1025 replies to this topic

[blueman]

Get off it, blueman. Geeze.

After 100,000+ words talking about it?? That's a thin dime to spin on.

GS nailed it, too much money to be made off Bond right now and the MGM talks are taking too long for EON. Big pressure move by EON, very nice.

[zencat]

Yeah, I too think GS is onto something.

[RivenWinner]

hm, well. That's that. I don't really think any of us should be surprised to be honest.


Many of you are claiming that MGM should just sell Bond to rake in some cash, but think about this for a second. The interesting thing about Bond and MGM is that it's a relationship that is somewhat love-or-hate. MGM could sell Bond off, sure, but being their crown jewel, what major franchises do they have left? Rocky's been wrapped up. Relaunching The Pink Panther has failed. Stargate is starting to run its course...MGM knows that if it is to survive as a studio (and buy survive I mean the next decade or so, until the next crisis, lol) then it has to keep Bond so that it continue making new Bond films.


The ownership and relationship between Danjaq and EON and MGM/UA is perhaps one of the most fascinating ones in all of Hollywood history. Let this be clear: Danjaq is nothing more than a holding company. It was founded by Broccoli and Saltzman and now owned and managed by the Broccoli family, along with MGM, and is responsible for the all media representations of James Bond and associated rights. It owns EON Productions, who is responsible for making James Bond films and other media.

Saltzman sold his share of Danjaq to United Artists sometime during the 1970s. I don't know the specific details, but it was a very interesting deal, and essentially gave UA much control (and profit) over the Bond series, which from then on it jointly owned with Brocolli. MGM later bought/merged with UA, assuming full control of the studio. Thus, as someone stated, Danjaq is tied with MGM, and cannot simply 'leave.' If EON Productions wants to continue making Bond films, it has to be with MGM, unless MGM sells its share of Danjaq.

Some exceptions---When MGM was purchased by its current consortium of owners, including minority owner Sony, in 2005, a deal was put in place where Sony would co-produce/co-distribute some films with MGM, until its transition period was over. These films include not only "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace," but others as well, such as "Rocky Balboa," "The Pink Panther," "Basic Instinct 2" etc. etc. In Bond's case, the deal was for only Bond 21 and Bond 22, with MGM completely taking back the mantle with Bond 23.

Other exception--EON Productions announced about a year ago a development slate of several film projects (action/espionage related) that they were developing with Sony Pictures. Note that EON is capable of doing so and of working with other studios...just so long as it's not Bond, because then that's where the whole Danjaq/EON/MGM/UA ownership kicks in.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on this subject, but that's what I understand of it all.

[blueman]

Please don't do this.

You serious? What do you expect after relentlessly blogging the past two weeks?

... you cannot blindly trust what is printed in newspapers or by websites, even if they have good reputations.

Good advice.

[Ambler]

Whereas Eon seem to be taking a more passive-agressive tack to me, more like: 'Okay. We're telling the world that we're freezing the next Bond film because you're so useless. Happy now? Incidentally, it's the biggest film franchise of all time and we've done pretty darn well at it since Cubby, so don't think we don't have any clout.'

Unless the ownership of the Bond film rights is established then that's largely meaningless. We know that the IPR is owned by Danjaq and that Eon is its film production affiliate, but who owns Danjaq? Broccoli and Wilson are shareholders, but is Danjaq wholly owned by them?

Could it be that MGM (or its creditors) are major shareholders in Danjaq as well? That woudl be a difficult job to untangle.

[Royal Dalton]

I don't really see what the big problem is here. They obviously can't move forward until the situation with MGM is resolved. And that's all they're doing. Not moving forward. There'll be a Bond 23 along one day. Just be patient.

Whereas Eon seem to be taking a more passive-agressive tack to me, more like: 'Okay. We're telling the world that we're freezing the next Bond film because you're so useless. Happy now? Incidentally, it's the biggest film franchise of all time and we've done pretty darn well at it since Cubby, so don't think we don't have any clout.'

Unless the ownership of the Bond film rights is established then that's largely meaningless. We know that the IPR is owned by Danjaq and that Eon is its film production affiliate, but who owns Danjaq? Broccoli and Wilson are shareholders, but is Danjaq wholly owned by them?

Could it be that MGM (or its creditors) are major shareholders in Danjaq as well? That woudl be a difficult job to untangle.

The Broccoli's own the company. But MGM owns Harry Saltzman's half of the James Bond film rights.

[Jericho_One]

Just hope this doesn't mean Craig's departure. He's the best ing thing that's happened to this franchise in the last few years.

[scaramunga]

Someone please kill MGM!!!!

Thanks!

Bond 23 - MGM Never Dies

Coming in November 2014!!!!

