JAMES BOND FANS TO BATTLE IN INTERNATIONAL TRIVIA MARATHON OCTOBER 2ND

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JAMES BOND FANS TO BATTLE IN INTERNATIONAL TRIVIA MARATHON OCTOBER 2ND

 

For Immediate Release                Contact: Steve Rubin (213) 300-1896

 

(Los Angeles, California, AUGUST 12, 2021) Author Steven Jay Rubin and producer Charles Sherman, in association with the Spy Movie Navigator website are producing the International 007 Trivia Marathon, which will take place at 12:00 p.m.. PST, on Saturday October 2, 2021 on Zoom.  James Bond fans throughout the world are eligible to compete for prizes in the double elimination tournament, which will coincide with the publication of Rubin’s book, The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia, 4th edition (Chicago Review Press), and the release of the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die on October 8th.

Interested contestants should email their contact information to fastcarrier1944@gmail.com The contest is a first come, first serve event – only the first 100 contestants who turn in their contact information will be eligible. Those contestants will then receive Zoom info via email. Contestant must have computer access and the latest installed Zoom application to participate.

The top three contestants will each receive an autographed copy of Rubin’s book. The contest winner will be crowned Champion of 007 trivia, bragging rights of which are significant. Questions, belted out by a team of 007 examiners, will cover 24 Bond films, from Dr. No to Spectre.

Rubin and Sherman produced the original James Bond 007 Trivia Marathon in 1981, which was part of a James Bond Weekend in Century City, headlined by a luncheon at the Playboy Club – George Lazenby, Martine Beswick, Marc Lawrence, Herve Villechaize,  Bruce Glover, Lana Wood, Norman Burton and Barry Nelson were guests.

SpyMovieNavigator.com is dedicated to the continued building of a worldwide community of spy movie fans.   Their podcasts, social media releases and website concentrate on spy movies from 1935 – present, including Bond, analyzing key scenes in each movie, looking for connections to, and influences on, other spy movies and real-world events.  Their podcast show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies, has been downloaded in over 127 countries!  They can be found at SpyMovieNavigator.com, and on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and Instagram.

 

Spy Movie News – July 27, 2021

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

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Here’s our July 27, 2021, Spy Movie News with news on Black Widow, Mission: Impossible 7, No Time To Die, Argylle, and IB 71, Daniel Craig, and more.

BLACK WIDOW

We have a spoiler discussion on Black Widow at the end of the audio podcast of this Spy Movie News.  We won’t print it in this article so if you want the spoiler, click here to get to the podcast

Did Disney’s decision to stream Black Widow hurt theaters?

There have been many articles written both when Disney announced that Black Widow would release in the theater and on Disney+ Premiere Access on the same day.   The theater industry didn’t like it at the time of the announcement and has taken further, louder umbrage now that the movie has been out for a few weeks.  To top it off, in-theater second-weekend numbers were down 67% versus opening weekend numbers.

We’ll focus on the post-release buzz in our discussion.

The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) put out a press release that started with this:

Black Widow’s excellent reviews, positive word of mouth, and strong previews and opening day total ($13.2 million/$39.5 million) led to a surprising 41% second day drop, a weaker than expected opening weekend, and a stunning second weekend collapse in theatrical revenues. Why did such a well-made, well-received, highly anticipated movie underperform?

It’s an interesting question and most of their press release blames Disney’s decision to release Black Widow simultaneously on Disney+ Premiere Access and in the theater.

They also blame piracy which is more easily achieved with a streaming release vs. a theater-only initial release. The numbers do point to very high piracy with this movie. In fact, according to Torrent Freak, Black Widow is the most pirated movie of the pandemic era.

We understand NATO’s argument and agree that some of their points appear valid.  However, there are a few flaws in the argument.  First, the press release doesn’t address the impact of  COVID on theater-goers.   It is highly likely that opening numbers were largely made up of die-hard MCU fans that wanted to be sure they saw the movie in the theater right when it was released.  More casual fans may have been worried about the upsurge in COVID numbers and decided to wait or stream the movie.

Second, In the press release, NATO points out that F9 had a theater-first release and didn’t stream on release. F9’s theatrical release numbers were strong.   However, NATO didn’t point out that there was also a 67% drop in second-weekend revenue for F9 even though it was only released in theaters.

Our third point is, Black Widow was a different type of MCU movie than its Avengers predecessors.  Possibly, some MCU fans wanted to see a more Avenger’s-like approach to the movie.  Word of mouth would have told them that it isn’t an Avenger’s style movie so they may have stayed home.

And finally, is it possible MCU fans are just getting weary of all the content?   We’ve talked in the past about how MCU will overtake James Bond in terms of the number of movies released in its lifetime.  In the 13 years since the release of Iron Man, MCU has released 24 movies.  Eon Productions has released 24 James Bond movies since 1962’s release of Dr. No.  Yes, Eon will release, hopefully, No Time To Die with the upcoming September and October 2021 release dates.  But MCU will pass them up with three more releases planned in 2021, after Black Widow.  Plus MCU has four movies lined up for release in 2022 and they are releasing content for television as well.  Maybe MCU fans are just exhausted.

It appears Disney had what for them was likely considered a very successful launch of Black Widow.  Distribution is changing and the theater owners are in for some change as part of these changes.  It seems that all of the movie companies are fiddling with their models to find the most money-making approach.  That means for the production company, not necessarily the movie theater.  We’ll have to keep watching to see how things flush out.  For us here at Spy Movie News, we will still go to spy movies in the theater as long as that is an option.   We believe it is a better viewing experience.

 

JAMES BOND

Happy 60th Anniversary Eon Productions

Sixty years ago, Eon Productions was founded.  They celebrated their anniversary on July 6th.  Their first movie, Dr. No will hit its 60th anniversary on October 5, 2022.  Happy Anniversary, Eon.

Bringing Back Leiter

It’s been 13 years since we’ve seen Felix Leiter in a new James Bond movie.  Fortunately, No Time To Die fixes that for us Leiter fans.

In an article on DigitalSpy.com, Jeffrey Wright makes the following comment:

“The surprise for me was to not be called in the previous two!” he joked. “But it gives more weight to Felix’s appearances if we don’t see him too often.”

We are glad to see Felix back, especially with Wright helming the role.  We also like where he says the Bond/Leiter relationship is:

“We wanted to establish what is at the core of this relationship between [Leiter and Bond], which is this brotherhood,” he explained.

It’s stuff like this that keeps up our desire to finally see this movie

In that same article is the following quote from James Bond co-writer ramps up the desire to see what they’ve done:

“So it’s intriguing when you come back, and he’s not really an agent in this one, and how you deal with that. Despite wanting to relax and fish and hang out in bars, if trouble comes knocking, he can’t help himself.”

We can’t wait for the release of No Time To Die.

Daniel Craig James Bond Arc

According to this article on CinemaBlend.com  –  Barbara Broccoli confirms it is Daniel Craig’s last outing and that “It will tie into everything he’s done before.”

They report that in the same interview, Michael G, Wilson said likened the entirety of the Daniel Craig films to a “miniseries within the series.”

Léa Seydoux has predicted that some tears may be shed in the process.

We’re going to see a lot of emotions and an emotional development on Bond’s part – new stuff. . . cant wait.

Hmmmm  – we wonder more – but only for a couple more months!

No Time to Die opens in the UK September 30th and in the US October 8th!

In a similar article on ScreenRant.com they say, “No Time to Die will pick up from the events of Spectre after Bond finds out that his adoptive brother is behind the international criminal syndicate out to get him.”

Why Daniel Craig Came Back for No Time To Die

In a recent article on Independent.co.uk by Jacob Stolworthy, Daniel Craig explains why he came back for one more move, No Time To Die!

In the article, Craig says that he just didn’t feel he was physically capable – and he was done.   But after two years, he was approached again by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson – and Craig said during these discussions he came up with an idea of what the next movie could be – “a direct conclusion to the events seen in his first Bond film, Casino Royale (2006).”

“Something to do with Vesper [Eva Green’s character], and Spectre, and something that was connected, in a way.’ It started to formulate. And I thought, ‘Here we go.’”

So Daniel is back as we know – No Time To Die is coming soon!  Really, it is!

Bookmakers Say Regé-Jean Page Now In The Lead To Play Bond

Well looking forward from the Daniel Craig era for James Bond, according to an article on MovieWeb.com, Regé-Jean Page has taken over the lead from Tom Hardy as the bettor’s favorite to be the next actor to play James Bond.   Although it means nothing, in reality, it is fun to speculate.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7

COVID kept Angela Bassett from reprising her role as Ericka Logan

We’ve talked about the impact of COVID on Mission: Impossible 7 and 8.   It appears that the virus has also had an impact on what characters would return and what actors would be available.

An article on Cinemablend.com says that Angela Bassett won’t return as Erika Sloane in M: I 7. Bassett’s Sloane had replaced Alec Baldwin’s character, Alan Hunley from Mission: Impossible – Fallout in the role of CIA Director.  There is no official word if she will appear in Mission: Impossible 8.

The article says that COVID was responsible for Ms. Bassett’s absence from the movie.  But, we don’t know if it was a scheduling conflict that popped up due to the slowdown from the pandemic or if it was other issues, like a script change prompted by COVID.   We know that Nicholas Hoult was supposed to play one of the bad guys in Mission: Impossible 7 and he had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict.

Ilsa Faust Is Back With An Eyepatch?

Christopher McQuarrie posted a new black and white picture on Instagram to keep the drumbeat going for Mission: Impossible 7.  This time it is a closeup of Rebecca Ferguson and she appears to have an eyepatch ABOVE her eye, not covering it. Ferguson played Ilsa Faust in the last 2 Mission: Impossible movies.   What’s the reason for the eyepatch? An article on CinemaBlend.com speculates that Ilsa may have either injured her eye or the eyepatch is used for honing her long-range weaponry skill.  In any case, it is an intriguing photo and makes us think.  You can see the photo in that same article.

UPCOMING SPY MOVIES

Red Notice Finally Has A Release date

Ok, we’ve been talking about Red Notice for quite some time now. This is the Netflix movie starring Gal Gadot, Dwayne Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds.    In our last Spy Movie News, we mentioned that Dwayne Johnson had tweeted “#Holidays2021” at the end of his post about the movie. At the time we asked: which holiday?  Well, we now have the answer.  Both Reynolds and Johnson have released social media posts declaring November 12, 2021, as the movie’s release date.

Dwayne Johnsons’ tweet says:

@Netflix’s biggest movie ever #REDNOTICE premieres in your living rooms around the globe on NOV 12.

FBI’s top profiler.

World’s most wanted art thief.

And the greatest conman the world has never seen…

There are three key items to note in this short tweet.  The first is the release date of November 12, 2021. The end of the year is looking up to be an exciting time for spy movie fans.

The second thing to note is the “premieres in your living room”. Again, there has been no official announcement of any theatrical releases.   Dwayne Johnson’s post implies an internet, Netflix, release only.

And finally, we look at the words “around the globe”.  Everyone will be able to see it on Netflix around the world on November 12, 2021.  This movie, unlike many movies, will not have a staggered release schedule.  We applaud this decision.  We’ve talked about the difficulties that social media brings in keeping things secret until the audience has a chance to see the movie.  No Time To Die has a 10-day gap between when its release cycle starts in Belgium to when the last 6 countries get to see it.  That stinks for fans in those 6 countries.  This Netflix decision shows they are looking out for the fan by releasing globally on November 12.   We wish all the studios would follow suit.

Argylle

Matthew Vaughan who produced and directed the first two Kings Man movies and the upcoming The King’s Man movie will be bringing his spy movie prowess to the upcoming movie Argylle. And he’s assembled a star-studded cast: Henry Cavil, John Cena, Bryan Cranston, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O’Hara, and Sam Rockwell.

Argylle is based on an upcoming spy novel with the same name and is expected to be the first in a series of novels and movies.   Vaughan is still expected to be involved with the Kings Man series going forward.

To quote Vaughan from an article on Variety.com,

“When I read this early draft manuscript I felt it was the most incredible and original spy franchise since Ian Fleming’s books of the ’50s,” said Vaughan. “This is going to reinvent the spy genre.”

Given that the same article says that the novel and book “will follow the globe-trotting adventures of a super-spy named Argylle across the U.S., London and other exotic locations.”  we here at Spy Movie News are scratching our heads trying to figure out how this will “reinvent the spy genre”.  That basic explanation sounds like every Bond, Mission: Impossible, Bourne, and Austin Powers movie plot.

It should be noted that another series of books will be the basis of the upcoming The Gray Man which we’ve mentioned in earlier Spy Movie News newscasts.  Like Argylle, they are hoping to turn that into a series of movies.  It looks like spy movies are here to stay and we love it.  If these franchises can release every 2-3 years it should ramp up the pressure to get James Bond movies out more quickly too.

Vidyut Jammwal To Star In & Produce Espionage Thriller IB 71

Set before the Indo-Pakistani war, Jammwal will play an intelligence officer in a story about how Indian intelligence agencies outwitted the Pakistani establishment and gave the Indian armed forces the required advantage they needed to face a two-front war in an upcoming espionage movie, IB 71.

The King’s Man

The new trailer for The King’s Man looks at the origins of the Kingsman organization – it is a nice trailer you can find on YouTube.  THE KING’S MAN Trailer 4 (2021) Kingsman 3

Director Matthew Vaughan says “This movie really is an origin story,” “This is the foundation of the Kingsman franchise.”  So, this should be a good movie to try to put the first two in perspective.  We can’t wait until it releases on December 22, 2021.

The Movie Formerly Known As Five Eyes Gets A Release Date

The Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham spy movie finally gets a release date.  It will debut on January 21, 2022.  We’ve talked about this movie in numerous Spy Movie News episodes so we’re happy to see a release date announced.   Now if they’d only give it a title so we can stop all this “formerly known as Five Eyes” nonsense.   Guy, we want to talk about your movie.  So give us a name, please.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Happy 97th Birthday Eva Marie Saint

It’s hard to believe, but Eve Marie Saint just celebrated her 97th birthday on July 4th.  We spy movie fans remember her fantastic performance in the Hitchcock thriller North By Northwest.

