James Bond is a British franchise behemoth, boasting multiple facelifts and reboots that manage to keep it current without losing the essence of what Bond is – a smooth AF secret agent, serial shagger and international man of mystery who almost always gets his guy. And girl come to that.
The last four instalments have seen 'James Blond' Daniel Craig take on the mantle of 007, and now it's been confirmed that he will return for a fifth.
This will be 25th in the James Bond series and news is rather scarce right now but we'll keep this story updated regularly to make it your one-stop shop for everything you need to know about Bond, James Bond, 25.
Bond 25 release date: Delayed again
New James Bond Movie 2019
Following the departure of Danny Boyle as director (more on that in a bit), it was reported that the movie would be delayed from its November 2019 release date.
That has turned out to be the case as along with the announcement of Cary Joji Fukunaga as director, producers confirmed that the movie will start filming at Pinewood Studios on March 4, 2019 ahead of a worldwide release date of February 14, 2020.
New James Bond Movie 2018
Then, just when we thought it couldn't happen once more, the release date was delayed again in February 2019 and filming postponed. MGM announced that it would be pushed back by two months, and is now coming out on April 3, 2020 in the UK and April 8, 2020 in the US.
Related: Should we be worried about James Bond 25?
The movie has started filming some second unit scenes in Norway, including a dramatic chase sequence across the ice, and the movie will officially go into production on April 28.
It's not yet been confirmed when filming with the cast will start, but the Italian town of Matera is set to play a significant part in the latest Bond outing, as is Jamaica (the 'spiritual home' of Bond) and London.
The location for today's #BOND25 Live Reveal is GoldenEye, 007 author Ian Fleming's Jamaican villa. pic.twitter.com/Zd7Sr8hNRd
— James Bond (@007) April 25, 2019Bond 25 cast: Daniel Craig is back!
The subject of whether Daniel Craig would return was wildly debated for what felt like FOREVER.
But finally in August 2017 he announced on the late show that yes, he would be returning, saying, 'We've been discussing it. We've just been trying to figure things out. I always wanted to, I needed a break.' Re loader activator.
Transfer whatsapp from iphone to android. Suggesting that Bond 25 may be his 007 swansong, he added: 'I just want to go out on a high note, and I can't wait.'
Related: Why every James Bond actor quit
We're glad he's back but we must confess we hope this will be his last for various very good reasons.
Joining him in returning are Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q, Rory Kinnear as Tanner, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter and, as rumoured, Léa Seydoux as Dr Madeleine Swann.
Christoph Waltz apparently won't be back as Blofeld and his name wasn't mentioned in the official cast announcement.
Turning to the newcomers, all of their characters are being kept under wraps, but Bond 25 will feature Dali Benssalah, Billy Magnussen, Ana De Armas, David Dencik, Captain Marvel star Lashana Lynch and Bohemian Rhapsody's Rami Malek.
Malek had been rumoured to play a villain in the new movie and after he didn't rule it out, his message at the cast announcement seemed to confirm it: 'I will be making sure Mr Bond will not have an easy ride of it.'
A word about #BOND25 from Rami Malek pic.twitter.com/CLJ5mpO9mu
— James Bond (@007) April 25, 2019Before Boyle's exit, Wonder Woman star Said Taghmaoui revealed that he had signed on be Bond 25's villain. 'I was cast by Danny Boyle, and just now he left the project, so of course there's some uncertainty,' he explained.
Related: 9 actors you totally forgot were in James Bond
Dave Bautista isn't ruling out a return for his Spectre villain Mr Hinx – who was dragged from a train but never shown dead – either.
'There was talk. I admit it, my hopes were really high. Not so much anymore. I realise that they're well into Bond 25 – maybe into pre-production at this point – but I haven't had any inclination that they plan on using me,' he told Digital Spy.
'I was really hoping they would, because I wanted those bragging rights. I wanted to come back. I'm a fan of the franchise and I was very proud of that role and proud to be a part of it, and I was hoping they would have me back for the 25th.'
As for the Bond girls in the movie, Black Panther's Lupita Nyong'o has been rumoured, but apparently ruled out.
Bond 25 director: Creative differences
Danny Boyle was all set to take charge of Bond 25 before a shock announcement by the producers saw him leave the project.
New James Bond Actor Announced
They cited 'creative differences' as the reason he left mere months before production was expected to begin, as cameras were expected to roll in December 2018. The producers then confirmed that Cary Joji Fukunaga will take over as director on Bond 25.
