Bond 23 still on hold

Back in April EON Productions announced that development on Bond 23 had been suspended indefinitely “due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio”. It was assumed that work would begin again after the MGM situation was resolved, with Sam Mendes in the director’s chair.

However recent reports are suggesting that Bond 23 has been cancelled outright, and it could be a while before we see the next outing of 007.

According to British tabloid The Daily Mirror “members of the production crew have been told the Bond film has been canned” and AICN are also saying “the next James Bond flick is dead”. Now James Bond is one of the longest running franchises of all time and I have no doubt we will see a 23rd Bond movie at some point, however maybe not one directed by Sam Mendes with a script by Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan.

It could be the case that EON Productions are holding onto the script until Bond 23 can get the green light, but we won’t know until MGM have either sold the rights or get themselves out of $4 billion’s worth of debt. The original plan was for a 2012 release but we may not see Bond again until 2013 or 2014.