THE WORLDS ARE NOT ENOUGH JAMES...
HAILED as the saviour of cinema, James Bond’s latest screen adventure No Time To Die is already smashing box office records.
But, as Daniel Craig’s tenure as Ian Fleming’s super-spy comes to an epic conclusion, industry experts say there’s no time to waste for film bosses plotting the future of the world’s longestrunning movie franchise.
In May MGM sold its 50 per cent stake in Bond to Amazon Studios for $8.45billion.
The deal raised eyebrows in Wall Street as the market price had been estimated at $5billion.
So the pressure is now on for secret agent 007 to earn back that Amazon investment.
The bosses of Bond film company EON Productions, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, admit they are struggling to imagine Bond without Daniel Craig.
But together with their new tech giant partners they face a tantalising array of possibilities.
The hunt is now on for a new James Bond.
Casting the most coveted role in Hollywood is not going to be easy. Broccoli has already ruled out a female or other gendered person playing the suave hero.
The Bond brand has been carefully established over 60 years and has become a commercial juggernaut.
When the new 007 debuts, he will have to be young enough to believably sustain the franchise into the next decade. He must be hungry and ambitious.
So taking over the mantle from Daniel Craig will be no walk in the park.
Candidates will not be A-list stars commanding multi-million dollar fees, or powerful enough to call the shots.
However, the next James Bond will not be totally unknown either, and will need the experience to handle the fame and publicity that comes with playing the martini-drinking hero.
That Bond producers have always chosen the right person for the job is a testimony to their skill and intuition.
A successful new James Bond is usually a reaction to their predecessor. Roger Moore followed Sean Connery and Daniel Craig followed Pierce Brosnan.
Craig was very successful in his heavily dramatic, deconstructionist take on 007.
A lighter, more classical Bond might be a tonic after the darkness and brooding tone of recent adventures such as Casino Royale and Skyfall. And hopefully we’ll see EON maintain 007’s back-up team of Ralph Fiennes’s M, Naomie Harris’s Moneypenny and Benwhishaw’s Q.
These actors have reinvented Bond favourites with such creative nuance it would be a shame to lose them. Previously, the new Bond has always benefited from having this comforting familiarity to help him grow into the role.
EON should also plan a multiple story arc for their new Bond, who will have undoubtedly signed to star in a series of films.
Daniel Craig’s outings were retrofitted to create a saga.
Harry Potter, Star Wars and Marvel have proved that is more satisfying for an audience if planned in advance.
Once the new James Bond is established in a post-covid landscape the franchise has many options. Ian Fleming’s heirs who control the literary rights to 007 have already expanded the Bond universe.
Bond’s childhood adventures were explored in a successful series of young adult novels by TV comedian Charlie Higson.
And the Moneypenny Diaries told the story from another angle.
Best-selling writers such as Sebastian Faulks and Anthony Horowitz have written new Bond books, some set in modern day and others in the Coldwar era.
With movies like Cruella and Joker, the pantheon of Bond villains could star in their own vehicles. And there is room for spinoffs for Bond girls such as Pussy Galore and Octopussy.
Marvel and DC have enjoyed huge success with Black Widow, Captain America and Wonder Woman. In 2003 Broccoli and Wilson developed a movie based on Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day heroine, Jinx, played by the Oscar winning Halle Berry.
But due to the perception that in the early 2000s there was no audience for female-led vehicles, the film was scrapped.
Animated 007 adventures could also be made.
Spider-man explored the multiverse and both Batman and Starwars have had long-running animated shows and films.
Back in 1993 EON backed a short-lived cartoon series, James Bond Junior.
When Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas, it ramped up the production rate, producing and releasing movies much faster. Now Bond’s finance is secure Amazon will want to
recoup its investment fast. Disney and Marvel have also produced spin-off TV shows to widen their brands.
The original Ian Fleming stories have never been faithfully adapted to the screen and many fans would welcome period versions of Fleming’s original espionage thrillers for TV.
And Bond favourites such as Q and Miss Moneypenny could also land their own shows, headed by current stars Ben and Naomie.
From Fleming’s novels to the EON movies there is a wealth of material to draw from and be inspired by. And with the current trend for multi-versing, we could even see digital avatars of the late Sean Connery and Roger Moore interacting with their successors.
To paraphrase James Bond’s family motto: the worlds are not enough.
Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury are authors of Some Kind Of Here: The Remarkable Story Of The James Bond Films No Time To Die Review:
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Don’t miss the second episode of Casino Royale as the James Bond strip returns to the Express: Page 57