The Daily Mail is running with a hot story that all is not well with the production for the twenty-fourth James Bond film simply known as “Bond 24”. 007 fans will have to sit tight after the production for the next installment has been delayed by a couple of months. “Bond 24” was suppose to go into production later this year, but the recent report by the site claims that the screenplay drafted by Oscar-nominated John Logan will receive the old polish treatment from longtime 007 movie writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade for the upcoming follow-up to 2012’s Skyfall. The creative trio are also credited with penning the script for “Skyfall”, while Purvis and Wade also assisted with the script writing duties for “The World Is Not Enough”, “Die Another Day”, “Casino Royale”, and “Quantum of Solace”.
Also see: ‘Bond 24′ Writer John Logan Says We Might See the Return of SPECTRE
2012’s “Skyfall”
An executive associated with the Bond films revealed the reasons for the delay. At this stage there is no hard feeling, he said:
“Neal and Robert are only doing what was done to them. There’s no blood; no scars.”
When asked if there was turmoil, the source said:
“Let’s call it polite turmoil. People are getting on with their work, but we have to wait for the script, so filming won’t begin till December, a few months later than they wanted.”
The site also noted that John Cleese (previously played Q and R in the “Bond” franchise) had some “stinging criticism” about recent Bond movies. Cleese said that the flicks were “gritty and humourless”, and also pointed out that big money was coming from Asia, “where the audiences go to watch the action sequences, and that’s why in my opinion the action sequences go on for too long, and it’s a fundamental flaw”.
John Cleese
Cleese added:
“The audiences in Asia are not going for the subtle British humour, or the class jokes.”
According to the site:
“Purvis and Wade have been asked to ‘punch up’ the script and sprinkle in more gags, emphasising the witty repartee between Daniel Craig’s 007 and Naomie Harris’s Miss Moneypenny, and focusing on the interplay between Bond and Ralph Fiennes’s M.”
This is an interesting take on the production progress said to be in ‘Polite Turmoil’. “Skyfall” is the highest-grossing film worldwide for Sony Pictures and the second-highest-grossing film of 2012. Raking in a whopping $1.1 billion worldwide, and mostly receiving critical acclaim as one of the best “Bonds” in the franchise to date, perhaps Cleese should run the numbers again. Taking a look at “Skyfall” specifically, Boxofficemojo.com summarised the figures for our pleasure. Quick analysis reveals that approximately 12% of the $1.1 billion worldwide take was due to Asian market contributions, with China only ranking as the fifth highest contributor overall with an estimated $59,2. The UK and US nearly contributed half of the total global take with a combined overall cume of $465.5. “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” also didn’t prove to be huge Asian audience pleasers.
The top 5 countries contributing to the record-breaking “Skyfall” figures:
| United states | $304,360,277 |
| United Kingdom | $161,176,369 |
| Germany | $85,283,256 |
| France | $60,127,766 |
| China | $59,234,352 |
Daniel Craig is expected to reprise his role as James Bond aka Agent 007
In my humbled opinion, the Asian market has no influence on the rewrites of the script if their “big money” contributions were anything to go by. We will have to go with the reasons as cited by the Daily Mail that “more gags” and “witty repartee” is required to “punch up” the script. Audiences are clearly enjoying “gritty and humorless” according review aggregator Rottentomatoes.com. The site reports that 295 critics dished out an impressive “Fresh” rating of 92%, and 362895 users agreed with the overall consensus by adding an average score of 86%.
Simply delaying the follow-up to rewrite a script by add a bunch of things to supposedly improve an already winning concept seems unlikely. Perhaps the pleasure of reproducing the magic for the next installment is reason enough, especially if “Bond 24” is setting out the take on a $1.1 billion dollar record-breaking predecessor. Any Bond fans out there excited for the next installment? GS can’t wait!
Sam Mendes is back behind the lens for a release date set on November 6, 2015. It is unclear if the rewrites will influence the agreed release dates.
