Skyfall director Sam Mendes will not be helming the next 007 adventure. Why Martin Campbell should return to the fold...

Okay, so Sam Mendes is officially out.  There was rumbling over the last few weeks that Sam Mendes would actual But as of today, Mendes politely bowed out of the running.  He will not return to helm the next James Bond picture following his phenomenally successful Skyfall.  I'm sure I will be but one of a million people offering their thoughts on who should helm the next 007 picture. It's tempting to once again half-jokingly offer up Terrance Malick, Warner Herzog, Sophia Coppola, and Michael Haneke as go-to picks.  But the choice is obvious.  The name is Campbell, Martin Campbell.  He directed two of the very best 007 pictures of the post-Connery era, if not outright ever (it's no secret where I stand on this... Goldfinger can suck it).  He revitalized the franchise twice with two different Bond actors in the last 18 years.  The stain of Green Lantern leaves him in a position of 'needing a hit', and there is no reason to presume he won't knock it out of the park for a third time.  But more importantly, doing the follow-up to Skyfall gives Campbell a new set of tools to play with in the 007 sandbox.  This time he'll just get to play with few restraints, without the burden of franchise rebirth.

Daniel Craig doesn't deserve a raise for The Girl Who Played With Fire because Daniel Craig is not a box office draw...

This one is pretty simple.  Daniel Craig allegedly (Hollywood Reporter) wants a raise for his appearance in Sony's planned The Girl Who Played With Fire.  Sony is refusing and may even be trying to wrangle a pay cut.  Sony is allegedly digging its heels out of the desire to cut costs, as the first film grossed $232 million worldwide yet still barely broken even due to its frankly absurd $90 million budget.  Had the film cost a more reasonable $60-$70 million, it would have been quite profitable for Sony.  But it didn't so it wasn't.  If we must see the two other chapters in the original series, then they damn-well shouldn't cost nearly $100 million apiece. You could argue that Rooney Mara is an essential component of any sequel and should be hired even at a token higher cost this time around.  But everyone else involved is expendable.  Daniel Craig, whose character was as bland a male lead as you can ask for, is not a box office draw, period. If Sony sees fit to write out his journalist protagonist, I imagine it won't affect the film's financial fortunes one iota.  Daniel Craig is one of countless actors who do just fine in a marquee role or a popular franchise but flounder elsewhere.  If Daniel Craig wants a raise from Sony, he is welcome to ask for one for the next James Bond film.   But outside of the 007 series, Daniel Craig isn't a box office draw, period.

Fail after Fail: Thoughts on Skyfall upon a second viewing.

Spoiler Warning is in place, but my non-spoiler review is HERE...

For reasons mostly involving time and other responsibilities, before last night I hadn't seen a film twice in theaters since June 2008.  Even that last occasion was merely a matter of happenstance, as my father was in town and he hadn't seen Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull yet.  I grew up with the Lucasfilm universe, so it seemed only appropriate, and a good time was had.  Anyway, last night I saw Skyfall for a second time, as my wife was unable to attend last month's press screening and we had a free evening (it was also about trying out a new theater, but that's the next essay).  Unfortunately a second viewing only heightened the film's major flaws.  Even my wife, who hadn't read my review yet, whispered to me around thirty-minutes in and said "We get it, Bond is *old*!" after which we proceeded to take a pretend shot every time someone made a reference to age or old vs. new.  By the hour mark, we both had pretend alcohol poisoning.

Friday Box Office: Skyfall does $33 million on opening day (s).

Oddly enough, despite the four years of hype and anticipation, plus the IMAX sneak-peak and respective price bump, Skyfall earned just a bit more than Quantum of Solace on its first Friday.  With $33 million in the bag (including its $2.2 million Thursday IMAX sneak day), it's just above the $27 million debut for Quantum of Solace.  Adjusted for inflation and the IMAX price bump, it barely sold more tickets.  On the plus side, this new entry is likely to have much better word of mouth and thus insure a larger multiplier both for the weekend and for the long-game.  I don't have much time so I'm going to make this quick.  The weekend multiplier comparisons are the last six 007 films, basically everything since 1995 when Pierce Brosnan kicked the films into the blockbuster age with GoldenEye back in 1995.  GoldenEye debuted with $26 million off a $8 million* opening day (3.25x) while Tomorrow Never Dies earned $8 million* on its first day heading towards a $25 million debut (3.125x).  The World Is Not Enough earned $12 million towards a $35 million opening (2.9x) while Die Another Day opened with $16 million towards a $47 million opening weekend (2.9x).  Casino Royale opened with $14 million and closed Sunday with $40 million (2.85x) while Quantum of Solace debuted with $27 million and closed the weekend with $67 million ($74 million adjusted for inflation and a 2.4x weekend multiplier).  Thus assuming the mostly disliked Quantum of Solace was a fluke (it dropped a bit on Saturday) but acknowledging a more front-loaded marketplace, we're looking at something between 2.6x and 2.9x for the weekend.  Thus Skyfall could open with between $86 million and $95 million for the weekend.  Obviously we'll know for sure tomorrow...

