intent of continuing operations while debts are reduced.
At the time, one key element of MGM's plan was reviving the James Bond film series. At the time, the last Bond film was 2008's Quantum of Solace and the series was in hiatus.
An excerpt from a 2010 Bloomberg story:
New James Bond films may be released every second year starting in November 2012, MGM said. It aims to own 50 percent of Bond 23, due out that year, with an equal partner paying all of the production costs, it said. Later Bond movies would be wholly owned and funded by MGM, the company said.
Bond 23 would turn out to be Skyfall and it was co-financed by MGM and Sony. MGM kept 75 percent of the profits and Sony 25 percent. Eventually, MGM and Sony cut a two-picture deal, with Sony distributing Bond 23 and 24.
Stop to think about this. If MGM's plan had come to be, Bond 23 (Skyfall) would be out in 2012, Bond 24 (SPECTRE) in 2014, Bond 25 in 2016, Bond 26 in 2018, Bond 27 in 2020, and Bond 28 in 2022. We'd be anticipating a Bond 29 for 2024.
Evidently, MGM's bankruptcy filing overlooked (to be kind) how MGM didn't have complete control over the Bond franchise. Danjaq LLC and its Eon Productions unit control the rights to Bond while MGM provides the financing.
Regardless, MGM's reorganization plan got approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court and the studio exited bankruptcy.
In 2012, a Sony executive named Rory Bruer said Bond 24 would be out in 2014. Eon boss Barbara Broccoli and star Daniel Craig cut him off at the knees in an interview with Collider.
"He was getting a little overexcited," Broccoli told Collider. "We're just actually focusing on this movie. One hopes that in the future we'll be announcing other films, but no one's officially announced it."
"No one's announced anything," Craig chimed in. "He got a little ahead of himself."
Bond 24/SPECTRE, indeed, would not be out until 2015.
MGM management soon backed off the pledge to make a Bond film every other year. By 2016, company management said Bond films would come out on a three- to four-year cycle."
At this point, having a Bond movie every four years seems like a dream.
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