IN MEMORIAM

Richard Donner (1930-2021)

We’re sad to report the passing of Richard Donner.  Although probably best known for his direction of Superman, The Goonies, and Lethal Weapon, Donner’s work in television certainly has influenced spy movies.  Some of his tv credits include The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Get Smart, and The FBI.   An article on Donner that appears on The Spy Command says that he was Sean Connery’s first choice to direct Never Say Never Again but passed because he didn’t like the script.

One other James Bond twist for Donner, Guy Hamilton did not direct The Spy Who Loved Me as he was signed to direct Superman.  That didn’t work out and Richard Donner ended up directing Superman.

Again, we have a Black Widow spoiler at the end of the audio podcast of this article.  You can click here to get to that podcast. 

So, that’s a wrap of our latest Spy Movie News for July 27, 2021.  Please Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies right now through your favorite podcast app and on YouTube as well!  Tell a friend about our show, give us a five-star rating, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACK WIDOW – a Quick-Fire , No Spoiler Reaction! – Transcript

Related: BLACK WIDOW – a Quick-Fire, No Spoiler Reaction!

Contributed by: Tom Pizzato and Vicky Hodges for SpyMovieNavigator.com

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This article is an edited transcript of Spy Movie Navigator’s quick-fire reaction podcast for the just-released movie, Black Widow. Our podcast show is called Cracking the Code of Spy Movies on your favorite podcast app and our YouTube channel.

Our hosts for the podcast are Tom Pizzato from the US and Vicky Hodges from the UK.

Don’t Forget To Watch Black Widow‘s Post Credit Scene

Tom

I want to start up front with a warning for you. I have a friend of mine who is a very big MCU fan, and I forgot he told me that after the closing credits MCU movies have a post-credits scene. I forgot about this when I went to the theater. We left during the credits and Vicky, there was a scene at the end and I think people probably should have stayed to watch, correct?

Vicky

Yeah, you just need to sit there and just watch all the names scroll down the screen for about two or three minutes. Right to the very end and then you will get a scene that will lead to something in the future.

Tom

I can’t believe I was so stupid because I read something about the ending and I said to myself: Oh man, I forgot Anthony told me that.

Overall Reaction

Tom

So let’s talk, again non-spoiler as we can, about what this movie was. We’ll talk about if we liked it, where it may have been influenced by either real-life things or previous movies, and give you an idea if it’s something worth your time.

I didn’t think I was going to like this movie as I’m a spy movie fan and I’m not a fan of the MCU. Boy was I wrong. I really like Black Widow and I think you will too.

We’re going to do this by taking a quick-fire look at the movie The goal of our quick-fires is to give you a spoiler-free look at the movie since we do them right after the movies are released, so we won’t go into too many details on the movie.

So again, I’m coming to this from a non-MCU fan. In fact, prior to seeing the movie, I had only seen two of them. I had watched the prior two MCU movies the day before I saw Black Widow.

I went to this because it was supposed to be a spy movie and since we’re SpyMovienavigator.com, this definitely made sense for me to do. However, I did not want to watch it since it was an MCU movie. I didn’t want it to be like The Avengers. I hate those movies where they’ve got characters that morph into things or animals that take on human-like roles. And there’s some of that in The Avengers and it’s also why I don’t like Star Wars.

It’s that’s not what I like, and fortunately and happily for me, this movie isn’t that. This movie was a spy movie.

The end fight scene, there’s always an end fight scene, that was a little MCU-ish, but it didn’t have all these goofy characters in it, so I really like this movie. What about you, Vicky?

Vicky

I actually rate this one of the higher films in the Marvel run of films because of the spy element.

It’s essentially a prequel set after the events of Captain America: Civil War. But if you aren’t, as Tom said, an MCU fan, you can go and see this as a standalone film. You don’t need to have seen any of the other films to enjoy this.

Tom

The whole thing is about Natasha Romanoff, who’s a spy in the MCU. And it’s really about her adventures.

Vicky

Yeah, It’s essentially her origin movie. The origin of her character: like we’ve had with The Wolverine and a number of other characters. This is her origin. She’s a trained assassin and it shows you how she leads to this.

Tom

And the timing of it’s weird to me because like I said, I watched the last two Avengers movies before I saw this, and she appeared to die in Avengers: End Game.  So I’m like: why are we seeing her as a young person and then now as an adult when I thought she died? I thought that was weird timing-wise.

Vicky

Well, as I say, when they do these origin-type films they want to show you where it starts and you know what influences, things that happen to her.
I can’t rate it highly enough, to be honest with you. In fact, I would like to see it again. That’s how much I like it.

Tom

Yeah, I was shocked that I liked it as much as I did. When I say that, I’m not degrading it at all, ’cause I really liked it.

Influences From Other Movies

Vicky

Yeah, and it has so so many influences of other films that it draws on and you find yourself sitting there going. Ah, ah, yes, that’s what I found myself doing.

Tom

Why don’t you talk a little bit about some of those influences, again without giving the scenes away in Black Widow? Let’s talk about some of the movies that might have influenced Black Widow.

Vicky

Yeah, Key ones. You definitely have got James Bond in there. Lots lots of things for Bond to be honest with you.
You’ve also got a little bit of Mission: Impossible

Tom

Before we get to Mission: Impossible, let’s talk a bit about Bond because Natasha is sitting at home one night watching Moonraker.

Vicky

Yes

Tom

So that movie influences this one.

Vicky

Yeah, I mean I think this is a key one for them to pick. When you see something later on in the film. Yes, and that was one where I went ahhhahhh. I sort of nudged my other half.

Tom

Yeah, absolutely.

Vicky

And the locations. For me as well, is very much Bond. Lots of locations throughout the movie. I sat there thinking oh, has Bond been to here then as I’ve you know, my mind was drifting off to other places.

Tom

OK, what about On Her Majesty’s Secret Service? I saw some influence there.

Vicky

Now that’s an interesting one. I didn’t pick up on that. Interesting.

Tom

OK, So what I will say is: what Dreykov was doing, Dreykov’s big scheme has some influences from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in my mind.

Vicky

Yes, yes, I’d also got that there was some influence of Moonraker in that as well, there was a mixture of the two. Yeah yeah.

Tom

Yes, there absolutely was, yeah. And so again trying not to give it away, but I’m saying that these are two movies from the James Bond world that we think influenced this one.

So now you were going to say something about Mission: Impossible.

Vicky

Yes, there was a little bit of Mission: Impossible in there. Just a couple of seconds which took me to Mission: Impossible.

Tom

Oh, I went there immediately.

Vicky

Yeah yeah yeah, and that again I think I leaned over and said “Mission: Impossible

I also got a little bit of Star Wars in there from the costume.

Tom

I saw the first Star Wars and that’s the only one I’ve seen.

Vicky

Yeah, there’s a little bit of costume, and I think it might be a little bit of a nod to Star Wars, which would be then a nod to Moonraker so it sort of crescendos on.

Tom

Yeah, there was also a very big influence in my mind from the Jason Bourne trilogy, especially from Bourne Ultimatum., I really think there’s a very important influence there, and if you’re not a Bourne fan you might not pick it up. I watched that and I went back and watched the first three Bourne movies again because I couldn’t remember which one it was in. So it was in the third one. Huge, huge influence.

Vicky

Just going back to Bond, you’ve pretty much of course got some very high-end stunts and also that leads from Mission: Impossible. And of course, a supervillain, which again is Bond.

Tom

With a lair.

Vicky

But without copying. Without really copying, it’s more of a homage to each of these things,

Tom

You could see influence without it saying we’re copying.

Any other TV or movies that you came up with because I’ve got two more to talk about, OK?

Vicky

Not for me, more connections with perhaps the cast that all picked up on, yeah?

Tom

OK, well yeah we’ll talk about the cast in just a second. So there are two other things that I kind of wanted to point out as influences.

The first was that there was a tv show called The Americans. I don’t know where in the world showed. I saw it here in the US. I don’t know where else you can see it. I don’t want to give anything more away than that, but there is a particular scene that was heavily influenced by that show. That show was based on real-world events.

There is a scene in Black Widow that is very heavily influenced by the tv show, so if you’re a fan of The Americans when you see that scene, you’re going to say: “That’s what Tom was talking about.”

Vicky

Right, yeah I do know of the program, but I haven’t watched it to myself. But I do know it’s been highly spoken of.

Tom

OK. The last influence is a stretch, especially because Dreykov has been around for a while. When I first heard it in the theater I thought they were calling him “Draco”.

Vicky

Yes

Tom

That “v” wasn’t there when I heard it. And if I think about it in movies, you have Draco Malfoy who was Harry Potter’s big rival in the Harry Potter movies.  You’ve got Mark-Ange Draco, who’s the crime boss in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.  And then here Dreykov is the villain. But there’s this “v” at the end of his name.

So, again, I’m making a stretch here. I’m going to take some liberties here: One of the translations of the word “Draco” is “dragon”, and if you look at Merriam Webster under Dragon, it talks about a violent, combative, or very strict person as a person. Someone formidable or baneful. And I think those two nail Dreykov here.

Now here’s where I go out on the ledge with this.

There’s a video game that has a character called The Ultimate Dragon who has posted talking about the fact that there is a character called Drake in that video game. It is a lower class of dragon. Now, the English translation of the Russian word “Dreykov” is “Drakes”. At least according to Google.  So, is this whole “dragon” tie in part of it? I don’t know, but I looked at it and thought that that could have influenced his name. But again, given that Dreykov has been around for a while, I don’t know if that’s valid. That was just something I picked up on.

Vicky

Yeah, I want to sort of.

You said Drake over Drax. I mean, I know it’s not quite the same, but it’s going in the direction I was as well. Drax from Moonraker.

Tom

Yeah, exactly. And I don’t know what that translates to. That could be “dragon” as well for all I know.

Preview Differences

Tom

One other thing before we get into the characters that I thought was kind of interesting was when you watched the previews when you were in the theater watching it. ’cause you saw this in a theater, right?

Vicky

Yes

Tom

Yeah, so did I.

They didn’t have a No Time To Die preview. They had The King’s Man and almost everything was a Disney-based movie. So I think that might have been why they may have only been previewing their movies

Vicky

Ah, now I did have No Time To Die.

Tom

You did OK, so I did not so.

Vicky

I only had that one. That’s the only one I have.

Tom

Oh, we had 25 minutes of previews in the US. That’s how they do it. They say the movie starts at 11 and the movie started at 11:25.

The cast

Tom

So let’s go and talk about the cast. Obviously, Natasha, the lead who is also called Black Widow, is played by Scarlett Johansson taking that role forward and I thought she did a great job here. My wife, the first thing she said when we got out of the theater was “Scarlett Johansson was really good in that”.

Vicky

She’s a good actress and I think she takes on that role well. Yeah, it suits her very well.

Tom

Yeah, and she says this is her last go-round as Natasha, and given that we saw her die in Avengers: End Game I guess that makes sense.

Vicky

Yeah.

Tom

There’s another character and I’m only going to refer to the characters by the first name without telling you who they necessarily are because if I do that, we’ll be giving some of this away, especially at the beginning of the movie.

Vicky

Yeah, yeah.

Tom

There’s a character Yelena played by Florence Pugh who I absolutely thought was fantastic in that role. What do you think?

Vicky

I think she was the standout person in the film.

Tom

Yeah, now she also got the best lines in the movie.

Vicky

Yeah, she was just really good. She just looked good and the action scenes were good with her. She was funny, you know? Spot-on casting there, spot-on casting.

Tom

Before the ending credits started, it kind of looked like maybe they’ll have her back in other roles or in other movies. I might want to go see those even if they are the other kind of MCU movie. We’ll see.

So, the next name then is David Harbour who plays a character called Alexei. James Bond fans may remember him as Greg Beam who’s the section chief of the CIA.

Vicky

In Quantum of Solace. Yeah, yeah.

Tom

If you ever saw the movie Hellboy, he was Hellboy.

Vicky

He’s been in lots of things and he’s been very good in everything. I particularly like him in Stranger Things. That’s what I watch him in, and he’s always very funny.

And he’s I must admit it without giving much away, he is the comedy element in this movie.

Tom

Yes, And he played that really well too. He did a good job with that.

Vicky

Very much so. Yeah, yeah.

Tom

Since you mentioned Quantum of Solace, we have another alum here: Olga Kurylenko. And she has a decent-sized supporting role in the movie. Now, in Quantum of Solace, she played Camille. And if I didn’t tell you she was in this movie, Black Widow, you might not recognize her. Now that I’ve told you she’s in it, I bet you recognize her.

I knew she was in the movie when I first saw her and I didn’t get that it was her. And then like the second or third time you saw her, I was like, oh yeah, that’s her.

Did you recognize her instantly?

Vicky

Yes. Well, I must admit I looked to see who was in the cast. But I didn’t clock that her name was in this movie and when it came up on the screen I was like “Oh, OK more Bond people.”

I just don’t, I don’t wanna give too much away but you don’t see it straight off. So, it was like “well where, what character is she gonna be?”

Tom

Yeah, she wasn’t recognizable at all initially. Yeah, Yep, all right.

And then finally we have Rachel Weisz, who plays Melina, and you know she’s always good, right? You may know her as Tessa, Quayle, in The Constant Gardener. She won the Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar in 2006 for that role. And that was based on the John le Carré novel.

Bourne fans may know her as Dr. Marta Shearing from The Bourne Legacy if you watched that one which I think was the worst of the Bourne movies

But, then a lot of people know her as Daniel Craig’s wife. And I only mention that because she was on one of the late-night talk shows here in the US. They were trying to figure out when to release Black Widow in the theaters? We’ve got this No Time To Die monster that we’re going to have to be up against at some point to some degree. How do we stay away from it? If we only knew what they were going to do on the release.

And Rachel said I’m sitting there and I hear Daniel walking down the stairs and I don’t even know if these people realize that I’m Daniel’s wife. And I kept thinking to myself: Well, do you want me to just ask Daniel?