Scott Mendelson

*The opening days for GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies are estimates based on my recollection, as I can't find opening day figures.  Alas ShowbizData doesn't allow you to dig into their daily box office archives.

James Bond 007: Movie Deathmatch

This a very cool little video pitting Bond against Bond.  I completely admire its extremely unbiased approach (SPOILER: Connery doesn't always win).  Bravo to whoever put this together as it plays rather seamless.  Its short, but I could have enjoyed probably 20 minutes of this.  Skyfall opens Friday November 9th in the states and I'm rather excited for it.  Hopefully I'll be able to catch it in IMAX.  Scott's already seen it and you can find his thoughts here.  

If you've got any cool (well-made) Bond videos like this you'd like to share, feel free to throw them my way.  I'd enjoy seeing them.  Thanks to Ty for bringing this to my attention.

Brandon Peters

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Review: Skyfall (2012) delivers the 007 goods (if not greats).

Skyfall

2012
143 minutes
rated PG-13

by Scott Mendelson

Taken on its own, Skyfall is an exciting and relentlessly entertaining action thriller.  It is strongly acted by a game cast, has sharp dialogue, a stunning visual palette, and several engaging action sequences.  But taken as the twenty-third entry in a long-running franchise, one must acknowledge that it is less an original take on the iconic hero than a mix-and-match from several past films.  But what prevents the film from attaining greatness is the unsure tone and what feels like periodic pandering to the fans.  Seemingly stung by the (grossly unfair) reception to Quantum of Solace, Sam Mendes and company feel pressured to include certain franchise elements that periodically clash with the Bond film they clearly want to make.  More troublesome is the film's theme, which takes a offhand few moments in GoldenEye ("Is Bond still relevant in the modern era?") and attempts to fashion an hamfisted entire narrative out of it, complete with enough on-the-nose monologuing to make Chris Nolan blush.  What hampers the unquestionably engaging and ambitious film is the sense that we're drudging along recycled territory.

The forgotten classic among 007 theme songs...

I've generally stayed out of the James Bond waters of late for pretty obvious reasons.  But as a result of Adele's Skyfall being released, I went back and listened to the previous 007 theme songs, paying extra attention to the post-GoldenEye tunes that I have perhaps only listened to once or twice.  First of all, I take back every vaguely defensive thing I ever said about Madonna's "Die Another Day".  The tuneless, joyless disco chore is every bit as awful as the pundits claimed ten years ago, so mea culpa.  But the next one on the list was Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" from Casino Royale.  I had only heard the song perhaps once, when I saw the film in theaters six years ago (confession: when I watch the 007 films at home, I usually skip the credit sequences as they do nothing for me and of course are completely disconnected to the  narrative).  So imagine my surprise as I discovered, six years late perhaps, what a rather terrific and catchy kick-ass rock tune Cornell's ditty actually is.  It's firmly in the vein of hard-rock "being a spy is *hard!* tunes from The Living Daylights and A View To A Kill (and arguably Live and Let Die).  It's also the catchiest tune since Duran Duran's "Dance Into the Fire" and stands alongside that camp classic as one of the best pure rock-n-roll songs in the Bond universe.  Anyway, if you haven't listened to it in awhile, sample above.  And consider this a second mea culpa, for not realizing how good this theme was all those years.

Scott Mendelson

Adele's Skyfall theme is good, but Joe Cornish's Quantum of Solace is still the best.

So terrific is this satirical Bond theme song that I find myself humming it when I think of Daniel Craig's last 007 picture, only to remember that it wasn't the actual theme to Quantum Of Solace.  If by some weird miracle you've never heard this ditty over the last four years, take a listen.  Joke or not, it's the catchiest 007 theme song since, I dunno, Duran Duran's "Dance into the Fire" from A View to a Kill.    Anyway, about 90 seconds of Adele's theme song for the upcoming Skyfall leaked online yesterday and I have to say it's pretty darn good.  I'm not a hardcore Adele fan ("Someone Like You" is even more frighteningly stalker-ish than Sting's "Every Breath You Take"), but she dials back the vocal melodramatics and the tune is better for it.  I'm of the opinion that most 007 themes are pretty silly, so that I actually like this one and would listen to it as a stand-alone single is pretty high praise.  The official release of the whole song comes on October 5th on AdeleTv.  If you want a sneak peak, go here.

Scott Mendelson  

James Bond tells Jason Bourne (and that 'other guy') to piss off in two terrific new Skyfall trailers.

Two new trailers, one international and one domestic, have dropped for the new 007 film Skyfall.  And while they are both pretty much identical, they are both terrific previews.  Just a hint of plot, just a dash of new characters (it will be interesting seeing Javier Bardem play arguably the first 'super villain' in this specific Bond universe), and tons of incredibly impressive action beats.  There's not much to say other than 'Yes, do watch this!', although I worry that a one-two shot near the end hints at a pretty big spoiler.  No matter, Sam Mendes's Skyfall looks like another rock-solkid entry  in the long running series.  It opens on October 26th in the UK and November 9th in America.

