Sony May Lose James Bond Film Rights

While fans everywhere continue to ponder which actor will next inherit the mantle of James Bond 007, the reality is there’s another significant change for the time-honoured franchise set to occur a little sooner.

It has come to light that the upcoming ‘SPECTRE’ will mark the end of Sony’s deal with Metro Goldwyn-Mayer to co-distribute the Bond movies. MGM, the original home of the series who have infamously struggled financially this past decade, made the deal prior to the release of Daniel Craig’s 007 debut in 2006′s ‘Casino Royale.’

Sony have subsequently co-distributed 2008′s ‘Quantum of Solace,’ and of course 2012′s ‘Skyfall,’ the latter of which defied expectation to become the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed entry in the entire Bond series.

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However, as Variety report, this deal comes to an end with the fourth Craig Bond movie ‘SPECTRE’ - and yet, despite MGM’s tremendous success with ‘Skyfall’ and ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy, it would seem the long-established Hollywood studio still isn’t financially stable enough to handle their largest properties alone.

And according to Variety, the most like candidates to pick up the rights to co-distribute Bond beyond ‘SPECTRE’ are not Sony but Warner Bros, who reportedly have a good relationship with MGM owing to their similar deal to co-handle ‘The Hobbit.’

Warner Bros have also helped MGM out with this year’s comedy ‘Hot Pursuit,’ and the upcoming ‘Rocky’ spin-off ‘Creed.’ Sony, meanwhile, made similar deals with MGM to co-distribute the ‘21 Jump Street’ movies, and the remakes of ‘Total Recall’ and ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.’

Even so, Sony may not be out of the picture just yet, as studio boss Tom Rothman tells Variety they intend to bid for the Bond rights again once the deal ends:

“The reality is that Sony’s had a fantastic run with the Bonds. Sure we’re going to compete for (the rights), but let’s be honest, so is everybody in the business.”

Rothman went on to express every confidence in ‘SPECTRE,’ declaring “This Bond is going to be great and…hopefully we’ll do as good a job as we did on the last one,” which he noted was “by far and away the highest that any Bond had ever done.”

Directed once again by ‘Skyfall’s Sam Mendes, ‘SPECTRE’ is due to hit cinemas on 6 November.

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Picture Credit: MGM-UA/Sony