It was like some super-secret meeting they were having trying to figure out the planning of it.

Ok, let’s talk about Ray Winstone.

Vicky

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not a fan of Ray Winstone. I think he’s good at playing a “cop near East End” gangster. But not so much in other things, doing other things. But I’m not going to take anything away from the performance that he did. But, he was probably, for me, the weakest of the main characters.

Tom

OK, I thought he played a pretty good bastard. Which was his role. He was Dreykov. He’s mentioned in other MCU movies but I don’t think he was in any. Dreykov, The character wasn’t in it, right? This is the first time you actually see Dreykov, right?

Vicky

Yes, yes, and also there’s a character called Mason, played by O-T Fagbenle. He was a good tie into Q from the Bond films.

Tom

Yeah, the guy who could get the gadgets?

Vicky

Yeah

Tom

That’s good. Yeah, I like that. That’s a good tie-back.

There’s one big thing for me there that we haven’t talked about.

And I loved the preponderance of women roles in this movie and how they did the women roles in this movie. Almost all of the fighting is done by women.

And importantly, unlike some earlier MCU or other spy movies. They fought dressed like they were a spy fighting, not in a ninja costume. No high heels, no tight skirts, nothing like that. They’re dressed for the role they were supposed to be doing. And there was none and there was none of this “ I’ve almost got him, but I need a man to finish the job.” There was none of that. These women were in charge. They took charge of what was up. And they did their jobs. You didn’t have any of the stuff we normally see there and I think it’s great. Especially when I think about No Time To Die. We see pictures of Paloma fighting in a dress.

If you saw the debacle of a movie in 2019, Charlie’s Angels, sometimes I didn’t know what the heck they were wearing here. The women in Black Widow had strong roles and they looked the part for the role they were playing.

Vicky

Yeah.

Tom

Which I really thought was great.

Vicky

Yes, and it brought me to thinking about the fight scenes and how they were choreographed because they were so entertaining. It brought back again a couple of links to different films. Pretty much reminded me of John Wick and the fight scenes. Very stylized routine and also elements of Kill Bill. I was almost thinking of

Tom

Yeah

Vicky

Because she was quite a powerful character with them in that movie and with what she’s got on, which is similar to the things that we’re seeing in this movie.

Tom

Yep.

Different Theater Experiences

Tom

So now you said you saw this in a movie theater.

Vicky

Yes

Tom

As did I.

But this has been released on a couple of different formats in the movie there’s Superscreen, there’s Dolby Cinema, there’s IMAX, and then there’s the more traditional theater format.

And so you saw it in more of a traditional theater format, correct?

Vicky

Yes, I did.

Tom

So you have recliners? No, seat shakers.

Vicky

We can’t just yeah, just reclining seats. Lots of lots of legroom, lots of space, and yet they’re quite a huge screen that curved, yeah?

Tom

OK, oh you. So it was a curved screen?

Vicky

It was a curved screen, but it wasn’t all singing all dancing.

Tom

How was the audio on it?

Vicky

Good, yeah. You felt you were there, you know, surround you, you’re in the action.

Tom

Yeah, that’s great. We saw it on Dolby cinema here. Dolby Cinema means you’ve got the blackest black when the screen is supposed to be black. It’s the blackest black that’s out there right now.

I could have seen it on IMAX but I was trying to get to the first show when that was going to be an 11:00 show.

I would strongly suggest seeing this in a theater, not streaming it.

Vicky

I agree.

Tom

I think you would lose so much if you streamed this for your first time, seeing it.

We had the seat shakers and there’s a scene with an avalanche. I’m not going to give away what happens with the avalanche, but there is one.
And I’ll tell you, those seat shakers really make you feel like you’re in that scene when you see the snow coming down and your seat shaking like this and you’re feeling it, not just seeing it and hearing it.

Which was which was great. So, if you can see this in a theater not streaming for the first time, ’cause I think at home you’d lose a lot.

I also think it would be a great movie to see on IMAX

Vicky

Yeah, I agree.

Tom

Especially the second half of the movie. Which also makes me really look forward to No Time To Die. Because they did some of the filming on that on the IMAX 70-millimeter cameras, so I just really want to see a good action movie done that way.

And how crowded was your theater?

Vicky

Where there were not many people in it was an afternoon showing. We were all spaced out. It was all very. I didn’t feel at risk. It was a nice comfortable afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed it, yeah?

Tom

Had you been, had you been to the cinema coming out of the pandemic yet?

Vicky

This was the first film that I have seen since the pandemic, yeah.

Tom

OK, OK all right.

So this is the fourth one I’ve seen since the pandemic started. We saw Tenet when it was released in September. And I also saw The Courier. I did a quick-fire podcast on that one. I saw that movie Cliff Walkers. That one I saw twice. I was the only person in the theater or the second time I saw it. It was the first showing of the day. I also did a quick-fire podcast on Cliff Walkers.

For Black Widow, the theater was probably 30 to 40% full. The nice thing about that is you didn’t feel crowded. You felt there was some social distancing, but there were other people to hear, and see the movie and get their reactions.

A Laugh Track?

Tom

So, Vicky, there was one other thing in this movie that I wanted to talk about that I bet you didn’t catch. Did you hear the laugh track?

Vicky

The laugh track?

Tom

Do you know what I mean by a laugh track? I don’t know if maybe we have different terms for that. But when they show a movie

Vicky

I’m not aware of that term, what?

Tom

It’s a term here in the US, at least, where when they’re showing a movie or a TV show, there’s laughter on the tape.

Vicky

We call it canned laughter.

Tom

OK, so did you catch the canned laughter?

Vicky

No. oooh.

Tom

OK, so so I don’t want to give this away. But Vicky you’ve seen the movie. Once you’ve seen the movie search for Yelena or Florence Pugh. There is a scene they’ve got a trailer out on it when I saw it in the movie theater, I thought the people in the audience were laughing and they may have been because I was laughing at this one line. It’s one they kind of touted in some of the trailers and stuff coming up.

I watched a video of that trailer and there was laughter in the track so there was canned laughter in it.

Now maybe it was somebody had filmed it in the theater, but it sure looked like it was a regular trailer cut for me. And there was laughter, and it shocked me when I heard that. So if anybody knows, did I just see a weird trailer of it? And it’s not really there? But it was and it was in exactly the spot I thought I heard the laughter when I saw it in the theater.

Vicky

No, I didn’t hear that. Interesting.

Tom

Well, all I can say Vicky is you’re such a poser.
(laughter)

Release Schedule

Tom

One more thing I wanted to talk about this movie because of James Bond. They released Black Widow in almost all of their locations on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the same week, except for Thailand and Indonesia. So, they staggered the release, but it was within that same weekend.

And it meant that I didn’t get the spoilers before I saw Black Widow. For No Time To Die, there are 10 days between when it releases first in Belgium to the time it hits the US. And there’s no way I’m not going to know what happens by the end of that with social media and all that we do as spy movie fans.

Vicky

Yeah

Tom

And I really wish Eon Productions would take, especially since you’re not going to allow streaming, that approach. And I believe No Time To Die, probably, especially with the IMAX filming they did should be seen in a movie theater at least the first time you see it.

Vicky

Oh Yeah. Definitely yeah.

Tom

This movie should also be seen in a movie theater for the first time. But make it so we don’t get it spoiled before we see it and get these releases closer in timing at least in my opinion.

So I mean, you’re lucky, Vicky, you get a chance to see No Time To Die the second day it’s been released.

Vicky

Yes.

Tom

It’s in only one location, it’s in Belgium the day before, so there’s only one country that has it. Even on the day you get it, there are 15 or 16 countries that get it.

So, that wraps up our quick-fire look at the new Marvel movie Black Widow. We think this is a spy movie to watch, especially if you can see it in a theater. And if you’re an MCU fan, you’ll like it.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies on your favorite podcast app.


Related Content

BLACK WIDOW – a Quick-Fire, No Spoiler Reaction!

Join Tom and Vicky as have a no-spoiler discussion about the major release from Marvel, BLACK WIDOW which is out in theaters now, and steaming through Disney+ for subscribers who pay extra to see at release time.

Spy Movie News – June 29, 2021

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

Posted on

Here’s our June 29, 2021 Spy Movie News with news on Amazon, 007, Ian Fleming’s golf course,  Mission: Impossible 7, The Gray Man, No Time to Die, Regal Cinema James Bond marathon, Black Widow, Red Notice, Austin Powers, and more!

INDUSTRY NEWS

US Federal Trade Commission Will Scrutinize Amazon Purchase of MGM

As we discussed in the June 1st Spy Movie News, there was a chance that the US government might get involved with Amazon’s decision to acquire MGM.  Well, now we know what’s up.  The Federal Trade Commission (the FTC) will look into this acquisition. The US government is splitting up its efforts to investigate the conduct of four tech giants.   The FTC is looking into Amazon and Facebook, while the Department of Justice is looking into Google and Apple.  So, it makes sense that the FTC would look into this acquisition as well.

The big issue for Amazon is that the new chairwoman of the FTC, Lina Khan, has been an outspoken critic of Amazon, especially in the area of antitrust.

So, while nothing’s been decided yet, Amazon may have a few hurdles to clear if this acquisition is to be approved.   We don’t know the impact of a government rejection on MGM, but this could play out interestingly for the James Bond franchise.   The good thing about it is that this action by the FTC is unlikely to be resolved in time to have an impact on No Time To Die’s release.

You can read more in this article in The Wall Street Journal.

John Logan Does Not Look Like a Fan Of the Acquisition

This article on MovieWeb.com highlights John Logan’s concerns about Amazon acquiring MGM. Logan was one of the writers on Skyfall and Spectre so he knows the James Bond infrastructure.  Among John Logan’s quotes in the article are:

  • “What happens if a bruising corporation like Amazon begins to demand a voice in the process? What happens to the comradeship and quality control if there’s an Amazonian overlord with analytics parsing every decision? What happens when a focus group reports they don’t like Bond drinking martinis? Or killing quite so many people? And that English accent’s a bit alienating, so could we have more Americans in the story for marketability?”
  • “I can only hope that the powers that be at Amazon recognize the uniqueness of what they just acquired and allow and encourage this special family business to continue unobstructed.”
  • In the context of the larger company, Amazon Prime Video is not chiefly about artists. It’s about attracting and retaining customers. And when bigger companies start having a say in iconic characters or franchises, the companies tend to want more, not better

So, yeah, John Logan does not appear to be a fan of this acquisition.  Check out the article here.

In this similar article on Independent.co.uk , they wrap up John Logan’s feelings about this nicely:  John Logan is quoted as saying, “Please let 007 drink his martinis in peace. Don’t shake him, don’t stir him.”

I Want To Watch A New Blockbuster, Where Do I Go?

An article By Rebecca Rubin in Variety discusses movie audience’s frustration with the movie industry and the whole “We’re releasing this on streaming with special plans, without special plans, in a theater or all of the above or Oh wait, we’re changing our mind on how to release this.”

This is a good look at how all the options are frustrating people. Yes, as the industry is changing and the various platforms are buying or building their own content, it is tough for the movie lover to keep track of.  The corporations have to not only develop and market their movies, but they also have to educate the movie viewer as to where and how to see them.

Also, they have to deal with public perception on different release options.  At one point the article quotes someone talking about Disney + and Premier Access and how they dislike having to pay extra when they are already paying for Disney+ in order to see Cruella.  The article doesn’t just call out Disney, but HBO Max and Netflix as well.

We expect to see more articles like this as the industry is changing quickly and it is up to the fan to keep up and keep shelling out money regardless of how a movie is released.

So, fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be a very interesting couple of years as this all shakes out.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

Filming Of Mission: Impossible 7 Halted Due to Positive COVID-19 Test

Despite the best efforts of Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible 7 filming had to be halted for about 2 weeks due to a positive COVID-19 test.  The official statement says “We have temporarily halted production on Mission: Impossible 7 until June 14th, due to positive coronavirus test results during routine testing.

You can read more about this stoppage here on variety.com.

Our question is: are they back filming?  It’s 2 weeks after June 14th and we cannot find anything that says they are back filming!

JAMES BOND

No Time To Die Records

Mike Reyes has an article on CinemaBlend.com which talks about how with the release delays from the pandemic, No Time To Die is setting some James Bond records:

  1. It matches the longest gap between released Bond movies tying the 6-year gap between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye.
  2. Daniel Craig now has the record for the longest time an actor has held the James Bond role, surpassing Roger Moore.
  3. No Time To Die will have the longest run time at 162 minutes, beating Spectre’s 148 minutes

And – as an aside, Spectre beat out On Her Majesty’s Secret Service which was 142 minutes.

No Time To Die will release as part of a marathon in some Regal Cinemas

In that same Mike Reyes article, he mentions that Regal Cinemas is putting together an 11 ¾ hour Daniel Craig as James Bond marathon.   They will be showing Casino Royale through No Time To Die.   It will be a great, but almost a 12-hour slog, to watch the whole Daniel Craig arc of the series.

The article claims that Regal will end the marathon with an “early screening” of No Time To Die.  We don’t have the details on this or the date, but it will likely be close to October 8th.

Regal’s website talks about the Marathon and has the theater locations for the showings.  Unfortunately for us here at Spy Movie Navigator, there are no Chicago locations on the list.  They don’t have the date posted.  Their website shows this was in process for the April 10 release date and mentions the Wednesday before as the date for the marathon.  We’ll let you know when we hear more.

The No Time to Die release date is set for October 8, 2021, here in the United States. It’ll open a little earlier, on September 30, in the United Kingdom.

Happy 40th Anniversary To For Your Eyes Only

For Your Eyes Only hit its 40th Anniversary last week, on June 24th.  Unfortunately, streaming fans aren’t able to watch it as it is one of two James Bond movies not available for free streaming right now. The Man With The Golden Gun is the other.  You can pay to rent them, but they aren’t included in any current ‘free’ streaming package.

This seems to us like a missed opportunity for Eon Productions to promote an anniversary and generate some more Bond hype while we wait for No Time To Die.

