Weekend Read: Daniel Craig Marks New Era for the James Bond Empire

Authored by Jay Baage on November 3, 2006 - 11:39am.

He’s got a license to kill and a killer brand to license – James Bond is back. This time in the form of Daniel Craig – blond, rough and ready to hit the jackpot in the upcoming movie Casino Royale, the 21st film installment of the franchise. Not since Sean Connery played the role, has the suave British spy seemed so multifaceted. However, the buzz on the Internet is mixed. Some fan websites have totally dismissed Craig as the wrong choice to play Bond. So what does MGM, Eon Productions and creator Ian Fleming’s estate have in mind for developing one of the best known media properties in the 21st Century?

“What is the secret of the success of 007 series? Two things. One is the character. He’s the man who every man wants to be and whom every woman wants to be with. The other [is that] Bond films have always delivered something new, something people hadn’t seen before, and it’s very exciting”, says Casio Royale says director Martin Campbell to Premiere magazine.

Casino Royale, due out in theaters on November 17, marks a return of the Bond who creator Ian Fleming first wrote about – a “ironical, brutal, and cold” hero played by Daniel Craig. In response to Daniel Craig’s casting, a group of Pierce Brosnan fans created a petition calling for the return of Brosnan to the role of James Bond. Initially, the protest group threatened to boycott Casino Royale, going so far as to set up a website urging others to shun the film, as well. The owner of the anti-Craig website craignotbond.com eventually gave up the fight and closed the protest site. But some critics still persist online. A supporter of Craig – using the apropos moniker DanielCraigIsBond – posted this clip on YouTube that humorously gloats the “official” closing of the protest site here.

While Bond does not smoke seventy cigarettes a day in Casino Royale, the trailer below proves that the movie will still stay pretty true to Fleming’s vision of the secret agent. Gone are the invisible cars and space stations armed with laser guns. In Casino Royale, the producers have even ditched the computer-generated imagery and gone back to real stunts – which gives Casino Royale a real awe factor, according to British newspaper the Sun (who by the way calls Craig the best Bond since Connery). But then again, what else would you expect when Paul Haggis, the screenwriter of such dark Academy Award winning movies as Crash and Million Dollar Baby, did the final re-write of the script?

So what’s the plot in the new Casino Royale? We get to follow Bond on his first mission as a spy with a license to kill. However, Bond does not particularly like killing people and problems arise when Bond is forced to investigate a terrorist cell on his own, which leads him to banker Le Chiffre, portrayed in an understated menacingly manner by Danish actor Mads Mikkelson (pictured below).

“[Bond] is more complex, he makes mistakes. I liked in the book his aversion to [violence] being ugly and dirty. But by the end, he’s completed a journey which brings him to being – I think the line in the book is – [a] ‘beautiful killing machine’”, says director Martin Campbell.

A sequel to Casino Royale is already in the works and the 22nd film is due to premiere November 7, 2008. The trademarks for the film properties, beginning with Dr. No, are copyrighted by Danjaq and United Artists Corporation, whose parent company, the Sony-MGM consortium, distributes the Bond series. Danjaq is the holding company responsible for the copyright and trademarks to the characters, elements, and other related material to James Bond on screen. Danjaq is currently owned and managed by the family of Albert R. Broccoli, the co-initiator of the popular Bond film franchise. EON Productions, the production company responsible for producing the James Bond films, is a subsidiary of Danjaq.

On Thursday, November 2, it was announced that Tom Cruise and producing partner Paula Wagner became new part-owners and studio heads at United Artists. The announcement was made by Harry E. Sloan, CEO of MGM.

Sloan stated that Cruise and Wagner will have "substantial ownership" of the revitalized studio and have nearly complete control—budget permitting—over green-lighting and developing new productions, but did not specify financial terms. This probably does not mean that Tom Cruise will be immediately in charge of James Bond from UA, but it is a possibility.

However, while MGM and Danjaq hold the screen rights for James Bond, they do not own the publishing rights. In 1997, the controlling share of Fleming's estate was bought back by his family, 33 years after the author sold 51% to the Booker Group. This allows Flemings Estate to fully exploit the brand.

Zoe Watkins at Ian Fleming Publications said to the newspaper Scotland on Sunday: "To celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth in 2008 we are looking at a wide range of different activities and one of those is a new adult Bond novel. We are still in the planning stages, but at the moment, the idea would be to have it done by an established author - potentially a big name."

Watkins says the new book will be a major departure from the light-hearted nature of the films and much like the movie Casino Royale, it will mark a return to the dark, complex character of the early novels.

The latest news is that Ian Fleming Publications has commissioned a very well-known and highly respected author to write a new James Bond novel. The launch of the new book, which promises to be a major publishing event, will mark the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth in May 2008.

