Once Spectre is released, the battle for James Bond 007 rights begins again...
NewsSony certainly backed the right horse when it picked up the rights to distribute James Bond movies, ahead of the Daniel Craig-headlined reboot of the series. Sony has co-produced with MGM and released Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall thus far. The last of those three is the most successful 007 movie of all time, breaking $1 billion at the global box office.
The studio thus has high hopes for the now-in-production Spectre. However, once Spectre is released and out in the world, then Sony's deal is up. The rights to distribute James Bond movies are back up for grabs.
It's no sure thing that Sony will get them again, either. The studio's new chief, Tom Rothman, admitted to Variety that "sure we're going to compete for [the rights], but let's be honest, so is everybody in the business. This Bond [Spectre] is going to be great and hopefully we'll do as good a job as we did on the last one."
You'd imagine that Sony would have some sway as the incumbent, yet Variety adds that Warner Bros may have an advantage, given the close relationship between its CEO Kevin Tsujihara, and MGM's Gary Barber. Whether that has any sway remains to be seen.
Does any of this affect us, the paying customers who loyally trot along to our local multiplexes? Not massively, in truth, although Sony was a pivotal part of the decision to take Bond darker and grittier with the Daniel Craig era. It's certainly been an active and successful partner on the series for the past near-decade.
Spectre arrives on November 6th. We'll see how this story pans out after that...
