Never Say Never Again Could Become an Official James Bond Film with WB Deal
Never Say Never Again could become an official James Bond film
This is it, SPECTRE, is the 24th entry in the official EON Produced James Bond series and it’s the last that will be distributed and produced by Sony Pictures. All 24 films in the official Bond canon are owned by Everything or Nothing (EON) Productions (a subsidiary itself to Danjaq) and MGM, but they can’t distribute or make the movie with the help of a major studio. The other studios need Bond to compete with the arsenal Disney bought over the last ten years, including Pixar, The Muppets, Marvel, and Star Wars. One studio in particular, Warner Brothers, aka TIME/Warner, wants to pick up the franchise and with good reason. The already own producer Kevin McClory’s 1983 Never Say Never Again, with an older Sean Connery returning as Bond as a big middle finger to EON Productions.
EON Could Own Never Say Never Again in Deal with WB
Kevin McClory co-wrote the screenplay to Thunderball which was going to be the first Bond film to be made, but Dr. No was made instead. Ian Fleming then wrote a novel for Thunderball which James Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman of EON owned the rights to. They had already made three Bond films with Sean Connery and were about to make On Her Majesty’s Secret Service the fourth. In order to avoid any competing James Bond franchises, EON agreed on a contract with McClory that Thunderball would be the fourth bond film, and 20% of the movie’s profits would go to him.
McClory threatened to remake Thunderball over the next 20 years, owning the author rights to the organization SPECTRE and their leader and villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Who EON productions comically killed Blofeld off at the beginning of the 12th Bond film For Your Eyes Only claiming the character’s unimportance. He finally convinced Sean Connery to remake Thunderball as Never Say Never Again after Connery famously left the roll of Bond after not getting the million dollar paycheck he wanted for the fifth Bond film, You Only Live Twice. EON went on to make On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with George Lazenby as Bond. Lazenby became a hippy and turned down a roll reprisal. Connery accepted a 1.25 Million paycheck to return only to make that his final official Bond portrayal in the seventh Bond, Diamonds are Forever.
In 1983 Warner Brothers and Kevin McClory made Never Say Never Again and it competed that same year with the officially EON produced Octupussy which won the box office with an extra $20 Million.
Kevin McClory died in 2006 and the rights to SPECTRE and Ernst Starvo Blofeld went back to EON Productions in 2013. Just now the 24th official Bond film SPECTRE is in theatres, cementing the organization of SPECTRE back into the official James Bond mythos.
So now EON Productions owns almost all of the rights to James Bond, except Never Say Never Again, currently owned by Warner Brothers. Now that the distribution rights are up for grabs, Warner Brothers could potentially take over and supply the cash for the 25th Bond film and redistribute the Bond films on home entertainment platforms. EON Production could essentially absorb the rights to Never Say Never Again and add it to their official Bond canon. If Octopussy is the 13th Bond film, then NSNA could be the 13B James Bond film. And more importantly perhaps EON Production could revamp the soundtrack and give it a proper John Barry type score.
Here’s the list of upcoming Warner Brothers movies:
Warner Brothers:
Me Before You - March 4, 2016
Midnight Special - March 18, 2016
Barbershop: Episode IV - The Next Cut - April 15, 2016
Keanu - April 22, 2016
Going in Style - May 6, 2016
The Nice Guys - May 20, 2016
The Conjuring 2 - June 10, 2016
Central Intelligence - June 17, 2016
Lights Out - July 22, 2016
Arms and the Dudes - August 19, 2016
Sully - September 9, 2016
The Accountant - October 7, 2016
Bastards - November 4, 2016
Chicken Soup for the Soul - December 16, 2016
Fist Fight - July 8, 1905
Geostorm - January 13, 2017
The House - June 2, 2017
Dunkirk - July 21, 2017
Live By Night - July 9, 1905
Warner Tentpoles:
The Legend of Tarzan - July 1, 2016
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them - November 18, 2016
Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur - February 17, 2017
The Jungle Book: Origins - October 6, 2017
Ready Player One - December 15, 2017
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 - November 16, 2018
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 - November 20, 2020
DC Entertainment:
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - March 25, 2016
Suicide Squad - August 5, 2016
Wonder Woman - June 23, 2017
Justice League: Part I - November 17, 2017
The Flash - March 23, 2018
Aquaman - July 27, 2018
Shazam - April 5, 2019
Justice League: Part II - June 14, 2019
Cyborg - April 3, 2020
Green Lantern - June 19, 2020
Sandman - Announced
And here's Sony's upcoming slate:
The 5th Wave - January 22, 2016
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - February 5, 2016
Risen - February 9, 2016
The Brothers Grimsby - March 11, 2016
Miracles from Heaven - March 16, 2016
The Bronze - March 18, 2016
I Saw the Light - March 25, 2016
Miles Ahead - April 1, 2016
The Meddler - April 22, 2016
Dark Horse - May 6, 2016
Money Monster - May 13, 2016
The Angry Birds Movie - May 20, 2016
Maggie's Plan - May 20, 2016
The Shallows - June 24, 2016
Ghostbusters (Reboot) - July 15, 2016
Sausage Party - August 12, 2016
A Man in the Dark - August 26, 2016
Patient Zero - September 2, 2016
When the Bough Breaks - September 16, 2016
The Magnificent Seven - September 23, 2016
SPA TBA - September 23, 2016
Underworld: Episode V - October 14, 2016
Inferno - October 28, 2016
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - November, 11, 2016
Passengers - December 21, 2016
Jumanji (2016) UGH - December 25, 2016
The Dark Tower - January 13, 2017
Resident Evil: Episode VI - The Final Chapter - January 27, 2017
Bad Boys 3 - February 17, 2017
Baby Driver - March 17, 2017
Get Smurfy - March 31, 2017
Barbie - June 2, 2017
Uncharted - June 30, 2017
The Emoji Movie - August 11, 2017
The Equalizer 2 - September 29, 2017
The Lamb - December 8, 2017
Peter Rabbit - March 23, 2018
Hotel Transylvania 3 - September 21, 2018
Animated Spider-Man - December 21, 2018
Bad Boys 4 - July 3, 2019