But is it the right call?
Boyle later opened up about his exit, calling it a 'great shame' and hinting that it was down to what he was planning to do, reportedly killing off Bond.
As for the writers, it was reported that the movie would be written by long-time 007 duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who had come up with a treatment for the film before Boyle and his writing partner John Hodge – who left shortly after Boyle – came on board.
After both were rumoured, it has been confirmed that The Bourne Ultimatum's Scott Z Burns and Fleabagcreator Phoebe Waller-Bridge have also worked on the script.
Bond 25 plot: How will Daniel Craig exit?
With the official cast announcement came our first synopsis for the movie and here it is for your eyes only:
'Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.'
Not much to go on there, but perhaps we can get some hints from the original working title of Shatterhand.
That's a reference to Dr Guntram Shatterhand in Ian Fleming's 1964 Bond novel You Only Live Twice. The novel is very different to the 1967 Sean Connery film and sees 007 head to Japan after the death of his wife Tracy.
Bond is requested to assassinate Shatterhand and his wife who turn out to be Tracy's killers Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Irma Bunt. 007 eventually kills Blofeld, but loses his memory after receiving a head injury.
With Seydoux returning in Bond 25, could she be killed and set Bond on a similar path of revenge and eventual amnesia?
The only people who know for sure are the writers as Ralph Fiennes revealed in early March that he hasn't even read a script yet: 'Well I know we're shooting this year, I'm genuinely not being coy, I've not yet read a script, I don't have a start date.'
Oh, and it's not Shatterhand anymore apparently. According to Production Weekly, the working title is now Eclipse.
Bond 25 trailer: When will it land?
With all the production delays and behind-the-scenes changes, it'll be a while until we see any footage, likely late 2019 at the earliest.
But perhaps we'll get some teaser footage when cameras start rolling on the new movie, just to reassure fans that it's actually happening.
James Bond 25 will be released in the UK on April 3, 2020 and in the US on April 8, 2020.
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The James Bond series is one of Hollywood’s oldest and most enduring franchises. Over the course of 50-plus years, the character has starred in 24 official films (plus a few unauthorized spin-offs) and been played by six actors, basically inventing the concept of the “reboot” through multiple recastings. Since 2006, the role has belonged to Daniel Craig, whose four outings as the secret agent have been the franchise’s most successful entries. Craig has never seemed entirely comfortable playing the suave, womanizing assassin, remarking in 2015 (during press for the last film, Spectre), that he’d rather slash his wrists than do another Bond movie.
Craig has long been a prickly personality in the press, but a fuller accounting of that (somewhat notorious) interview suggests the actor wasn’t simply sick of a character he’d just finished playing (“For at least a year or two, I just don’t want to think about it,” he said). “If I did another Bond movie, it would only be for the money,” Craig added, and sure enough, the money eventually arrived, with Craig receiving a reported $25 million to return for the untitled “Bond 25,” set for release in 2019. The Oscar-winning Brit Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) was tapped to direct and co-write the film with his frequent collaborator John Hodge.
The new James Bond movie will miss its scheduled release date of autumn 2019, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Sources close to the production have confirmed that the departure of director Danny Boyle earlier this week, just 14 weeks before principal photography was to begin, will lead to the entire production being put back.
It now seems likely that the 25th 007 film won’t be seen cinemas until a year later, as few Bond films have opened in the summer, and the fallout from Boyle’s departure is likely to mean the script he wrote with longtime collaborator John Hodge will be replaced with one by Bond veterans Neil Purvis and Robert Wade.
Major logistical reorganisation will be required in order to hit a 2020 release date, given that Purvis and Wade’s script differs in all respects, including plot and characters, from the one by Boyle and Hodge.
Danny Boyle's exit from James Bond throws franchise into chaos
Speculation has been rife that the “creative differences” behind Boyle’s departure, which was announced by the franchise producers and star Daniel Craig on Monday night, hinge on this script. Some people have suggested that its apparent topicality – referencing the #MeToo movement and potentially Russian involvement in geopolitics – could have proved too hot a potato for Bond head honcho Barbara Broccoli’s palate.
Such a theory was backed up by one-time Bond villain Jonathan Pryce, who told the Daily Mail: “They obviously couldn’t take a socialist Bond.” Pryce, who co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in 1999’s Tomorrow Never Dies, continued by suggesting Boyle was a fundamentally bad fit for the position: “There are the Dannys of this world and then there are people who do the blockbusters.”
