James Bond has been stuck in the jaws (no pun intended there) of a seemingly inescapable trap since major rights owners MGM fell into a financial quagmire. But now it would seem that, because the forces arrayed against him forgot to simply shoot the man, 007 is already plotting his escape back into our cinemas, targeting November 2012 as a likely date.
Buried in a financial report by Bloomberg (spotted by the keen eyeballs over at Movieweb), is word that despite its bankruptcy filing and rejection of a takeover by Lionsgate, MGM is now pushing ahead with plans for James Bond 23, which will apparently be produced with a partner contributing all the filmmaking costs in return for half of the rights. After that, MGM apparently will be in a position to wholly fund and therefore own the franchise once again.
You’re probably thinking by now that you’ve heard this before, and you’d be right – the roundabout series of rumours and announcements about the Bond franchise have been going on ever since Quantum Of Solace arrived. And you'd be right - despite the forward movement on The Hobbit, this sign of life for Bond doesn't necessarily signal that he's out of the woods just yet. There's still EON productions to consider, though we're sure they'll want to get the cash cow mooing again as soon as possible.
As for the talent behind and in front of the camera, it’s all very much in flux at this point. Daniel Craig has said he’d love to return to the central role, though he’s also committed to David Fincher’s US remake of the Millennium Trilogy, which would likely have to be taken into consideration. And while Sam Mendes is still technically attached to direct, his schedule has been filling up recently. But if the film keeps to the traditional schedule for making the Bond outings, it would likely kick off in mid-late 2011, which could work for his diary.
So consider everything as still rumour until the official announcement arrives... When. If. You know the drill.