Mike Reyes has a nice article on CinemaBlend.com that dives into For Your Eyes Only in more detail if you want to catch up.  For Your Eyes Only is one of our favorite Roger Moore Bond movies!

Daughter Pleas To Have Her Dying Father See No Time To Die Early 

ITV.com has a heart-tugging story about a daughter’s plea to get her terminally ill father the opportunity to see No Time To Die early.  Her father who is a huge James Bond fan and memorabilia collector has been given weeks to live due to untreatable cancer. Obviously if the movie had been released when it was first targeted, he would have seen it.

His daughter, Remy, has posted a Twitter video that has gone viral and numerous media sources have picked it up. The video shows some of her father’s memorabilia and fandom for James Bond.  It is accompanied by the song “We Have All The Time In The World” from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

She’s asking to get her father a private screening before he dies.    As Remy puts it “What I want to give for my dad is a couple of hours of respite, where he can suspend reality and lose himself in the franchise he has passionately loved and followed and immersed himself in for all of his 5 decades.”

So far, neither Universal Pictures nor Eon Productions have commented on the video.

We hope that they give him a private screening but keep it private.   Publicizing the fact that they did it would open up a can of worms with lots of requests.  However, it would be an awesome touch and tribute to a life-long Bond fan if they can make it happen.

Britt Ekland Says Goodnight To Lip Fillers

A Bond Girl from 1974’s The Man With The Golden Gun, Britt Ekland, says that she ruined her face after getting lip fillers. She had received injections of Articol around her lips.   This filler was never approved for use in the US and is now considered risky in the UK. Although she still says: “Everyone has the right to choose”.  But she called her lip fillers “the biggest mistake” of her life and that they ruined her face. She also said “It’s not going to give me more roles to make me look better.   This is who I am, and people have to accept it.  I’ve accepted it”

Spy movie fans will remember Britt Ekland in the role of Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun and Principessa  Spada in The Conspirators.

You can read more about this here on Foxnews.com.

Next Month’s Open Championship to be played at Ian Fleming’s course

“The Open Championship”, golf’s original Major tees off on July 14, 2021.   The tournament will be played at Royal St. George’s where Ian Fleming was a member.

The golf match in Goldfinger was played at a club called St. Mark’s, although Fleming’s description of the layout matched Royal St. George’s. In the movie, the golf match was filmed at Stoke Park, near Pinewood Studios.

A couple of clues that St. Mark’s was Royal St. Georges are two character names.   The golf pro at Royal St. George’s when the movie Goldfinger was released was Albert Whiting.  The movie used Albert Blacking as the pro’s name.  James Bond’s caddie was named Hawker in the movie.  Alf Hawkes was one of the top caddies at Royal St. George’s at the time.

There’s a nice article in Issue 5, the June/July 2021 issue of Golf Digest that dives deeper into Ian Fleming, Goldfinger, and Royal St. Georges.  It is followed by a list called “A Quick Nine On The Trail Of Ian Fleming” that points out places in England you can go with ties to Fleming.

If you’re a Bond fan and a golf fan, it’s a nice read.

OTHER MOVIE NEWS

Austin Powers Fans, Get Ready To Binge

Netflix is adding the Austin Powers franchise on July 1.  This gives Netflix fans of this spoofing spy movie series a chance to binge through the three movies.  We welcome this as this is a fun series to binge and Netflix is giving us a way to do it.

We’re still waiting on the long-rumored fourth Austin Powers movie.  The rumor comes back every couple of years, but unfortunately, nothing yet to report on them actually doing it.

OSS 117: From Africa With Love to close Cannes (CAHN) Film Festival

And speaking of spy movie spoofs, The Hollywood Reporter tells us that the French spy spoof OSS: 117: From Africa With Love will be closing the Cannes Film Festival.

This is the third movie in the OSS Franchise.  It is expected to be released in France on August 4, 2021, Russia on August 26th, Italy on September 30, and Portugal on November 18.  We’ve seen no planned release date for the US, India, or the UK.

Regé- Jean Page Talks About The Gray Man

Regé-Jean Page talks about his upcoming movies, The Gray Man and Dungeons & Dragons.   When talking about the spy movie The Gray Man, Regé-Jean says:  “It’s just so much fun when you’re working with folks who are not just at the top of their game but reinventing the game. It’s like a whole new machine.”  They are keeping things close to the vest and not giving away much on this movie, but we can’t wait.

You can read the full article here on Variety.com

Disney Will Release Black Widow To Disney + on October 6, 2021

Disney has started accepting pre-orders for Black Widow in advance of its July 9th release date both in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access.  For fans who don’t want to pay for Premier Access, Disney’s website says that the movie “joins the Disney+ collection” on October 6, 2021.  So, for fans who don’t want to wait, you can go to a theater or pay for Premier Access and stream the movie online.  If you don’t mind the wait, it will be on your Disney+ subscription in October.

Scarlett Johansson Thinks She’s At A Good Point To Finish Her Role As Black Widow

In an article on Cinemablend.com, Scarlett Johansson talks about her decision to leave her role as Black Widow.  She says “In every way, and certainly, as an actor, it’s always better to leave a situation when you’re on top. And to feel good about something. It’s great. And I feel on top with this.”

The article also states that the movie Black Widow will transition from one Black Widow to the next so there will be a new actress taking on the role going forward.

As a reminder, Black Widow is due to hit theaters on July 9th. It will also be available for streaming on Disney+ with Premier Access on that date.

You can read the full article here on CinemaBlend.com.

 

Red Notice For Thanksgiving?

Anthony Lund on MovieWeb.com tells us that Dwayne Johnson suggested a Thanksgiving release date for Netflix’s Red Notice. Well, actually, on Instagram, Johnson said the release date announcement was coming soon and ended the post with the hashtag #holidays2021.   So our question is this: is that Thanksgiving or Christmas?

We’ve talked about this movie for a while now and it will great to finally be able to see it.  It still isn’t clear if there will be a theatrical release or just a streaming release. A $200 million tv spy movie?  Well with a strong cast headlined by Gal Gadot (Ga-DOT), Dwayne Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds this is a must-see.

So that wraps up this edition of Spy Movie News.   Join us next time to catch up on news in the spy movie industry.

Don’t forget that you can listen to this as a podcast (which you can subscribe to on your favorite podcast app).

Spy Movie News – June 1 2021

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

Posted on

Here is our Spy Movie News for June 1 2021!   Hot industry news as Amazon gobbles up MGM, Barbara Broccoli speaks out, James Bond and Marvel, Black Widow, Operation Mincemeat, Schwarzenegger a Spy?, Mark Strong and the Kingsman Franchise, Face/Off 2 ; and more!

INDUSTRY NEWS 

Amazon Buys MGM for  $8.45 Billion 

Although it was anticipated, Amazon bought MGM for $8.45 Billion on May 26th.  This is the first tech company to buy a studio.  However, it doesn’t appear to be about making content, but rather about getting access to the MGM catalog.   Amazon needs content to continue to lure Amazon Prime customers.  This acquisition buys them a lot of content, including James Bond.  Amazon had been the leader in the streaming game as they launched Prime in 2005, well ahead of most of their competitors.  Now the streaming industry has caught up. 

An article on CNBC.COM talks about the anti-trust regulators being likely to approve this deal.  However, there could be roadblocks as the District of Columbia just sued Amazon on antitrust grounds.  The article believes it will be approved because they aren’t leaders in this content space and there is a lot of competition.  Plus, they mention that Amazon doesn’t have a lot of new things to acquire without antitrust concerns. 

What concerns us here at Spy Movie Navigator is Jeff Bezos.  Yes, he’s stepping down as CEO in July, but he will be Executive Chairman of the Board.  Will he allow James Bond movies to be made that will likely look better in a theater on a big screen than in a home theater or mobile device?  Bond is designed to be big.  That’s not where Amazon has historically played.  Might Bezos get rid of theatrical releases totally for MGM’s movies?   These are just some of the concerns we have. 

In another article, this time on Variety.com, James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson say: “We are committed to continuing to make James Bond films for the worldwide theatrical audience”. That article says No Time To Die is still on track for the October 8th release date.   We need to remember that Barbara and Michael have final say on everything from the film’s marketing and distribution plans to the actor who plays James Bond.  This was part of the deal when Cubby Broccoli made the initial deal with MGM for financing and distribution rights.  

Ok, to have a bit of fun with this ‘why we’re concerned that Amazon bought MGM’ idea: Is it just us, but does Jeff Bezos remind us of a cross between Blofeld and Elliott Carver from the James Bond movies?   He’s smart, rich, manipulative, wants to control everything, maybe he’s a bit of a megalomaniac (ok, we’re just kidding here).  Like Telly Savalas and Donald Pleasence’s Blofeld he’s bald.  Like Elliott Carver, he owns a newspaper, The Washington Post so he can control some of the news. Like Savalas’ Blofeld he can control what people eat in some regard since he owns Whole Foods.  Makes us go Hmmm…. 

You can read about the acquisition (here) on CNBC.com. You can find the Variety article here. 

US Members of Congress Push Back On Amazon-MGM Deal 

Well, as you might imagine US politicians can’t keep their hands off corporations.  And anything that gets them in the news trying to fight for the little guy will be taken advantage of. 

Democrat US Senator Amy Klobuchar is pushing for a Department of Justice investigation into the Amazon-MGM deal.  She says: “This is a major acquisition that has the potential to impact millions of consumers “The Department of Justice must conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that this deal won’t risk harming competition.” “This is also a reminder of why we need to fund our antitrust agencies so they can take on investigations of multi-billion dollar deals,” 

This appears to be a bipartisan topic as Republican US Rep Josh Hawley also said ““This sale should not go through. Amazon is already a monopoly platform that owns e-commerce, shipping, groceries & the cloud. They shouldn’t be permitted to buy anything else. Period.” 

We guess Amazon or MGM didn’t give them enough support in the last election cycle. 

You can read all about it (here) on Variety.com 

Are Outdated COVID Guidelines Hurting Hollywood? 

William Earl pens an interesting article talking about the costs of testing for COVID, Union agreements, and advances in technology are coming to a head.  The high cost of COVID safety measures is hurting movie profits.  It was way back in September 2020 that the basic agreement with the big unions was signed. A lot of progress since then in testing should lower costs. However, the agreements from September are getting in the way.  It’s estimated that 10-20% of a filmmaker’s budget goes to COVID-related expenses.  Testing prices have been slashed in half or more.  And new testing is available. 

You can read William Earl’s article (here) on Variety.com. 

JAMES BOND 

Should James Bond Adopt The Marvel Cinematic Universe Model? 

An interesting article on digitalspy.com talks about the pros and cons of James Bond taking more of an MCU approach to release schedules.  The article notes that even with Bond’s 46-year head start, by the end of this year MCU will have released more movies, 27, than Bond has in almost 60 years.  The article talks about releasing more James Bond movies more frequently. One of the big hindrances there is the possibility of Bond overload for the viewer, the Bond actor, and the writers.  Also, there would likely have to be spin-offs.  There was a script developed for a spin-off for Jinx from Die Another Day.  And a rumor of a spin-off of Wai Lin from Tomorrow Never Dies. 

It’s an interesting read and you can check it out (here) on Digitalspy.com. 

BLACK WIDOW 

Black Widow Releases New Trailer With Cool Chase scene 

ON July 9th, Disney will release Black Widow in theaters and Disney +.  To help with the hype, they released a new trailer with a nice short chase scene with a unique way of foiling the chaser.  You can catch this trailer and a related story (here) on CinemaBlend.com.  One thing we like from the article is that this movie will be unique in that most of the characters seemingly don’t have superpowers.  He hope that is true.  We at SpyMovieNavigator.com focus on spy movies and most of the MCU doesn’t fall into that category.   Black Widow does which makes us curious to see how that is handled. 

OPERATION MINCEMEAT GETS A RELEASE DATE 

The WWII drama Operation Mincemeat starring Colin Firth and Kelly MacDonald is set to release in the UK and Ireland on Jan 7, 2022.  We haven’t seen the US release date yet but we can’t wait.   This movie is based on an actual WWII espionage plot that we’ve mentioned in several podcasts.  A dead body is given credentials and placed by the British to throw off the enemy. It will great to see this story on the big screen. 

You can find out more (here) on variety.com. 

DeObia Oparei CAST IN THE GRAY MAN

We’ve been talking about this movie for a while now.   They’ve announced that DeObia Oparei has joined the cast of The Gray Man.  DeObia is probably best known for his role as Areo Hotah  in “Game of Thrones”.  He joins this star-studded cast that includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Billy Bob Thorton, Alfre Woodard, Regé-Jean Page, and others.  The Gray Man is based on the first installment of The Gray Man book series and the hope is that this can become a spy movie franchise in the likes of James Bond or Mission: Impossible. 

 You can read more about this (here) on Deadline.com.    

THE GOVERNATOR GETS A SPY SERIES 

Netflix has landed Arnold Schwarzenegger for a live-action eight-episode global spy adventure. Monica Barbaro will play his daughter.  The show doesn’t have a title or release date yet.  You can read more (here) on MovieWeb.com. 

WILL MARK STONG RETURN TO THE KINGSMAN FRANCHISE? 

Ok, so his character Merlin may have died in the last Kingsman movie, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.  That doesn’t keep Mark Strong from wanting to come back for another shot at it.  He tells Jon Fuge: “I was quite sad, I think, as were a lot of people, when he comes to his dynamic end, shall we say? At the end of the second one. I think there is a third one, and that universe, anything can happen as you well know.” 

As fans of this series and of Merlin, in particular, we like to see him get the chance to come back in a future Kingsman movie. 

The third Kingsman movie, The King’s Man is slated to release on December 22, 2021.  It’s been pushed back quite a few times so we hope this time it happens. 

You can read move (here) on MovieWeb.com. 

