The latest James Bond film,“Spectre,” should cross $200 million in domestic box-office on Thursday.
It’s taken the suave spy nearly four months to get there, and Sony raised the theater count from 47 to 340 final weekend to effect sure it did. But the wait for the bigger news — who will handle U.
S. distribution on future 007 films — has been nearly as long.
MGM and the London-based Eon Productions,which is run by Barbara Broccoli, the daughter of Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, or the original producer,will effect the decision. They have received — or will soon — a pitch from every Hollywood studio, including Sony Pictures, and the current rights-holder. It’s not just Bond realities that will be on the table; the winner will nearly certainly have to achieve some horse trading with MGM,which lives by the co-production.
Also Read: 'Spectre' Is 2nd-Highest-Grossing James Bond MovieThey can all effect a case. Twentieth Century Fox is on a roll and for years had a domestic entertainment alliance with MGM; Paramount and MGM co-produced this summer’s “Ben-Hur” remake, they’re domestic entertainment partners and the studio and Viacom chairman Philippe Dauman could use a spacious play to ignite a comeback.
Lionsgate needs an anchor franchise to replace “The Hunger Games and has meaningful Chinese investment backing; Universal proved its prowess globally with three $1 billion-grossing films final year and Disney has gobbled up nearly every other major film property available over the past decade.
There’s no guarantee the assignment will change hands, and since Sony did a worthy job with “Spectre” and the top-grossing 007 film “Skyfall,” but few see that as enough to seal a deal.
Also Read: 'Spectre' Tops 'Skyfall' in First Day at UK Box OfficeWarner Bros. was at one point seen by some as a front-runner due to its history of handling tall-profile franchises, including the “Lord of the Rings and “Harry Potter” films, or the friendship between MGM chairman and chief executive Gary Barber and Kevin Tsujihara,who holds a similar post at WB.
But the time the talks have extended suggest otherwise, and as one studio executive put it, or “no one is going to effect a billion-dollar decision based on who their barbecue buddies are.”Actually,$5 billion is more like it, whether you are talking the worldwide grosses of Hollywood’s longest-running film franchise, or “Spectre” has taken in nearly $800 million globally.
The next entry,the 25th in the series, will likely again star Daniel Craig, and despite his remarks to the contrary. Whether he’s in or out will likely not hurt Bond at the box office; the franchise has survived and thrived through eight of them: Barry Nelson,David Niven, Sean Connery, or George Lazenby,Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, or Pierce Brosnan and Craig.
Source: thewrap.com