[zencat]

Someone please kill MGM!!!!

It's possible Eon just did.

[col_007]

things go from bad to worse

[spynovelfan]

Very interesting post, RivenWinner - I have no clue about the Danjaq situation, but I suspect you're right. I wonder if we might not even hear more of those other espionage-action projects fairly soon. I also wonder if we might not see some sort of spinning out of the Bond universe into them, as another way to put pressure on. Well, we'll have to wait.

Just hope this doesn't mean Craig's departure. He's the best ing thing that's happened to this franchise in the last few years.

Seconded.

[marktmurphy]

Ah balls. Bond will be back but it looks like it'll be a long wait.
Which is a shame, because I like James Bond movies.

[zencat]

I think it's time for the Jinx Movie.

Come on, everyone! We want Jinx! We want Jinx!

Anyone?

[blueman]

Someone please kill MGM!!!!

It's possible Eon just did.

Exactomundo. Very optimistic about this, as soon as MGM's "financial uncertainties" clear up it'll be full steam ahead on 23.

It's a push, let's see who pushes back.

I think it's time for the Jinx Movie.

Come on, everyone! We want Jinx! We want Jinx!

Anyone?

Where's that barfing smiley when you need it?

[zencat]

Someone please kill MGM!!!!

It's possible Eon just did.

Exactomundo. Very optimistic about this, as soon as MGM's "financial uncertainties" clear up it'll be full steam ahead on 23.

It's a push, let's see who pushes back.

Yeah, you know, this could be the move that ends/wins the game.

Maybe not so Black a Monday afterall.

We want Jinx!

[Ambler]

The Broccoli's own the company. But MGM owns Harry Saltzman's half of the James Bond film rights.

Danjaq certainly owns the Bond film rights and the company was originally jointly owned by Saltzman and Broccoli. However, I haven't been able to establish who owns Danjaq today, though I think it is generally believed that UA bought Saltzman's rights after his financial difficulties in the 1970s.

If anyone can find a recent statement or company record as to who owns what I would like to see it. (When due diligence takes place it may well emerge.) Only then will we know the strength of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson's bargaining position.

[marktmurphy]

It's an official press release, so it is, sadly, real.

I agree that it looks like a maneouvre of some sort. My guess is they're flexing their muscles a bit to pressure MGM, because they know announcing this will get a lot of attention and get a lot of people asking MGM what the hell they're doing. The message seems to be, in a nutshell: 'Due to your ineptitude, we are freezing production on the next Bond film. Yes. The next ing Bond film - it's the most successful film franchise in history, you fools! Do you really want to lose Bond? Sort this out now!'

Interesting thought: could well be.

[blueman]

No news right now would be bad news IMO. This is cause for optimism, EON wants to make a Bond movie and are forcing a bad MGM situation to a more timely end. I doubt anybody involved with sorting out MGM's money issues wants a long wait for the next half-billion $$$ Bond film.

[scaramunga]

This is all shaping up a lot like 1989 isn't it?

I guess we will see a new Bond in 2014 with a new lead then?

I hope not, but man..

The MGM fiasco is also impacting The Hobbit as well?

Good grief I hope this can be resolve in May when the debt payment is due.

At least we are getting the Leone films and a few other MGM films on blu ray.

I think I care more about the other 9 Bond films on blu ray than I care about Bond 23 at this point.
I really hope it's all settled so the films can move forward as can the older films on blu ray..

Edited by scaramunga, 19 April 2010 - 10:53 PM.

[Royal Dalton]

The Broccoli's own the company. But MGM owns Harry Saltzman's half of the James Bond film rights.

Danjaq certainly owns the Bond film rights and the company was originally jointly owned by Saltzman and Broccoli. However, I haven't been able to establish who owns Danjaq today, though I think it is generally believed that UA bought Saltzman's rights after his financial difficulties in the 1970s.

If anyone can find a recent statement or company record as to who owns what I would like to see it. (When due diligence takes place it may well emerge.) Only then will we know the strength of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson's bargaining position.

Broccoli bought back Saltzman's share of the company in the mid-Eighties. But MGM/UA retained their 50% of the film rights.

[spynovelfan]

... you cannot blindly trust what is printed in newspapers or by websites, even if they have good reputations.

Good advice.

Glad we agree on something! I suspect we're about to be inundated with headlines like 'James Bond film freezes - SPECTRE claims responsibility'. Most will be be recycling and opinion, but there may be some who claim to have inside knowledge, and if that happens, whatever it is they claim, however small a kernel, true or false, it will be spun by hundreds of other media outlets extremely quickly into the sort of Chinese whispers that led lots of people to believe that The Telegraph just reported that Broccoli confirmed Mendes. So if we want to not go crazy discussing Chinese whispers or even outright BS, we should want to, as a group of Bond fans, try to figure out what might actually be happening, and not take newspapers and websites at face value. All we have that is official at the moment is this press release.