JOAN ALLEN WOULD LIKE TO BE BACK IN FACE/OFF 2 

Joan Allen says she hasn’t been contacted to resurrect her role as Sean Archer’s wife, Eve in the upcoming Face/Off 2.  She says she will return.  The director, Adam Wingard says that John Travolta and Nicolas Cage will return.  It will be interesting to see how much of the rest of the cast returns, like Joan Allen.    

You can read more about this (here) on MovieWeb.com 

IN MEMORIAM 

Frank McRae (1941-2021) 

We are saddened to report that Frank McRae, who played Sharkey in Licence to Kill passed away on April 29, 2021. 

Neil Connery (1938-2021) 

Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil passed away on May 9th. He was probably known mostly for his role in Operation Kid Brother (1967) which was a spoof on James Bond that included Daniela Bianchi and Adolpho Celi of James Bond fame. 

You can read more about Neil on Jamesbond007.se here. 

Graeme Ferguson (1929-2021) 

Graeme Ferguson who was one of the founders of IMAX passed away on May 8, 2021.  The giant screen editions of the action spy movies are the way to see them.  Big movies need big screens.  The upcoming No Time To Die is the first 007 movie shot with IMAX film cameras.  None of that would have been possible without Graeme Ferguson’s efforts.

Romy Walthall (1963-2021)

Romy Walthall died May 19, 2021. For spy movie fans, she played Sean Archer’s secretary in Face/Off.

You can read more about Romy in this article on Variety.com.

 

That wraps up this edition of Spy Movie News for June 1, 2021.

You can find more about spy movies at our website, https://SpyMovieNavigator.com – please Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show, right now on your favorite podcast app , Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too!   

Spy Movie News Article – May 4, 2021

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

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Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise, Robert Pattinson as the next Bond?, BAFTA, Billion Dollar Spy, Kingsman: The Blue Blood, Mads Mikkelsen, Memory and more! We’ll examine all of these and more in today’s Spy Movie News.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

Mission: Impossible 7 & Delayed  

As reported in this article on Deadline.com, both Mission: Impossible 7 and have been delayed.  Top Gun: Maverick will take Mission: Impossible 7’s spot on November 19, 2021.  That means that Mission: Impossible 7 will now release Memorial Day weekend in the US on May 27, 2022.   Mission: Impossible 8 has been pushed to July 7, 2023, from its November 4, 2022, date. 

Ethan Hunt and The Syndicate 

In this interesting article by Mike Reyes on Cinemablend.com, Reyes asks if Ethan Hunt has been secretly fighting The Syndicate his whole career.  Reyes dives into the developments of the most recent movies and finds a pattern.  We first hear of The Syndicate in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.  Members infiltrate the intelligence community to bring it to its knees.  Reyes talks about corollaries with SPECTRE in the Daniel Craig Bond movies.  He has some interesting insight about the role of Kittridge, played by Henry Czerny , who is being brought back in the upcoming Mission: Impossible movies, suggesting that bringing him back helps cement the role of The Syndicate behind all of the Mission: Impossible movies. 

Blowin’ in the Wind 

Tom Cruise got some annoying tree branches cut that were disturbing Cruise and other actors.  According to CinemaBlend.com, Cruise ordered some branches cut that were scrapping against his, and some other actor’s trailers during rest periods while filming Mission: Impossible 7.  Given all that we’ve heard about the problems in getting this movie made, we’re glad this was one annoyance easily pruned. 

THANDIWE NEWTON GOES BACK TO HER ORIGINAL NAME 

Thandiwe Newton who played Nyah Hall in Mission: Impossible II is switching back to the real spelling of her name.   She says the old spelling, without the “w” in her first name was a mistake from early in her career.  She’s now adding the “w” back into her name 

So I guess we go from TANDi Newton to Tand– DEEway Newton 

 

JAMES BOND 

How About Robert Pattinson as the next James Bond? 

In this article on Cinemablend.com, Jamil David posits that after looking at some art by Barret Digital, he thinks that Robert Pattinson would be a great James Bond.   He’s positioning for Pattinson to take on the role post- Daniel Craig.  The article includes a very James Bond-looking Pattinson.  Could be an interesting choice, especially after his role in TENET. 
 

Le Chiffre’s Torture of James Bond Was Almost Cut from Casino Royale 

Mads Mikkelsen, who masterfully portrayed Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006) had an interesting reveal about one famous scene in that move.  In an interview published on TotalFilmMikklesen tells us that the torture scene after the poker game where Bond was naked on the bottomless chair with Le Chiffre swinging the knotted rope at one point was on the cutting table for a while.  It was in, then out, and back in again.  We are happy they kept it in as it showed a great side of Bond and the spy world that is often neglected in spy movies. 

You can read the full interview on gamesradar.com. 

Mads Mikkelsen Left What On a Plane? 

In another article on Mikkelsen, he left his script for Casino Royale on a plane after falling asleep heading to his audition.  He realized it after deplaning and they wouldn’t let him back in.  Fortunately, it never turned up.  The script had his name printed on every page.  That could have been bad.  This is one of a few tidbits exposed in a cinemablend.com article. 

BAFTA AGAIN IGNORES JAMES BOND MOVIE ACTORS IN ITS IN MEMORIAM MONTAGE

In what has to be a snub in the eyes of James Bond fans, BAFTA did not include some prominent James Bond actors in their “In Memoriam” section of this year’s film awards.  Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, and Earl Cameron were all not included in this year’s remembrance.   

At least they mentioned Sean Connery.   

BAFTA apparently looks at Rigg and Blackman as TV actors, not film actors as they included Honor Blackman in their BAFTA TV “In memoriam.   In a statement to Variety, BAFTA said: BAFTA’s committee considered Dame Diana Rigg to be better known for her work in TV, so she will be included in BAFTA’s TV Awards broadcast this year 

Well, to us here at Spy Movie Fans remember them for their both movie and tv work.  We wish BAFTA did too.  At least the Oscars got it right. 

BILLION DOLLAR SPY DROPS THE HAMMER 

It looks like Mads Mikkelsen who played Le Chiffre in the 2006 James Bond movie, Casino Royale, will be getting a new co-star for the upcoming movie, The Billion Dollar Spy.  This Amma (Ahma) Asante (A SAN-tay)movie is based on a real-life Cold War story.  Mads was supposed to co-star with Armie Hammer who was recently dropped from the project due to Hammer’s recent problems. 

Billion Dollar Spy is expected to start production this year. 

Check out this story on HollywoodReporter.com for more details. 

 

KINGSMAN: THE BLUE BLOOD?

One of the most confusing naming conventions used by a studio will have 20th Century Fox releasing The King’s Man on December 22, 2021. That’s two words “King’s” and “Man” This often pandemic-pushed movie is supposed to be the prequel to the Kingsman series.  The first two movie’s had Kingsman as one word.   

This gets more confusing in an article on DigitalSpy talks about Kingsman 3, which it says “The one that’s not The King’s Man”.  They say the rumored name for Kingsman 3 is Kingsman: The Blue Blood which will wrap up the trilogy of the first two movies with Harry Hart and Eggsy.   Yeah, I’m confused too.  Creator Matthew Vaughn is quoted as saying We need to make I, because I don’t want Colin in a Zimmer frame, or Eggsy with nappies.  So we need to get on with it. 

One other reason to hurry up with that is that there have been some rumors that Taron Egerton could be in the running to replace Daniel Craig as James Bond.  This could get interesting. 

MEMORY GETS KEY ACTORS 

The upcoming Liam Neeson’s movie, Memory, has filled its main casting with the addition of Guy Pearce (Pierce), Monica Bellucci, Harold Torres (TORE-es), Taj Atwal, and Ray Fearon (FEARon).  Neeson plays an assassin with Pearce, Atwal, and Torres as FBI agentsMonica Bellucci plays a tech mogulThe movie, based on the Belgian movie The Memory of a Killer, and the book, “De Zaak Alzheimer”, is currently in production in Bulgaria. 

 

LEWIS TAN TAKES THE LEAD FOR QUANTUM SPY 

The adaptation of David Ignatius’ novel, “Quantum Spy” has picked it’s lead actor and it’s Mortal Kombat star, Lewis Tan.   Tan will be both the star and co-executive producer. Tan will play a CIA officer who needs to hunt down a Chinese mole at an American Quantum research lab. This may end up being a television show instead of a movie.   More details to come later. 

SPY CITY PICKED UP BY AMC NETWORKS 

The US rights to the 6-part European spy drama Spy City have been picked up by AMC.  Plans are to start the show April 15, 2021.  Dominic Cooper stars as a British Secret Intelligence Service spy set in Berlin during the height of the Cold War.   

 

CLIFF WALKERS RELEASED APRIL 30th

The 1930’s tale of espionage with Northern China and Japanese, called Cliff Walkers debuted in the US on April 30th.  According to a review on movieweb.com, the movie has many Hitchcockian character twists.   Four spies are on a mission that requires them to parachute into a wintery forest.  Their cover had been blown.  There are seven chapters to the movie with numerous double-crosses.  We’re excited to be able to see this and will release our Quick-Fire podcast on this movie in the next few days. 

 

INDUSTRY NEWS 

Murdoch thinks theatrical window “Gone For Good 

In an interview at APOS, James Murdoc, former CEO of 21st Century Fox, said “The substantial if not complete collapse of the theatrical window in the US and a lot of other markets is here to stay now.”  He also talked about how COVID-19 has accelerated this thinking.  He also talked about how rebundling is already happening in the streaming industry and for the consumer “your total price is already where it was with cable, if not higher.”  “There is a real question about what the creative output is going to look like within these large conglomerates and what established and talented creators are going to want to do.” So, the times, they are a-changin 

 

IN MEMORIAM

Jason Matthews, author of ‘Red Sparrow’ thrillers, dies 

APnews.com reports that Jason Matthews, the award-winning novelist who had a 33 career in espionage with the CIA and who wrote “Red Sparrow” thrillers, died at age 69 . 

Paul Ritter (1966-2021) 

Paul Ritter, who played Guy Haines in the 2008 James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, passed away on April 5th.  If you remember, Guy Haines was the special envoy to the Prime Minister who was in the opera scene.  He’s the first picture that Bond took of Quantum at the opera.   Bond didn’t recognize him, but Mathis did. 

You can read more in this article on HollyWoodReporter.com. 

Helen McCrory (1968-2021) 

Helen McCrory who played Clair Dowar MP in the 2012 James Bond movie Skyfall passed away on April 16, 2021.  Ms. McCrory also is known for her roles as Narcissa Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies as well as Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders. 

This has been the May 4th Spy Movie News .  Please Subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movie show, right now on your favorite podcast app, Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too!   


Here are the links to the sources for today’s Spy Movie News:

The Courier – A Quick-Fire Review

Related: The Courier – A No-Spoiler Quick-Fire Look

Contributed by: Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

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Cracking the Code of Spy Movies

I just did something I hadn’t done since last September.  I went to a movie theater here in the US.  What brought me to the theater for the first time since Tenet?  The spy movie that just released in the US The Courier. So, join me as I take a quick-fire look at the 2021 movie The Courier.

We have recorded this article as a podcast.  You can play it here by pressing the red arrow below if you’d rather listen than read.

Spoiler-Free

I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum here as I am aware that this movie has a staggered release schedule and isn’t being released in the UK until mid-May, France and Turkey won’t get it until mid-June. I assume it will stream sometime after that.

Why Is Spy Movie Navigator Reviewing The Courier?

One of the things we, at Spy Movie Navigator do when examining movies is to look at influences for a movie:  Either real life events or how one movie influences another.   For instance, the vault scene in the 1996 movie Mission: Impossible was heavily influenced by both a scene in the 1964 movie Topkapi as well as the second episode, called The System, of the 1988 reboot of the “Mission: Impossible” tv show.   Since The Courier is based on real world events, it is right in our wheelhouse.

IronBark, The Courier, and the story of Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky

The Courier debuted at the 2020 Sundance Festival just before the pandemic hit.  At the time, it went by the name Ironbark, which was the codename of the main Russian character in the story, Oleg Penkovsky, played wonderfully by Merab Ninidze.  Benedict Cumberbatch gives yet another stellar performance in the role of the British main character, Greville Wynne.

Many spy fans already know the basics of the true story of Greville Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky so I’m comfortable relating some of the facts behind this movie, without hitting on spoilers.  I will refrain from exposing the movie’s twists and main tension points so that you can keep listening and still enjoy the movie when you see it.

The basic story is that a travelling salesman, with no military, government, or intelligence background was enticed by MI-6 to act as a go-between for MI-6 and a Russian Spy named Oleg Penkovsky.

Penkovsky passed information to the West, often through Wynne.  Penkovsky loved Russia, but not the Soviet Union and he really didn’t trust Khrushchev. He was a well-decorated lieutenant colonel in the GRU which was the Soviet Union’s foreign-intelligence agency which is why he had access to the detailed information he passed on.

The information that Penkovsky passed through Wynne would play a major role in the US response to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 between the US and the Soviet Union.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

In case you aren’t familiar with the Cuban Missile Crisis, let me give you a short very high-level recap.  The US deployed ballistic missiles in Turkey and Italy.  In response, the Soviet Union built the infrastructure in Cuba, only 90 miles from Florida, to launch ballistic missiles.  A war of words between US President, John F. Kennedy, who ordered a blockade of ships going to Cuba, and Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev finally ended with the Soviets dismantling the Cuban-based missiles.  This event is considered to be the closest the two countries every have gotten to a full-scale nuclear war.

The information from Penkovsky alerted the US to the Soviet buildup in Cuba.

This really happened and wasn’t just something that screenwriter Tom O’Connell made up.

Ok, so that’s as much of the plot as I want to give away.

So, let’s talk about the non-spoiler stuff in The Courier.

The Spy Stuff in The Courier

This is a spy movie, in part.  It has the intrigue and tension of spy stuff like brush passes, dead drops, and other stealthy activities.  It also has the KGB monitoring people, key ladies in the tourist hotels monitoring everything that goes on (which was reality in the Soviet Union for travelers), people being captured getting hoods placed over their heads, people being shot or poisoned. There are even a few gadgets like a mini camera.  James Bond uses an almost identical camera in Moonraker in 1979.  One gadget I really liked was a hidden drawer-within-a-drawer in Penkovsky’s desk.  I thought that was really cool.