A source told the Telegraph that the crunch point was a dispute involving the casting of the villain, with Boyle preferring Cold War star Tomasz Kot, while the producers and Craig felt he would be too left-field a choice. The actor Mark Strong has also been linked to the role.
Rumours have also circulated that Craig and Boyle clashed over other casting issues. The former has apparently signed off on all major new signings – including Bond girls – since he began his tenure. If true, this makes the possibility that Craig, 50, will remain in the role, despite Boyle’s exit, more likely. Yet a gap of five years between Bond films is so far unprecedented without a change of lead actor.
The tumult triggered by Boyle’s exit is also said to be jeopardising multimillion pound sponsorship contracts, as brands linked to Bond scramble to delay and repurpose massive tie-in advertising campaigns.
The next James Bond movie didn’t just lose a director when Danny Boyleleft over creative differences. It may have also forfeited a release date.
Word around town is that it’s back to the drawing board for the creators of the new 007 adventure after Boyle and his co-writer, John Hodge, delivered a draft of the script that didn’t meet the approval of producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, as well as star Daniel Craig. After Boyle exited, MGM and Eon, the film’s backers, sent out the word that they are looking for a writer or a writer-director to come on to the film, according to insiders.
The companies are not simply eyeing a director for hire, which signals that a major rewrite will have to be undertaken. It is also telling that the producers seem more eager to find a screenwriter than a person willing to slide behind the camera. That has many believing that the Boyle script will be scrapped. It may also be a sign that Broccoli and Craig aren’t interested in returning to an earlier draft that was submitted by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, the team behind “Skyfall.”
MGM declined to comment.
Filming on the project, known colloquially as Bond 25, was originally supposed to begin on Dec. 8, with some of the shooting expected to take place at Pinewood Studios in the U.K. Other far-flung locales, a staple of the espionage series, had yet to be announced. However, the need for a new script makes that start date difficult to achieve, according to rival studio executives. Bond films are notoriously complex productions, involving pricey set pieces that are often shot in exotic destinations. They require a rigorous pre-production process that takes months. Any delay in filming could have a domino effect because locations that have been scouted and secured could fall out of place, wrecking havoc on the rigidly controlled shooting schedule. In order to hit Bond 25’s Nov. 9, 2019, release date, rival executives say that MGM and Eon must be in production no later than January. Since 1995’s “Goldeneye,” every Bond film has bowed in winter, but it is possible that the backers of the sequel could opt to slide it into the summer of 2020 or wait a full year.
Boyle had long been in MGM and Eon’s sights to direct a Bond movie, going back to 2012’s “Skyfall” and 2015’s “Spectre.” After Craig officially signed on, coming back for a payday believed to be in the $25 million range and an enviable amount of creative control, the actor made a push for Boyle to direct the next installment in the series. David Mackenzie (“Hell or High Water”), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”), and Yann Demange (“White Boy Rick”) were in contention for the job at the time, but Craig was curious if Boyle had any interest after the pair worked together on a Bond-style commercial promoting the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London.
Boyle agreed to sign on but with two stipulations. The first was that he be allowed to finish directing his untitled Working Title comedy, which he would shoot in the summer of 2018, and the second was that he would be allowed to pen the script with his “Trainspotting” co-writer Hodge. Craig and the producers quickly agreed to the terms and it was soon announced that Boyle would be directing the film with MGM and Annapurna distributing domestically with Universal handling international rights.
With Boyle out, it is possible that MGM and Eon could return to the other frontrunners for the directing gig, but some of their schedules are full. Villeneuve, for instance, is working on a remake of “Dune” and Mackenzie is in pre-production on the TV series “Gemstone.” Because MGM and Eon have said they want a writer and director, there are mutterings that the companies could turn to Christopher McQuarrie. The Oscar-winner showed a flair for globe-trotting action with “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” and last summer’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout.” However, McQuarrie has also indicated he’d like to do an original film and to avoid franchise fare for his next effort.
While the production and release date may be moving, one thing is for certain, and that is that Craig won’t be hanging up Bond’s signature Walther PPK anytime soon. When the announcement was made on the official 007 Twitter handle that Boyle would be leaving, the statement was not only attributed to Broccoli and Wilson. Craig, who has been a producer on the franchise since “Spectre,” also provided a quote.
In the Bond universe, it appears that it’s Craig who is the straw who stirs the drink, or, this being 007, shakes the martinis.