Sony Wants To Release The Twenty-Fourth James Bond Film In 2014
When I was in London recently to visit the set of Skyfall, the twenty-third James Bond film, there was a good bit of talk about how the long break between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall turned out to be a positive thing for this film. Daniel Craig told me, for example, "the enforced break before this movie gave us the chance to go away, think about things and put together a script very early, and get the best director for the job. That was my only ambition out of it, was to improve."
That break won't happen again, if MGM and Sony get their way. Yesterday at CinemaCon Rory Bruer, Sony's President of Worldwide Distribution, said that the next adventure of 007 is planned for release in 2014. The question, then, is: will Daniel Craig return?
During the same conversation I referenced above, the question of Craig quitting after Skyfall came up, and producer Barbara Broccoli, who was sitting in on the roundtable interview, reacted with horror at the idea of Craig moving on. Her reaction was half theatrical, half genuine; there's no question that Craig's Bond has revitalized the series.
The actor signed a three-picture deal with an option for a fourth, and given his investment in Skyfall it seems unlikely that he would want to walk away now. But plans for 2014 would leave just a year or so for him to do other things before diving back into Bond. [MI6]