1017 replies to this topic

[Simon]

It is a monumentally crappy position to be in, to be sure.

 

That said, Eon have done very well in clearing up the legal entities and ownerships over the years.  To my mind, the Only (Only, said with the merest hint of irony) issue left is this MGM ownership.  Everything else has been swept up and can no longer provide legal hiccups.

 

Correct me if wrong.

[Orion]

Yes, at this point MGM is the only barrier left in regards to rights, but it is a big one that, as SAF said in nicer words, is only likely to be resolved by prying them out of MGM's cold dead hands.

[Dustin]

MGM, for better or worse, now is Bond - and a little pile of small change. MGM might just as well fold their other ops and save themselves the funds, the difference would be only marginal. Yet that regular - or not so regular - stream of fresh funds is so substantial that the current shareholders would call up a huge sum to even consider selling out. The only way they could be squeezed out of the property could be if they were heavily in debt. Everybody's guess when that might be the case, if ever...

[DavidJones]

If only Saltzman had sold his half to Cubby...

[Orion]

Words I'm sure BB and MGW often think 

[Dustin]

Well, since that fated deal of Saltzman Cubby himself apparently did try to sell the property. So it's anybody's guess whether things would have turned out for the better then. Be that as it may, the powers that be can only deal with things as they are, not as they would/could/should be ideally...

[plankattack]

 Be that as it may, the powers that be can only deal with things as they are, not as they would/could/should be ideally...

 

Oh I don't know. How about a "What would you change about the Cubby/Harry/MGM deal?" thread.....    

[S K Y F A L L]

This whole mess leaves something to be desired. A year after SP and all we get is a 3-4 cycle, producers want DC back and DC wants to be back, besides that we have collectors figures and books too look forward too. I don't know about you but I don't have space, time and budget for how many ever series'es of books there are and as cool as it would be to have a few Bond statues around. By the end of the year I'd love there to be an announcement that Bond 25 will begin production in another year for a Oct/Nov 2019 release.

 

Next month is DC's 10 year anniversary and I was thinking of creating a 10 Years of Daniel Craig as 007 thread. Do you think that would be something worth pursuing?

[Dustin]

Next month is DC's 10 year anniversary and I was thinking of creating a 10 Years of Daniel Craig as 007 thread. Do you think that would be something worth pursuing?

That's a good idea, a thread dedicated to a retrospective of Craig's decade; where we came from, where it lead us, what remains of it. Let people share their personal stories from this decade. Just fire away.

[Toxteth_OGrady]

Noticed this earlier:

 

https://www.mi6-hq.c...with-mgm-161031

[Dustin]

Yes. Effectively no substantial BOND 25 news.

[S K Y F A L L]

Does anyone feel like explaining this mess to me like a I'm a child, because I'm still not sure what this distribution deal all means.

 

Thanks, your village idiot S K Y F A L L. 

[Dustin]

What it says on the tin: distributing your film.

You see, shooting a film is only half the job, you have the footage, you cut and edit it, streamline the whole mess of various takes, close-ups and different angles into an actual story - but then begins the work of marketing your opus. You have to decide on copies, you have to coordinate the various foreign markets, plan when to start with how many copies on how many screens, see that dubbing work of different versions is finished on time, promote the film with trailers, ads, previews, toys, t-shirts, Mac-menus, social media, interviews andandandand...

And all of this is happening while they haven't even shot the first frame.

It's quite a huge thing with productions in the blockbuster-class. And you need a whole host of qualified personnel to get the job done. These people do not hang out at the local pub, in general they are pretty busy and earn a bit more than minimum wage. That's why MGM, with its fairly modest output, decided to become a much leaner operation and outsource the job by means of a distribution deal. Bigger studios - real studios - run this themselves and have deals going with the big theatre chains, multiplexes and the smaller cinemas. They guarantee a certain output in a given period and can therefore get better conditions on the release dates.

That's why MGM's ideas about opening up its own distribution branch again seems somewhat ambitious...

[Toxteth_OGrady]

Little snippet of news here

 

https://hmssweblog.w...next-few-years/

[SecretAgentFan]

Little snippet of news here

 

https://hmssweblog.w...next-few-years/

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

"Over the next few years", unfortunately, is as vague as it gets.  One might even draw the conclusion that MGM has no clue when the next Bond film will get started and that there has not been any development of that at all.

 

It seems that EON has shut down BOND 25 at the moment completely.  Almost as if the experience of making SPECTRE was so horrible for everybody involved that they don´t want to go there again.  Add to that the uncertainty of what Brexit means to GB.