In short, this is a spy movie.   There is danger all through the movie that the principals could be caught which any spy movie needs.

The Courier is not an action thriller à la James Bond, Mission Impossible and the Bourne.  There are no high-end stunts or long crazy car chases in this movie.   Rather, think of it closer to something like the 2007 movie, Breach which was about Robert Hanssen or maybe Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Both of those movies were good spy movies without a lot of action, just intrigue and suspense.

Relationships and Loyalty

Earlier I said this was a spy movie, in part.  I saw this movie with my lovely wife.  As we were driving home, she said “that wasn’t really a spy movie, it was a movie about friendship and loyalty.”    I think that is an excellent way to look at this movie.  Yes, this was about real-life espionage, but the root of the movie was about the unlikely and deep real friendship of the two main characters.  These two guys who were thrown together by fate ended up spending a lot of time together.  They went out on the town often and even met each other’s wife and child. It would have been very unusual for a foreigner to meet a Soviet Diplomat’s spouse and children during the cold war.  I think that strengthens the depiction of the Bond between them.

We also have to remember that these two could talk with each other about what they were doing, but couldn’t mention it to anyone else, not even their own wives.  They needed to trust each other.

At one point in the movie Penkovsky is asked by Wynne’s young son why the Soviets hate the British.  Penkovsky’s response nails the movie.  He says that it is the politicians who hate the other politicians.  The people don’t hate the other people.  That explains the relationship well.

The Cast and Crew

The 2 leads, Merab Ninidze and Benedict Cumberbatch were excellent.   Ninidze was nominated for the 2020 British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.  I was surprised that Cumberbatch wasn’t up for the Best Actor nomination.  Especially in the last ¼ of the film (again no spoilers here), he was amazing.   I do want to know what he did for three months to lose the 20 pounds of weight he needed to for that last part of the movie.  He said it was horrible losing the weight.

The supporting roles were well acted as well.   Rachel Brosnahan as Emily Donovan, representing the CIA along with Angus Wright, playing Dickie Franks (who was a real guy, unlike Emily) were very good in their roles. Jessie Buckley turned in a very strong performance as Greville’s wife who was kept in the dark about what her husband was doing.   I also thought that whoever cast Keir Hills as Greville’s young son deserves a mention.  This young man really looks like he could be Cumberbatch’s son and he performed his role well.

One person on the crew I’d like to call out is Keith Madden, who was the costume designer.  Both my wife and I commented on how good the costuming was in this movie.  But, unfortunately the wigs on the women were hideous, just awful.

Although very Accurate, There Are Some Liberties Taken

Ok, so although the story behind this movie is true, some fact bending does occur here.  Normally that drives me nuts. But it seems to work here. Part of that is because this is a movie about their relationship.   The last ¼ of the movie goes in and out between what really happened and fiction. A very pivotal scene is a conversation Penkovsky and Wynne have.  In real-life, this conversation never happened.  However, it was a very nice way to bring home the relationship these two guys had. They really cared about each other and this scene showed it. You’ll know the scene I’m talking about when you see it.

Also, in this last part of the movie, Wynne has some tough things to deal with.  This is where Cumberbatch’s acting really soared for me.  I don’t want to give it away, but you will be impressed when you see it, and a large part of that was true to what Wynne really experienced in real life.

As is common in movies about real-world events, characters are often amalgamations of several people.  This is true here, especially with the role of the CIA contact, Emily Donovan, played by Rachel Brosnahan.  She didn’t exist in real life but according to the movie’s director, Dominick Cooke, she represented many real-life people: most notably, Janet Chisholm.  She was the wife of a British officer and also was used by Penkovsky to pass information.

The Big Question From The Movie

One more thing that fascinated me comes in first part of the movie.   We see two tourists in Russia stopped by a man, and they are asked to deliver something.  This was right out of the blue for them.  They weren’t spies, they didn’t know who was asking or why there were being asked.  They were told it was very important.   What would you do in that situation?  Imagine: it’s the Cold War, you are a tourist in the Soviet Union and someone hands you an envelope and asks you to deliver it for them. What would you do?

A little bit later in the movie, Greville Wynne meets Dickie Franks for lunch.  He’s met Franks only once before.   Wynne is a travelling salesman, not a spy, just a regular guy.   Well, at this lunch he’s asked to become a courier as he finds out that this person works for MI-6.  He’s told that because he is just a salesman, no one would be watching.  Oh, and you can’t tell your spouse.  What would you do in this situation?  This one is a bit different because it’s for Queen and Country.

To me, this are two of the most thought-provoking scenes from the movie.   “Here, please deliver this for me” or “your country needs you, we need you to perform espionage”.

I’ll leave you with one question:  What would you do if you were placed in this situation? How would you, not the people in the movie, not the people from the real-world scenario.  But you. The person reading this article.  What would you do to when presented with those two situations, especially during the Cold War.  Fascinating stuff.

So, that’s about all I want to give away in this quick-fire look at The Courier.  I think any movie fan will like this one, especially if they are not expecting an action movie.

You can find more articles and podcasts like this one on our website, https://spymovienavigator.com.  You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  You can subscribe to our show Cracking the Code of Spy Movies right now on your favorite podcast app. And you’ll find us on YouTube as well.

Let us know what you think of this by either clicking on the red button to the right and leaving us a voice message, or clicking here and send us a message.


Related Content

The Courier – A No-Spoiler Quick-Fire Look

Join us as we take a quick-fire look at the spy thriller, THE COURIER, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Merab Ninidze!

Spy Movie News Article – March 9, 2021 – Mission Impossible, James Bond, The Gray Man, Agent Game & More

Related: Spy Movies & Real-World Connections – Part 1

Related: The Silent Enemy (1958) – A Thunderball Inspiration?

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Here’s our March 9th, 2021 edition of Spy Movie News with updates on Mission: Impossible 7 and 8, No Time to Die, Ana de ArmasThe Gray Man, Agent Game, Killers of the Flower Moon, how to get paid watching Bond movies, Boon, Operation Mincemeat and more!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE NEWS

Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 no longer shooting back-to-back

We have been hearing all along that Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 were going to be filmed back to back and in some cases simultaneously.   But no.

According to this article on Deadline.com, Mission: Impossible 8 will not shoot back-to-back with Mission: Impossible 7.  It appears that promotional duties for Tom Cruise’s movie, Top Gun: Maverick’s July 2 release will force Cruise to push Mission: Impossible 8 filming.  There are no plans to alter the release date of Mission: Impossible 8 because of this.

Release dates as of now at Mission Impossible 7: November 19, 2021, and 8 on November 4, 2022.

Kittridge is back!

Twenty-five years ago, Henry Czerny introduced us to Eugene Kittridge in the first Mission: Impossible movie.  In this article on CinemaBlend.com, we see a picture that Christopher McQuarrie (Mac QUARY) posted on Instagram showing today’s Kittridge.  The picture is black and white and it looks to us like it could be a train car that he’s sitting in.  Once again, not a lot has been said about what Kittridge will be doing in this movie, but it is great to see him back.  The article reminds us that IMF is without a secretary right now.  Might Kittridge get that promotion?

In this similar article that discusses Kittrige on MovieWeb.com, we get this quote from McQuarrie: When we went into making Fallout, I said to Tom, ‘I really want to make this more of an emotional journey for [Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt],'” McQuarrie said. “Going into this, I said, ‘I want to take what we learned from Fallout and apply it to every character in the movie. I want everyone to have an emotional arc. … I just want the movie to have more feeling across the board.”

Tom Cruise Gets Foggy

Another image that McQuarrie posted shows a silhouette of Tom Cruise’s character running – in a dark and very foggy shot.  You can check it out on here on Cinemablend.com.

 

THE GRAY MAN

The Gray Man’s updated cast list

We’ve talked about the cast for The Gray Man in previous editions of Spy Movie News.  We now have some updated news. In this article on Cinemablend.com, they tell us that Chris Evans plays a villain, Ryan Gosling plays the protagonist.  Other previously announced performers in this star-studded cast include Ana De Armas, Jessica Henwick,  Wagner Moura, Dhanush, and Julia Butters.

They just announced the three newest performers: Billy Bob Thorton, Alfre Woodard , and, Tom’s wife’s pick for the next James Bond actor, Regé-Jean Page.  This sounds like a fantastic cast with filming to begin later in the year.  We can’t wait.

How Ana de Armas trains

We’ve seen Ana de Armas in a few roles like Knives Out and Knock Knock.  In her upcoming role as Paloma in No Time To Die, she has to do a lot of fighting.   Now in The Gray Man, she rachets that up a notch.    In this article on Cinemablend.com, de Armas talks about her training regimen to handle these action-type roles. She tells us: “I have to prepare for this action film I’m doing with really intense, physical work, training and choreographies. I do it from 9am to 2pm and then I get a break – and then on the weekends I go to the shooting range and I practice shooting with firing arms that I have to use in the film. And some knife training, too. I enjoy it very much.”

We are hoping to see the fruits of those efforts when No Time To Die and The Gray Man are released.

 

JAMES BOND

No Time To Die to arrive in U.K. theaters a week early?

According to this article on MovieWeb.com, No Time To Die will be released in the United Kingdom September 30th.  This is a week ahead of the previously announced October 8th release date.  This is an interesting development given that the official James Bond website (007.com) still lists the release date as October 8th.  As much as we want the movie out as soon as it is safe, we, at US-based Spy Movie Navigator, would like to see a global release date for No Time To Die.

With the internet and all the buzz about this movie, those of us in the US and other non-UK parts of the world are unlikely to be able to keep away from all the buzz during the week between releases.  It will be tough to see this movie after this wait if we hear or read the ending before getting to see it.  We know this is change is probably for marketing and buzz creation.  Our guess is they will hold multiple premier events as they have in the past.  But, this news does sadden us a bit as we here at Spy Movie News will know the ending before seeing the movie.

And, in a supporting article on Collider.com, dated March 6 2021, they talk about the same October release date and the new poster which shows Craig as Bond facing left, holding a pistol in his right hand clearly says October 2021.  And they talk about the UK release of September 30th in the UK.

We think we will wait until the official notification from Eon Productions and the studios.  Digital posters with dates are easy to make at virtually no cost! We have seen similar posters for all the other “release” dates as well.   Let’s just hope the world is ready for people to return to theaters and we can finally see No Time To Die – and on a big screen!

Ana de Armas view as a Bond Girl!

Back to Ana – sure why not?! DigitalSpy.com released this article,   on March  6th called, No Time to Die star Ana de Armas on being a Bond girl In the article, they reference Ana de Armas having spoken to Vogue about joining the Bond team, and what makes her character, Paloma in No Time To Die different from previous Bond girls.

A snippet of what she says: “Paloma is a really beautiful woman in her own way – and she’s badass and very glamorous.”

We at SpyMovieNavigator.com think we will see more Bond women who are beautiful, and also tough characters who can stand on their own.   We saw that early on, in Licence to Kill with Carey Lowell’s character, Pam Bouvier.  We will see more – as it should be!

In a contest by NerdBear.com, you can get paid to watch all 24 Eon Productions 007 movies.  NerdBear will pay one fan $1000 and a $50 AMC gift card to watch them all in 30 days. Also included is a $100 Amazon gift card to rent the movies on Amazon Prime. The winner will be required to watch all 24 movies and complete a simple worksheet over 30 day.  Go to this NerdBear.com webpage for all the details.  The closing date for entry into the competition is April 16, 2021 at 12:00 PM EST.

No Time To Die Still Expected To Smash Box Office

Mike Reyes  tells us in this CinemaBlend.com article that the 5-time delayed No Time To Die should still be a hit.  With so many people having been locked up during the pandemic, they are looking for nights out.  This being the last Daniel Craig movie also helps fuel the desire to see the movie.  Plus, we’re talking about James Bond here.

Could the new James Bond be Henry Cavill?

Ok, so this is just speculation on our part here at Spy Movie Navigator.  But in this article on MovieWeb.com, the rumor is that Henry Cavill won’t be cast as Superman in the upcoming reboot.  The article doesn’t mention it, but could be because Cavill will be locked up playing James Bond?  I guess this is how rumors start.

 

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON GETS ITS LEAD

This article on HollywoodReporter.com touts the signing of Jesse Plemons to star in the upcoming Martin Scorsese movie Killers of the Flower Moon.  Jesse will play an FBI agent.  Lilly Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro round out the leads.   Killers of the Flower Moon is expected to shoot this May to late summer.

 

AGENT GAME SIGNS KEY ROLES

In this article on Deadline.com, by Amanda N’Duka, we find out that Dermot Mulroney, Katherine McNamara, Rhys Coiro , Annie Ilonzeh , and Mel Gibson have been signed for the movie Agent Game.  This spy thriller has Mulroney starring as a CIA officer who is involved with relocating foreign nationals.   When Washington has a political change, he finds that the people he thought were his friends are now his enemies.

 

BOON PICKS UP GROSSE FOR KEY ROLE

Demetrius Grosse is joining the Derek Presley-directed movie Boon in the role of Agent Redd.  According to this article on Deadline.com, Boon “is described as a “strong, burnt out FBI agent on a personal mission to find and bring in an assassin that is causing turmoil to a few criminal organizations.”  His long-time friend gets killed and he is out for vengeance.

 

NETFLIX PICKS UP OPERATION MINCEMEAT

We’ve talked about Operation Mincemeat, the actual operation, in our podcast Spy Movies & Real-World Connections and our podcast on the movie The Silent Enemy.  This was a real World-War II espionage operation focused on a dead man.  We don’t want to give any more away. Well, this article on Deadline.com discusses how Netflix has bought the North and Latin America rights for already completed Colin Firth movie called Operation Mincemeat which is based on this real-life operation.  The movie counts Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald, and Penelope Wilton among its cast members.  This one will be high on our “to-see” list when it releases.