Scott Mendelson    

Watch/Discuss: Skyfall gets a sparse but imposing teaser.

This is a teaser in the best sense of the word, sharing absolutely no real plot details and barely intruding any major characters.  All you need to know is that Daniel Craig and Judy Dench are back in their respective roles and that something called 'skyfall' is the cause of some genuine trouble.  The film looks lush and colorful with a handful of scenes suggesting not just Bond attempting to prevent a cataclysm but dealing with the aftermath of one.  The footage suggests an intimacy that befits the Craig 007 pictures with a slightly larger scope this time around.  As someone who loved Casino Royale and damn-well liked Quantum of Solace, I hope they haven't altered the formula too much in response to the latter film's inexplicable critical rejection.  I know I say this a lot, but part of me hopes that Sony has the guts to let this stand as the primary marketing tool for the picture, without the need to release a 150-second plot-centric trailer sometime in August.  Still, this looks like both a solid James Bond picture and a declarative 'up yours' to The Bourne Legacy.  Skyfall drops on November 9th in America in 35mm and IMAX.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson   

The next 007 film, Skyfall, gets a minimalist new poster.

The trailer is set to premiere next Friday alongside Men in Black 3D. I'm seeing Men In Black 3 on Monday evening (I'm genuinely curious, but my mother-in-law is genuinely thrilled), so hopefully they'll tack on the trailer like they did with that The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo eight-minute clip back in September (alongside selected press screenings of Straw Dogs and Moneyball).  Anyway, this is a sharp and stylish poster, hearkening back to Sam Mendes's promise to take James Bond back to his roots, whatever that means (the 'true James Bond' means something different for everyone, but I digress).  Anyway, I won't harp forever nor will I try to discern clues from the one-sheet.  It's a lovely poster and that's all I've got.  Feel free to share your own thoughts.  Oh... here's one, what does 'the real James Bond' mean to you?

Scott Mendelson

Box Office Speculation: With few real competitors, why The Hunger Games will likely end 2012 as its second highest-grossing film.

I made an offhand comment in yesterday's box office write-off stating that The Hunger Games was all-but certain to end the year as among the top-three grossing films (domestically) by the time 2012 ended.  To be fair, it inspired more chit-chat on Twitter than it did here (my twitter followers really ought to comment here more often), but there were a number of 'what about THIS film?' and what-not.  So let's take a few moments to really examine the theoretical box office potential of the would-be box office giants of summer 2012 and the Thanksgiving/Christmas season.  This will be focusing on the biggest-of-the-big, so films that will merely be solid hits (Battleship, Snow White and the Huntsmen, anything and everything released between July 21st and November 9th) need not apply.  What is the plausible box office verdict on these films, and what real chance do they have against the likely $375-$400 million final domestic cume of The Hunger Games?  To put it bluntly, with one obvious exception, the odds are not in their favor.

New image of Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall reminds me I need to shave today (plus thoughts on the early Connery 007 films).

Among my various New Year's Resolutions for 2012 is a personal pledge to shave more often.  While I get the peach fuzz pretty much 12-16 hours after a full facial shaving, I still find it occasionally irritating to my skin to shave every day.  But as a result, I will occasionally let it grow for a week.  There are two problems with this.  First, when I finally do shave, I have enough of a beard that it takes me a good twenty minutes to be able to see my cheeks.  Secondly, pretty much everyone in my household, from Wendy to Allison to Ethan, prefers me clean-shaven.  Since I agree with them and I do try to make them happy when possible, I really am trying to make an effort to shave at least every few days.  Fortunately I did plug in my razor today, so I will probably give it a go later today after I get some work done.

Nobody did it better: Goldeneye, still my favorite 007 adventure, turns 15 years old.

15 years after the fact, it's still my favorite James Bond film. Yes, you read that right. I like most of the Connery pictures (especially From Russia With Love and Thunderball), and I've learned to appreciate some of the Roger Moore entries (even Moonraker is a fast-paced action picture before that final reel set in space). And it's no secret that both Timothy Dalton entries are pretty high on the list. But Goldeneye is still my personal favorite.

James Bond Will Return... in November 2012!

Despite several months where it appeared that 007 would be defeated by the mess that is MGM's finances, it appears that the return of James Bond is again a likelihood. Buried in this Bloomberg article detailing MGM's bankruptcy filings following a rejection of a takeover by Lionsgate, there is a nugget that states that MGM intends to have another James Bond film in theaters by November 2012. It was halfheartedly reported back in September that MGM wanted to have the next film in front of the cameras in the fall of next year, and this new development brings that just a little closer to reality. There was a great fear that a deceleration of bankruptcy would tie up the rights to the 007 franchise for years amongst different creditors. I don't pretend to understand the details of how MGM was able to file for Chapter 11 and keep the series intact. Any financial experts who want to explain in the comments section are welcome.