 

Ironically, the only light at the end of this tunnel, is the fact that Daniel Craig - who in the first half of the year seemed to be replaced - is the one who is still or again happy to stay on.

[MISALA1994]

Nothing new, just rehash...

Edited by MISALA1994, 14 November 2016 - 11:09 AM.

[Dustin]

Nothing new, just rehash...

Nothing new: yes

Rehash: no

This comes from an investors call only last week - and thanks to OGrady for sharing and to the good people at The Spy Command (formerly Her Majesty's Secret Servant) for keeping an eye on these events.

If there had been any way to be more specific with positive news about BOND 25 Barber would have grabbed that opportunity, especially in a quarter where he had to report only one tenth profit of the same quarter last year. Unfortunately - for Barber, for investors, for MGM - the current climate doesn't exactly help decisions on long-term business strategy. And from what one can discern from the headlines things could stay in this kind of limbo for a little longer than expected.

[sharpshooter]

Based on nothing, 2018 is my guess.

[Simon]

Distribution probably wouldn't be their skill set.

 

In an ideal world, they should buy out MGM, and organise their own distribution deals with whomever.

 

Of course, shelling out for half of Bond and Then funding a Bond film all in one year might hit their balance somewhat.  But, in an ideal world...

[Orion]

MGM are looking for a distributor who'll cough up the lions share of the budget (hence why Pascal was involved in the production of Craig's films - even the initial selection of craig - rather than someone from MGM) but not for the long term (hence we're doing this every two films).

 

It's actually quite a big ask when you think about it considering EON get a larger share of the profit than outside production companies normally do. There was an article on Empire a few years ago about this but I can't for the life of me find it now. 

[MISALA1994]

Based on nothing, 2018 is my guess.

I hope so, otherwise they have to find Bond number 7.

[Dustin]

I'm not sure that MGM by now wouldn't be willing to do a deal over three Bond films, or mayhap even four, provided they can be produced within a decade.

The main problem would seem to be the sharing of the cake, no studio is prepared to sign to the same conditions Sony did. Particularly since MGM cannot guarantee how many films get made in a given time. If a studio were willing to shell out this kind of money for an uncertain profit, then there already would be a deal by now.

Pressure was added by Barber's claim to open up a distribution branch themselves again. It was intended to nudge the contestants into knocking his door down with a contract.

Instead, they all leaned back to watch the spectacle.

I'm sure sooner or later there will be some kind of deal. I'm not sure, however, who will sign it on MGM's side.

[Napoleon Solo]

Not the same source, but The Wall Street Journal, in October 2015, quoted from material in the Sony Leaks. With Skyfall, MGM got $175 million, Danjaq/Eon got $109 million and Sony got $57 million when all was said and done. That was after Sony co-financed the movie.

[Dustin]

I remember having read this at the time; always wondered about MGM's big take there...

[MISALA1994]

Well, Gregg did show up in some SP podcasts, seemed like he was game, very enthusiastic about the whole shebang.

http://www1.pictures...hnzCl8o8fZl.jpg



Speaking like a main producer in that interview; very diplomatic, very secure. Grooming, this exposure, wouldn´t you say?

Great interview, Michael deserves retirement from Bond and Gregg should replace him.

Edited by MISALA1994, 14 November 2016 - 07:56 PM.

[Napoleon Solo]

MGM got a 75% profit split, Sony 25%, re: Skyfall.

[SecretAgentFan]

There must have been a first-look-option somewhere in that contract so SONY can at least be the first to choose whether they want to renegotiate or not.

 

If not, whoever signed that contract at SONY must have been desperate to be part of Bond.

[Orion]

Sony accepted because they also got all of the Spider-man movie rights still owned by MGM, (it's mentioned in the book the art and making of Spider-man) 

[Dustin]

At least on paper things must have looked a lot different than they do now. The Sony executive who claimed to get films on the screen every two years (IIRC) already indicated a huge misunderstanding. Entirely ignoring the fact Sony wasn't the one to call the shots in the Bond game.

[Orion]

In that Sony guys slight defense, when they had definite in put (between CR and QOS then between SF and SP) they did get films started up quickly. We would have had Bond 24 in 2014 if they didn't want Mendes to return as much as they did. 

 

I actually do hope Sony get on-board for Bond 25, I've actually enjoyed the marketing run of Daniel Craig's films and their general approach to Bond. Also their studio interference is minor league compared to others.