[Sebastian Tombs]

Well, jeez, ain't this a mess? I certainly hope this doesn't drag on too long.

[Ambler]

The Broccoli's own the company. But MGM owns Harry Saltzman's half of the James Bond film rights.

Danjaq certainly owns the Bond film rights and the company was originally jointly owned by Saltzman and Broccoli. However, I haven't been able to establish who owns Danjaq today, though I think it is generally believed that UA bought Saltzman's rights after his financial difficulties in the 1970s.

If anyone can find a recent statement or company record as to who owns what I would like to see it. (When due diligence takes place it may well emerge.) Only then will we know the strength of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson's bargaining position.

Broccoli bought back Saltzman's share of the company in the mid-Eighties. But MGM/UA retained their 50% of the film rights.

Where's the evidence for that? And what possible value would Saltzman's share be if separated from the film rights?

It's come to something when the ownership of Bond is far more intriguing than the films themselves.

[Vauxhall]

Very sad news indeed.

[RivenWinner]

The Broccoli's own the company. But MGM owns Harry Saltzman's half of the James Bond film rights.

Danjaq certainly owns the Bond film rights and the company was originally jointly owned by Saltzman and Broccoli. However, I haven't been able to establish who owns Danjaq today, though I think it is generally believed that UA bought Saltzman's rights after his financial difficulties in the 1970s.

If anyone can find a recent statement or company record as to who owns what I would like to see it. (When due diligence takes place it may well emerge.) Only then will we know the strength of Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson's bargaining position.

I know my previous post was rather lengthy, but I tried to describe to the best of my knowledge the situation. If you want a source, I can't really give one right, lol, as it's just an accumulation of stuff I've gathered over the years from reading books, magazines, websites, etc.

I'm certain MGM has a large leveraging position with Danjaq/EON. Saltzman sold his share of Danjaq to United Artists, thus, it is my understanding that from then on, what was Saltzman's share became United Artist's. One could hypothesize that Brocoli and Slatzman had a 50-50 share of Danjaq, but I don't know. Since UA was bought by MGM, MGM then assumed some control of Danjaq. What is interesting is that United Artists copyright, logo, etc is still frequently used for the franchise, despite the fact that MGM owns UA, and that they're essentially the same company.

Believe me, this has to go much deeper than any of us can speculate, because otherwise, EON would have certainly left MGM long ago, IMO, if they were able to do so.

[dinovelvet]

Someone please kill MGM!!!!

It's possible Eon just did.

EON just pulled a Dominic Greene on MGM's General Medrano

[Ambler]

EON would have certainly left MGM long ago, IMO, if they were able to do so.

I agree. Which leaves Broccoli and Wilson - and Bond - prisoners of MGM's fate.

[Lachesis]

No more informed than any of us perhaps but collider.com has posted these views -

"While the next Bond may be delayed for now, the franchise is one of the crown jewels of the MGM library and whoever ends up getting control of the studio will obviously move forward with the next installment the day after the paperwork is signed. After all, the last Bond film cost $200 million and it made $586 at the worldwide box office.

Also, while the project may be delayed indefinitely, back in June of last year we reported Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen), Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale) would be the screenwriters. What that means is… producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli must have at least a few drafts of the next Bond screenplay and once the MGM sale is completed, it shouldn’t be too hard to move the project in front of the cameras.

What is most interesting about the delay is what director Sam Mendes is going to do. He was originally attached to direct Preacher, but then he moved over to Bond. I wonder if he’ll go back to that project or venture onto something completely new…"

[spynovelfan]

EON would have certainly left MGM long ago, IMO, if they were able to do so.

I agree. Which leaves Broccoli and Wilson - and Bond - prisoners of MGM's fate.

If so, could this be a move slightly analogous to Prince writing Slave on his cheek, ie making the point that they're freezing work indefinitely because they're the marquee name and the news, so while they might be prisoners, they also have some clout and can simply refuse to cooperate with MGM's strategy until they take them more seriously? Just musing aloud.

Lachesis, I think the Collider comment about the script is quite a good one - they must have something down on paper by now, at least.

[Double-0-7]

Not the kind of news I wanted to come home to after enduring a Monday. But, this does feel like an EON power move - the next Bond film is worth too much to whichever studio is interested in being associated with the most successful franchise in movie history.

This is the chance for a mid-size player with a war chest to jump to the big league. Let's see if the pot was stirred enough today!