Corinne Turner of Ian Fleming Publications comments:

"We are delighted to have secured this particular author who we have had in mind for some time now. He is the perfect writer for this project and we are greatly looking forward to his take on James Bond, in what we are convinced will be a stunning novel." A publisher has not yet been sought and the identity of the author will be a closely guarded secret until publication.

Moreover, The Fleming Estate commissioned TV writer and comic actor Charlie Higson to write a new book about James Bond, Silverfin. This work tells the story of how the teenage Bond, an orphan, copes with life at Eton and, while on holiday in the Highlands, unmasks a Scottish laird who is also an evil scientific genius. Along the way, the young Bond is attracted to a prototypical Fleming heroine, Wilder Lawless. The novel, published this year, is the first of a planned series of five. The next book is due out on January 4, 2007.

“I have been a bit taken aback,” said Higson this weekend. “While I was writing the book, I think I forgot just how big a thing Bond is. What I did know, though, because of my three sons, was that there was a gap in the market for thrillers written for boys in this age range.”

The series of books has already attracted attention from film-makers and Hollywood studios. The studios have reportedly spotted the commercial potential of a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter film series.

“We are not doing a film deal yet, because we are confident that the books can stand alone for a while. Book buyers everywhere keep telling us they would buy the title, even if it was nothing to do with a strong brand like Bond, simply because it is so well written,” said Corinne Turner of the Fleming estate.

While the Fleming Estate is focusing on the new book, MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan, is looking into exploiting the Bond brand in the new media space. During an industry presentation earlier this year, Sloan predicted that $1 trillion would be invested worldwide in the creation of new media platforms. Sloan further specified that half of that figure, $500 billion, will be invested in the U.S., with the other half divided between key global markets.

According to Sloan, MGM Studio is uniquely poised to meet both the growing demand for new product, and to support its products with its marketing expertise and its longstanding relationships with both retailers and consumers.

Focusing on "regenerating and refreshing the MGM Library" – the largest modern film and TV library in the world – will reduce the risk of development, which Sloan claims accounts for between $150 and $200 million in write-offs for each major Hollywood studio every year.

Unquestionably the James Bond franchise is a key franchise for MGM. Along with the Pink Panther, Rocky, the Terminator, the Hobbit and Thomas Crown, MGM's film development will focus on extending proven brands, across new media platforms as well.

In 2004 Electronic Arts developed a video game with the James Bond license titled Everything or Nothing. This year MGM Interactive and EON Productions Ltd. awarded Activision Inc. the rights to develop and publish interactive entertainment games based on the James Bond license through 2014.

Since the initial release of Dr. No in 1962, James Bond films have grossed more than $3.6 billion theatrically worldwide and approximately 30 million units of video games based on the world of James Bond have been sold to date.

“James Bond is the ultimate action movie franchise, and we look forward to establishing a long-term relationship with MGM and EON,” said Mike Griffith, president and CEO of Activision Publishing Inc. “The James Bond franchise creates tremendous global expansion opportunities for Activision as it is one of the few video game licenses that appeals equally to domestic and international consumers. James Bond storylines are rich with style, drama and action, all of which lend themselves perfectly to developing extraordinary games that capture the thrill of being the most celebrated secret agent in the world.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Activision will obtain the worldwide rights to create video games for all current and next-generation consoles, PC and hand-held platforms. The license will grant Activision the right to develop and publish games based on all of the James Bond movies, as well as non-movie based games.

So, what other Bond content can we expect to be licensed on new media platforms? For example, if you do not have time to read Ian Fleming’s original book Casino Royale from 1953, you can now download and listen to him read it on your iPod, available for $11.95 on iTunes. You can also preorder the new Casino Royale soundtrack, due to be released next week. The new music video for "You Know My Name" is now online at the MTV Showcase website. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli announced on July 26, 2006 that Chris Cornell, the Audioslave and former Soundgarden lead singer (pictured above) composed and would perform the title song "You Know My Name" for Casino Royale. The song made its world premiere on MTV's "Making The Video" show. Casino Royale's release on DVD has been reportedly scheduled for May 22, 2007 and will also be accompanied by releases on UMD and Sony's new Blu-ray high-definition format.

A new era for the James Bond brand is dawning. Expect to see much more of Bond in the future. And who knows, it may not be long until you can cast your own favorite Bond leading man on the digital screen, both big and small.

Joakim Baage

Related Links:
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/casinoroyale/site
http://www.myspace.com/casinoroyale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_(2006_film)
http://commanderbond.net/article/3735
Bond 22 - A Direct Continuation
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006480716,00.html
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1855622005
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1442028,00.html
http://www.youngbond.com
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7-2410049.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZEov48p8V0

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Submitted by Teren proiect imobiliar (not verified) on April 3, 2008 - 10:10pm.

This version of Bond is a joyous surprise for me - my youthful daydreams have been vindicated and at last fully satisfied. There are indeed elements added to the plot, but they are completely congruent with it.