It's been
officially confirmed that Sony Pictures will distribute
the next additions to the James Bond filmography having sealed their deal with MGM for at least two movies. Sony will release the still untitled
Bond 23, to be directed by
Sam Mendes on November 9th, 2012 with
Bond 24 likely to come two years later in 2014. Both movies will star
Daniel Craig in the iconic 007 role and
Judi Dench as M. As for new additions, we know
Javier Bardem had been in talks to portray the main villain but he has since given his career away to The Dark Tower (not that we are complaining!) and
Ralph Fiennes looked close to nabbing a separate role back in February. Also there were reports previously that
Roger Deakins, the legendary cinematographer of The Coen Bros movies and who took over the job of working with Mendes on Jarhead and Revolutionary Road when his previous cinematographer Conrad Hall (Road to Pedition, American Beauty) passed away, might be on board. That'll be great news for Bond and carries on Mendes' terrific nack for hiring talent that make his movies look so lush. Interestingly, the joint MGM and Sony press release has this snippet on info;
MGM and Sony Pictures have agreed to explore co-financing opportunities on future motion pictures produced by each of the respective studios for the next five years.
Which perhaps will be the key to getting franchises like
Robocop and
Child's Play rebooted at MGM (we've heard several times they are desperate to get new movies off the ground despite their official denials) and hopefully long in the can films
Red Dawn and
A Cabin in the Woods into theatres.