 

RED NOTICE

Speaking of Netflix, Red Notice is still scheduled to premiere on Netflix in 2021.  Of course, looking at Red Notice, it’s about an Interpol agent tracking an art thief.   And  in real life, a Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.

Additionally, as reported by CinemaBlend.com, Dwayne Johnson, who collaborated on and will star in Red Notice, has attached himself to another project, Teddy and the Guardians of the Night which has been picked up by Netflix.   While not a spy movie, it is about teddy bear protecting a sleeping child from a monster.  Johnson is growing his bond with Netflix.

 

INDUSTRY NEWS

New York City Movie Theaters Start To Reopen

Branden Roberts reports in this article on CinemaBlend.com, that New York City theaters are able to open for the first time since the pandemic started.   Capacity will be limited to 25% and up to 50 people.  We see this as a huge step forward and gives us hope that maybe, Black Widow will finally get released on its now targeted May 7th, release date.

 

Paramount+ announces a 45-day release window on 2 movies

Jon Fuge reports in this article on MovieWeb.com, that Mission: Impossible 7 and A Quiet Place 2 will stream on Paramount+ 45 days after the theatrical release.  This is a nice hype-move for promoting the new Paramount+ service.  It also gives some clarity to the Theater vs. Streaming release window debate on release schedules that have been mangled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We’ve previously reported on the tension between movie theaters and movie production companies about how long a window the theaters will have before a movie hits streaming services (if there is a delay at all).

This past weekend Cinemark, Harkins, and Cineplex theaters decided not to show Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon in its theaters because of this tension.  They were supposed to but because Disney announced a simultaneous release at the theater and on Disney Plus, these three chains decided to play hardball and cancelled their showings.

It’s good to see Paramount announce this early like this so we know the ground rules.   Not all releases will have this long of a “in-theaters first” window.  Historically, the window was about 90 days so these changes put more pressure on the theater chains.

The industry is changing with all of the streaming competition and the desire to have theaters survive.  This will be interesting to watch play out.

 

IN MEMORIAM

We are sad to announce that the spy movie world has lost two more of its cast and crew.

William P. Cartlidge (1942-2021)

As posted on 007.com, Bond associate producer and assistant director, William P. Cartlidge, who worked on 3 James Bond movies directed by Lewis Gilbert has died.  He had worked on You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker.  He had a 30 year directing and producing relationship with Gilbert.

Ronald Pickup (1940-2021)

Variety reports, that Ronald Pickup, who James Bond fans would know from his role as Elliott in the movie Never Say Never Again, has passed away.  He had a 54-year career and some of his other memorable roles include Norman Cousins in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Neville Chamberlain in Darkest Hour.

 

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for March 9th  2021.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and InstaGram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!


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Spy Move News Article Feb 16, 2021 No Time To Die, M:I 7, Disney, Streaming, Black Widow More!

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

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Here’s our February 16, 2021 edition of Spy Movie News with updates on spy movies and TV series, Black Widow Mission: Impossible 7No Time to Die, a Jinx script?, Tom HollandRalph Fiennesa Disney studio shuttered The Gray ManJack Ryan and more!   Let’s go! 

SPY MOVIES TURNED INTO TV SERIES 

 Movies get made into series and series get made into movies.   This time, the industry is retreading two movies from the 1990s and 2000s into series. 

TRUE LIES ON CBS 

The spy movie True Lies has been given the first pilot order of 2021-2022 for CBS.  This is the second attempt to get a pilot made of a tv show based on the movie.  Fox made a pilot commitment in 2017.   The movie was a fun spy movie with Jamie Lee Curtis’ character, Helen, finding out that her husband Harry, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger was an international spy. 

You can read more about it on Variety.com in this article.  

Mr. & MRS. SMITH

The Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie about assassins hired to kill each was released in 2005.  It has been announced that Mr. & Mrs. Smith will be brought out as a 2022 series by New Regency and Amazon Prime Video.  This series will have two of the hottest names in the industry starring and executive producing the series. Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are both signed up in these roles. 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a fun movie, and with Donald and Phoebe involved is likely to be a fun series too. 

You can read more about this in this article on Variety.com

DISNEY IS STILL PLANNING TO RELEASE BLACK WIDOW THEATRICALLY 

In our last Spy Movie News, we reported that the Marvel CEO, Herb Schribner hinted that Black Widow could possibly debut on Disney +.  Well,  Not so fast.  According to an article on Variety.com, Disney CEO Bob Chapek in discussing Black Widow says, “We are still intending it to be a theatrical release”.  However, he did not say if they are still planning the scheduled May 7, 2021 release date.  If it does release to theaters on May 7, it would be the first tentpole movie to release this year.  “We’re going to be watching very carefully the reopening of theaters and consumer sentiment on going back to theaters,” he added.  

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 

Cinemablend Says This Is What They Know About Mission: Impossible 7 

 According to this article on CinemaBlend.com, we know this about Mission: Impossible 7: 

  • The current release date is November 19, 2021.  As we all know too well, due to the pandemic, any movie release dates could change. 
  • Mission: Impossible 8 will follow a year later with a targeted release date of November 4, 2022. 
  • Christopher McQuarrie is directing both M: I 7 & 8, although in 2018 he was quoted as saying he’d “rather have leprosy” than direct M: I 7.  So that was either a negotiating strategy or maybe it was like Daniel Craig’s quote about doing another James Bond movie back in 2015 when he said “I’d rather slash my wrists than play James Bond again” as he was just tired when asked right after production wrapped. 
  • Of course, we know the cast – no surprise with most of the filming finished 
  • It will likely get a PG-13 rating like the earlier Mission: Impossible movies 

FILMING AT JAKKU FROM STAR WARS 

An article on CinemaBlend.com tells us that Mission: Impossible 7 has filmed in the same United Arab Emirates desert that Star Wars: The Force Awakens shot its scenes of Jakku.  It has a picture of Simon Pegg, who plays Benji in the MI series, sandboarding on the desert.  Simon appeared as Unkar Plutt in The Force Awakens so he’s now filmed two movies in the same desert. 

But . . . Well, this article on DailySabah.com reports that Mission: Impossible 7 was just filming in the United Arab Emirates as we said – until February 12th 2021 when the UK issued new travel restrictions for people coming into the UK from 33 “red listed” countries – meaning that starting February 15th – anyway coming into the UK must quarantine for 10 days and pay 1750 pounds for hotel accommodations to quarantine them.   The crew and cast basically demanded to be returned home before this went into effect.   And they were returned home over the last weekend.  

They expect, of course, because of this, more delays – but they will continue filming in England.  Mission: Impossible 7 is still scheduled for a November 2021 release.  

 

JAMES BOND 

 No Time To Die

Well, technology waits for no one.  The Nokia product placements in No Time To Die are now . . . old technology!  

In this article on GSMarena.com, they claim that the Nokia spots, now featuring the Nokia 8.3 5G phone must be reshot – as their 2019 phone is not looking so shiny and new in 2021. 

What about other sponsors like Adidas, Bollinger, Omega watches and so on?    We will see – these are unprecedented times and unheard of delays in releasing movies.   So,  this different approach may be required.   Makes sense. 

Jinx Script Online? 

 After Die Another Day was released, there was supposedly a spin-off in development based on Halle Berry’s character, Jinx.  That movie was never released, but according to this article on CinemaBlend.com,  a script attributed to Neal Purvis and Robert Wade has surfaced.   

The movie was reportedly going to tell the pre-Die Another Day backstory on Jinx.  It supposedly was to have Michael Madsen as Damian Falco as her handler.  That would have been interesting to see.  Maybe it would have been better than our opinion of Die Another Day. 

The article mentions that there are now rumors of spinoffs of the characters Moneypenny and Nomi.  This could get interesting.

Ralph Fiennes Would Like to Continue As M After No Time To Die 

Mike Reyes has this article in CinemaBlend.com in which Ralph Fiennes says “If anyone from Eon Films is listening, I’m very keen to continue training the new Bond.  I love playing M, and I love being part of the franchise.”   Given how well he plays the role, and wit the history of the James Bond movies keeping the main supporting actors while the James Bond actor changes, we hope Eon listens to him and keeps him.     

Tom Holland Would Love To Play James Bond 

24-year old Tom Holland talks about how he would love to play James Bond in an article on movieweb.com.  The article, while talking about Holland’s age mentions that Henry Cavill, when 22,  first auditioned for the role of Bond for Casino Royalebut lost to Daniel Craig.  

The article suggests Holland, being so young, may be better suited for The Kingsmen series which has used younger actors in its leading role. 

We think, who knows, by the time the next Bond movie after No Time To Die finally releases, maybe Holland will be in his 30s.   He’s played Peter Parker in the Spiderman movies and was the voice of Walter in the spy movie for kids, Spies in Disguise.  So, he may be too famous for EON to consider him for the role as some of their choices for Bond have been less famous actors. 

 

Will Future James Bond movies End Up On a Streaming Service? 

We mentioned in our December 29, 2020, Spy Movie News that MGM might be looking to sell.  So, with the pandemic delay costing MGM around $1 million a month in interest, it is rumored that MGM is looking for a buyer.  A couple of articles have updated information on this. 

This article on CinemaBlend.com discusses this rumor and points to an article on Forbes.com which says that MGM wants $9-10 billion and Forbes doesn’t think they will get it.  MGM has tried selling itself twice before.  However, the current rumors are that Amazon Studios might be interested. 

Both articles point out that Eon Productions can throw a wrench into any sale.  If a service like Amazon bought the franchise, Eon Productions would wanto be able to have an exclusive all of the Eon Bond movie, past and future.  Currently, multiple platforms have streaming rights to the various previous Bond movies. 

We here at Spy Movie Navigator will continue to monitor the situation and let you know if anything changes. 

James Bond First Edition Books For Sale 

This article on MovieWeb.com points out that a collection of the first edition of James Bond books is selling for more than $600,000.  Ten of the books have personal inscriptions from Ian Fleming. 

Even though we at Spy Movie Navigator are not in the market for these first editionswe did visit the Reading Room in the Lilly Library at Indiana University – Bloomington Indiana to read their collection of the original Fleming manuscripts, including Fleming’s hand-written notes (like Moneypenny’s name change) – exciting!  The Reading Room at the library is closed until the end of the year for renovations and you need a reservation to view the manuscripts.  However, if you have an opportunity in 2022, it is worth a visit for any James Bond fan.  Yes, you won’t own the books, but you won’t have to shell out $600,000 to read them either (there is no charge to read them in the reading room). 

We have a 2-part podcast on our trip that you can find on this link on our website.

  

STUDIO BEHIND SPIES IN DISGUISE SHUTTERED BY DISNEY 

Disney has decided to shut down the animation studio Blue Sky Studios.  Blue Sky was responsible for the Ice Age seriesThe Peanuts Movie as well as one of our favorite spy movies for kids,  Spies in Disguise, which was released after Disney bought the studio as part of its deal with 21st Century Fox in 2019. 

This news saddens us, as we had hoped that Spies in Disguise could have been turned into a series of movies.  The characters of Walter and Lance could have evolved to a Q and Bond-type of relationship in future movies.  The gimmick of Lance turning into a pigeon worked for Spies in Disguise, but wouldn’t have to be repeated in future movies.  However, Walter’s gimmicks could be there to help Lance out.  Oh well, another good idea shuttered as the original movie only grossed $171 million worldwide against an estimated $100 million budget.   It’s frustrating to see that a movie that only made $71 million over it budget is considered unworthy of a follow-up.

This article on HollywoodReporter.com gives more details.

FACE/OFF (2?) 

Paramount Pictures is bringing out a new Face/Off and has signed Adam Wingard to direct and co-write the movie.  In this February 11th article on Movieweb.com, it is implied this will be a remake. 

The original 1997 movie starred John Travolta as an FBI agent and Nicholas Cage as the villainIt was an interesting, albeit improbable plot, but an entertaining movie with Travolta and especially Cage’s performance.  Not many people can play a lunatic better than Cage in our opinion.   Seeing Travolta playing the lunatic Cage’s character was fun. 

However, in this February 12th article on Movieweb.com, Wingard states that this wont be a reboot or a remake, but rather a sequel to the movie.  Given how the 1997 Face/Off ended, it will be interesting to see how Wingard makes this a sequel. 

 

The Gray Man 

In our December 29th Spy Movie News, we talked about how COVID-19 was delaying production of the movie The Gray Man.   Now, in this article on Movieweb.com, more information about the movie is coming to light.  Production has been pushed to March.   This movie supposedly has a $200 million budget and stars Chris Evans as the CIA agent, Gray Man,  who tracks  Gentry, played by Ryan Gosling.   Ana De Armas, of No Time To Die and Knives Out fame, has also joined the production.  She starred in Knives Out with Chris Evans who was the bad guy. 

The Gray Man is based on the novel by Mark Greaney and is being directed by Joe and Anthony Russo.  Joe Russo says “This is being conceived as a series of films, and again, potentially branching out, we could follow other characters, but we’re not gonna answer every question in the movie.”  The Russos call this a “ modern interpretation of a spy thriller’ inspired by the Bond franchise 

 

WHO OWNS JACK RYAN? 

This article on HollywoodReporter.com discusses a judge’s dilemma trying to untangle the mess of who owns the rights to the Jack Ryan character that was created by Tom Clancy. Instead of the judge deciding, this will either go to trial or be settled.  The judge says that a reasonable jury could differ on what the evidence suggests.  However,  as the article puts it “A dispute with the publisher. A Divorce. A Death. A Copyright Termination” all contribute to the problem. 

We’ll be watching this one as it is a legal nightmare based on the history of agreements and even the rights to the character are being challenged by Clancy’s ex-wife, Wanda King. 

Five Eyes 

In this Deadline.com piece, Hugh Grant, who we reported in the last Spy Movie News was, more than likely,  joining the Five Eyes team speaks here of his role in “The Undoing” and his respect for Guy Ritchie who is directing Five Eyes.  He said, “ He changes the titles of his films every Tuesday but for the moment it’s called that,” Grant said, adding that his role will be “quite different” from the last Ritchie film he did, The Gentleman. 

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for February 16, 2021.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and InstaGram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!  

