The future of James Bond

You're right

A great actor though

Utterly ridiculous regardless of who wrote it

Somebody was seriously asleep at the wheel when that got greenlit so, it's like every boogeyman of the woke rolled in to one.

Have you read the book, or are you entirely basing that on one little out of context snippet?

Yup, it is indeed a little out of context snippet from the book. No issues with someone deciding they'd not bother reading it based on that. It's obviously nowhere near enough information to make a declaration like "Somebody was seriously asleep at the wheel when that got greenlit so" though.

Ugh, no thanks.

Yea, how on earth didn't Clive Owen not be offered it?

Craig really has had the role a long time. We've seen a lot of actors who could have been great at the role see their opportunities come and go.

Pre-Casino Royale, Clive Owen and Dougray Scott both would have been "known" starts without demanding extortionate fees. Maybe even Hugh Jackman at that time.

Post-Skyfall there was a wealth of potential replacements. Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Tom Hiddlestone, Henry Cavill to name some of the bigger stars. I kinda feel it's too late for all them, not necessarily age, but just the way their respective career paths have gone.

There's still plenty of opportunities. Aaron Taylor Johnson is a personal fav of those in the mix.

But yeah, will always consider Clive Owen as the one that got away. He did make some great adverts for Betfair though

Amazon for you.

Maybe they should do a reality tv show to find the next Bond after this reality show.

Bond Factor you have lost your licence to kill, next contender please.

Wasn't Aidan Turner in the running?

Looked good in a tux in Croupier too!

they've somewhat painted themselves into a corner with the last movie. It was easier in the past when there wasn't much continuity between the films but even then they never killed him off.

I don't see the ending of the last one being any issue at all really. I don't think it's a series that people are too worried about 'redundancy' in. It's James Bond. It's been resetting for 60 years.

Much more important is that they allow it to just go away for a good while (as they're doing), and then come back with a shakeup and a new feel to it, which it sounds like is their plan.

After all, it's a series that couldn't have looked more exhausted and dead after the Brosnan run, but just allowing a nice gap for people to miss it, and then changing it up with a very different tone, brought back the interest.

I think Bond's general cultural significance is big enough that it will weather any sort of a gap at all really. You'll even have parents taking kids to their first Bond movie - speaking of, I think you need to significantly widen your target demo there (there's a reason they make bloody sure their movies get a PG13 rating), it's going to be a target of 13 to 45, with plenty older than that going too, having grown up with Bond.

Your 6 year example is a good reference of what we may expect - there was huge excitement and anticipation for Goldeneye and the return of Bond, and it was a big financial success.

Think around 2027/2028 would be about right for the next release. Provided they do a good job of bringing something a bit different to the tone of the franchise, it'll be fine.

A blond Bond? That'll never work 🤣

To clarify - I didn't mean that 25-35 was their only target market. Merely that it was one of their markets, but it's a lucrative one with money to spend before life/commitments get in the way. And if they get out of the habit of going to the Bond Cinema Event then it creates a long-term problem. Because 10/15 years later they won't be passing down Bond to their kids.

So if the gap is too big (looking like 2027/28 at the earliest as you said), and subsequent gaps stick to the 3/4 years of the Craig films (I miss the regularity of one every 2 years in the Moore years) then it causes a long-term problem imo. The nostalgia audience, and I'm slap bang in that market, only sustains you so long.

That's only an issue if the marketing people involved in the product placements are idiots and while I generally hold marketers in low regard, I can't see that being the case here. The brands featured in Bond movies lean heavily towards the aspirational (Aston Martin, Omega, Tom Ford, Boliinger). That our generation watched Bond wearing Omega watches throughout Dalton and Brosnan's run has undoubtedly lead to many of us buying them decades later and while the 25-35 market may be a good target for brands like Heineken or Sony to chase, it won't be until they're in their fifties that some of them will be in a position to start considering buying an Aston....

It's been suggested, but Skyfall fairly killed the idea.

The next movie will have to be a re-set. Ideally I'd love to see that done as a cold-war era period piece starting with Bond being recruited to MI6 by a Desmond Llewelyn-like Q. That would bring it's own challenges for production costs, product placement and attracting the Gen-Z audience however so it seems unlikely. There's implications throughout the Brosnan era (and all the way back to Connery's time) that Bond was identified for recruitment at a young age and perhaps moulded towards that aim by schoolmasters at Eton & Fettes but starting with that timeline in the modern era could really run the risk of having the new Bond film become a mimic of the Alex Rider series.

Actually, if I were tasked with writing the next film, I think that's where I'd start it: a pre-credit montage (a la Up) that begins with Bonds parents death in a spectacular skiing accident, followed by scene of a young Bond dressed in tails at the funeral, perhaps being watched by an older man in a dark suit, a series of scenes of him being shepparded through a private education, showing him target shooting with the cadets in Fettes, attending University in Geneva, skiing and mountain climbing with Oberhauser etc. with glimses of that older man throughout and culminating with the man in the dark suit approaching a young Bond in a naval officers uniform to imply his recruitment. Strike the music and roll the credits before introducing us to the adult Bond.

It'd be a great way to indicate that this is a new telling of Bond's story or, if you didn't imply that this was his first mission as a double-O, could roughly weave this, and subsequent movies, into the same timeline of Bond as played by Craig. The opening scene of Skyfall showed us that Bond had been on missions we haven't seen between the events of that film and it's predecessor Quantum of Solace so there's room to tell new stories between that and his later death without upsetting the timeline (assuming they care about the timeline and aren't simply starting over).

I think that's a good example - where Marvel have had trouble is trying to reinvest people so soon. People weren't ready yet, and it's felt like the MCU are shoving content down our throats. Which is why I think it's a big positive for Bond that they're going to allow it to go away for long enough that people have a chance to miss it, and build excitement over its return in a whole new guise. The fact that a total reset every generation is baked into the fabric of the franchise is a big boost for them too.

I wonder about the generations thing, I sort of think you have the movies you grow up with and then you bring your kids to see the film characters you liked as a kid, but your kids start getting removed form it. Mission Impossible is my Son's "Bond" whereas from his point of view Bond is something over 50's get excited about.

A new Bond movie in ~5 years time wont bring back childhood memories for lots of likely cinema goers? and you'd have to do something special to get a new group of teenagers and kids excited about the franchise?

I've been watching it, the experience alone would have been worth taking part in it tbh!

Of course, we've already had a bald Bond.

The obvious choice is a black Bond, that's a given, but who best fits the role? Jada Pinkett Smith could do a decent job, and bring a kind of sassy energy which would revitalise things a bit, spice it up. I'd also be up for a change in direction and go for a more body positive image, which would bring the likes of Lizzo or even Gabourey Sidibe into the mix. People might not be ready for Laverne Cox, but she's Bond to the Bone in my opinion.