Spy Movie News Article 1/26/21: No Time to Die, M:I, Black Widow, The King’s Man, and More

Contributed by: Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato - Spy Movie Navigator

Posted on

Here’s our January 26 2021 edition of Spy Movie News – a new spy thriller starts production, more Bond rumors and No Time to Die release date, Mission: Impossible robots, The Kings Man, Black Widow, Five Eyes, Red Notice, Industry News, and more!……  Let’s go!

NO TIME TO DIE

No Time to Wait for April – No Time To Die Slips again

Well, amidst lots of worry and drama, it appears, at this time, No Time to Die is scheduled for release now in October 2021. Check out @007 on Twitter for the official announcement.

Our Opinion: We think Eon and the studios are right. The world is not ready for a theatrical release. Too much risk – health wise for viewers, financially for Eon and the studios.

James Bond Replacement – more rumors!

Well, the IrishPost.com suggests that Irish star of Peaky Blinders, Cillian Murphy could be the next James Bond!

The article of January 20, 2021 suggests that his odds of playing Bond has been slashed from 16 – 1 to 10-1! Of course, he is Irish, and if selected he would be the second Irishman to play Bond – Pierce Brosnan of course being the first.

The same article says that the other Peaky Blinders star, Tom Hardy, still holds a promising 2-1 odds on favorite to play Bond. See all the details on IrishPost.com/news!

Additional potential Bond’s are mentioned in a January 2021 GQ Magazine article – like Michael B. Jordan (an American), Sam Heughan, Michael Fassbender and others! Read about it here on GQ-MAgazine.co.uk.

Well, Eon Productions and the studios might have more time to decide as No Time to Die slips to October 2021, and most certainly no announcement of the next Bond will take place before its release.

 

DOUG LIMAN THINKS DANIEL CRAIG’S BOND COPIED THE BOURNE IDENTITY

In an article on CinemaBlend.com, Bourne Identity director, Doug Liman says “After the Bourne Identity came out, the next James Bond to come out was Casino Royale, which totally copied the tone of Bourne. I had a very surreal thing where I was sort of making Bourne because I really wanted to make Bond, and then Bond copied Bourne.”

Also for those who don’t remember, Liman will be directing the upcoming Tom Cruise movie in space.

You can read the whole article here on CinemaBlend.com.

 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

OK, we all know that Tom Cruise got upset last month on the set when he felt some of the staff were not adhering to their stick Covid safety protocols – it is reported he saw a couple of people close together at a computer screen.

Well, his rant is well-known. So, is he trusting the crew now? Well, in this January 20th article on SpotBoye.com it is reported that Cruise how has robots watching the crew, and these robots can also scan the crew for Covid – 19. Wow.

Ah, but this SlashFilm.com article set the record straight and says basically there are automated Covid testing machine robots on site.    

Our opinion: They are state-in-the-art on safety and cruise wants to keep it that way. We give him a lot of credit for driving the safety issue so consistently – it means lives and continuation of production saved. All good.

Mission Impossible 7 is scheduled for release November 19 2021 in the US.

 

THE KING’S MAN

The King’s Man release date, having slipped from September 2020 to February 2021, to March 2021 and now to August 20 2021 according to CinemaBlend.com.

Like so many other movies scheduled to 2020, then rescheduled many times., The King’s Man joins suit.

Let’s hope the second half of 2021 sees a rejuvenation of the theater release of so many movies we have been waiting for.

See this CinemaBlend.com article for the details.

Speaking of The King’s Man . . .

ScreenRant also reports that seven Kingsman movies are currently in the works with Marv Group and director Matthew Vaughn!

See this article on ScreenRant.com for the details!

 

BLACK WIDOW

In this short article at DeSecret.com, by Herb Schribner, he talks about the Marvel CEO hinting that Black Widow could possibly debut on Disney+

Of course the CEO says he basically doesn’t have a crystal ball – so we will wait for more news.

 

INDUSTRY NEWS

Streaming Through Hollywood

Speaking of streaming, a January 21st 2021 article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that streaming has hit Hollywood fast. Changes in the management ranks are in the works, as they look for execs with business development, technology and strategy backgrounds to basically deal with the new world of movie watching. They are keeping an eye on Apple, Amazon (Prime) and Netflix to see how much they are investing in their movies and shows and how many subscribers they, HBO, Disney+ and others are capturing – and how long exclusive releases in theaters might continue.

Nice read – check it out here at the WSJ.com.

Wow – the world is changing.

Has the COVID-19 pandemic brought out a new use for theaters?

With the dearth of movies that are able to be shown in theaters or them being shut by decree, one movie theater in North Carolina here in the US is being used as a vaccine distribution center, allowing the local administration from a few hundred vaccines a day to about 1,300 a day. The theater is bearing the costs of operating. While we applaud this, let’s hope that this will be a short-term use of theaters and that we can go to them to watch movies soon.

You can read more about this in this article on Variety.com.

 

FIVE EYES WILL BE GETTING A NEW NAME AND IT LOOKS LIKE HUGH GRANT TOO

In our September 15th edition, we mentioned that the rights to the spy action thriller, Five Eyes had been awarded to Leonine. Back then we announced that Jason Statham would be starring in this Guy Ritchie directed movie. Well, here’s an update: According to this article on DigitalSpy.com, it looks like Hugh Grant will be joining this movie. Hugh’s deal isn’t done yet, but work is being done to land him.
According to this article on prnewswire.com, this movie is officially untitled, meaning that it is not going to be called Five Eyes. Production of the movie has started in Qatar. Joining Jason Stratham, who will play MI6 agent Orson Fortune, will be teaming with has Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, and Bugzy Malone. We’ll keep a watch on this one, especially with that cast.

 

WHAT’S UP WITH RED NOTICE?

CinemaBlend.com has an article which talks about what we know about the upcoming movie, Red Notice. Although a release date hasn’t been announced, it is expected this Netflix movie will release in 2021 as filming has been completed. Dwayne Johnson’s character is an FBI Profiler, hunting a pair of thieves. Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot are a conman and art thief. There is at least on big chase sequence.

Check out this article on CinemaBlend.com for the details.

 

NETFLIX HAS A HEART OF STONE

Variety.com reports that Netflix has obtained the rights to the Gal Gadot espionage thriller, Heart of Stone. Gal is really making her way in the espionage movie game. We mentioned her as being in Red Notice and now Heart of Stone.

This movie hasn’t started filming yet and we haven’t seen a scheduled release date. They are keeping the plot quiet too. So, we’ll just have to wait to find out.

You can read about this here on Variety.com.

 

IN MEMORIAM:

Michael Apted

Michael Apted has passed away January 7th at the age of 79. He was a British director who, in the Bond world, directed The World is Not Enough. He also directed the Up series, and Coal Miner’s Daughter. @007 on Twitter posted: “He was a director of enormous talent and range and unique in his ability to move effortlessly and successfully between all genres. He was beloved by all those who worked with him.”

Rémy Julienne

Top French auto-stunt coordinator who worked on six James Bond movies and has over 1,400 movie credits has passed. He was 90 years old. His work on James Bond movies started with For Your Eyes Only where he created the Citroen Deux Cheveux chase and motorbike fight in Cortina d’Ampezzo Italy and continued through GoldenEye.

You can read more about Julienne in our SPYmdb on our website by clicking here.

You can read stories on 007.com and Deadline.com as well.

 

We hope you liked our January 26, 2021 edition of Spy Movie News.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and InstaGram too! Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!

Spy Movie News – January 12, 2021

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Here is our January 12 2021 edition of Spy Movie News with Mission: Impossible 7, The 355 . . . lots of James Bond and 007 news, AMC movie theaters and more!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 FILMING AGAIN

After the holiday break and post-rant by Tom Cruise, Mission: Impossible 7 returns to the UK for filming according to ScreenRant.com

Production is moving to Longcross Film Studios in Surrey in southeast England, and it is expected that principal photography will be wrapped up there.

But England is on Covid lockdown again – Literally as we are writing this, Boris Johnson declared a Tier-5 lockdown for the England.  Film productions are expected to be able to continue as long as they stay within bubbles and adhere to covid-safe regulations.

We wish them the best and that they can get the principal photography wrapped up safely.

Principal photography, we remember is the phase of film production in which the bulk of the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production work.

See this article on ScreenRant.com for the whole story.

 

JAMES BOND AND 007 NEWS

NO TIME TO DIE – IS IT DELAYED UNTIL NOVEMBER, 2021?

First, let’s start with a No Time To Die delay rumor – thePlayList.net on Jan 11, 2021 says a Dutch cinema owner claims to have inside knowledge about it being delayed until Nov 2021.   No word from MGM or Eon on this – so who knows.   If so, CinemaBlend.com in Jan 8th article says, if another delay, at least put a new trailer out for the world to see. Let’s buckle up and see what happens. 

You can read the PlayList.net article here.  You can read the CinemaBlend.com article here.

RAMI’S MOVIE, THE LITTLE THINGS, BEATS NO TIME TO DIE TO RELEASE

Rami Malik shot a movie, The Little Things around the time filming on No Time To Die was wrapping up.   The Little Things stars three Oscar winners (Malik, Denzel Washington, and Jared Leto).  This movie will have its release the last weekend of January, 2021 in the US with its UK release February 12th.   This will beat the No Time To Die release by just over two months.

In the article about The Little Things on digitalspy.com, they add this nugget about Malik’s character, Safin in No Time To Die:

No Time to Die director Cary Fukunaga recently teased that Malek’s villain Safin is set to be even “bigger” than Blofeld.

“Rami belongs in that company and in the same breath as any of the truly great actors,” Fukunaga said. “The awards tell you that but so does his work.

“Once we got into Christoph Waltz/Blofeld territory, you can’t go small again. We had to think bigger.”

You can read the article on DigitalSpy.com here.

 IS THIS STAR FROM BRIGERTON THE NEXT 007?

An article on CinemaBlend.com asks “Could a Bridgerton Star Take Over As 007?”  It points out a tweet by Regé-Jean Page which says “Regency, royalty” “ Shaken and Stirred” and discusses the possibility of him taking the Bond mantle.

He was born in Zimbabwe and schooled in the UK and is only 31 years old. This means he could hold the role for many Bond movies.  That’s 10 years younger than many of the names talked about for Bond.  Given the latest EON Productions release schedules, that means maybe Regé -Jean could play Bond in the 6 or 7 movies they release over the next 25 years.

OUR OPINION: The speculation around who will be the next Bond is fun, harmless, and we won’t know for sure until Eon Productions tells us, likely after the release of No Time To Die.  All we know is that the first comment Tom’s wife said to him when she watched Bridgerton was: “He should be the next James Bond”.   OK – there you go!  Actually, he might be a good choice!  He has the look!

You can read the article here on CinemaBlend.com.

OH, BILLIE

19-year old Billie Eilish has some “interesting” publicity.  This is probably not what EON Productions wants in the ramp up to  the release of No Time To Die. According to CinemaBlend.com, Billie lost thousands of followers on Instagram after posting some nude drawings.  Her count is back up, but it shows how important image is in today’s world.

You can read this article here at CinemaBlend.com:

OUR OPINION: Yeah, if you don’t like what she’s doing on Instagram you can choose not to follow her.  Of her 73 million followers, she lost about 100,000.  But as of this recording, she is at 73, 500,000 followers.   Ah – social media!

DID WE ALMOST GET A STEVEN SODERBERGH DIRECTED JAMES BOND MOVIE? 

Adreon Patterson reports in a CinemaBlend.com article about how Steven Soderbergh  and Eon Productions tried to come to an agreement on him directing a Bond movie.  He’s directed movies like Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, Contagion AND LOTS more  – he has directed 28 feature films and eight television programs.

While there were “some great conversations” they “just couldn’t figure it out”.  It would have been interesting to see what Soderbergh and Eon Productions would have produced.

You can read the article here on CinemaBlend.com.

GEMMA ARTERTON SAYS THAT STRAWBERRY FIELDS SHOULD HAVE “JUST SAID NO” 

Mike Reyes has an article where Gemma Arterton discusses her role as Strawberry Fields in Quantum of Solace.  She says “As I got older I realized there was so much wrong with Bond women”.   Well, changing roles for women do appear to be the direction Eon Productions is headed so maybe Arterton isn’t alone in her thinking.

Her comments make us wonder what she’d say now about the movie she did after QuantumThe Disappearance of Alice Creed. 

You can read the article here on Cinemablend.com.

JANE SEYMOUR INCAPACITATED ROGER MOORE

In another CinemaBlend.com article, Jane Seymour discusses that while filming a scene for Live and Let Die, Roger Moore kept her from getting hurt during an accident.  It was when she and Roger were being lowered into Kananga’s lair from the gravestone.  However, her body’s reaction ended up with her full body weight striking Roger’s, um, privates.  Roger was out of circulation for two days!  The article also discusses some of the other challenges they had shooting Live and Let Die giving us some insight we probably didn’t know.  It’s great to read some of these back-stage happenings discussions.

You can read it about it here on CinemaBlend.com.

Speaking of villains lairs . . .

WHAT WOULD A BOND VILLIAN LAIR GO FOR TODAY?

Carla Passino gives us an interesting look at what it would take to buy a Bond Villian’s lair today, topping out at 33.6 million pounds for the Monsoon Palace from Octopussy down to Auric Goldfinger’s stud farm in Kentucky which they price at 2.5 million pounds.

It’s a fun read that you can find on CountryLife.co.uk.  “No Mr Bond, I expect you to buy: The most expensive Bond villains’ lairs – Country Life”

Last in our Bond section, two sad notes:

Sadly, Tanya Roberts, who played Stacey Sutton in A View to a Kill, passed away at the age of 65, in Los Angeles California.   She was loved in life, and apparently was a very nice person who appreciated her fans.  Read about it here at Variety.com.

In a similar sad note, Michael Apted, who directed The World Is Not Enough, passed away.  He was 79.  This British director, who was president of the Directors Guild of America from 2003-2009, helmed The Coal Miner’s Daughter, Nell, Gorillas in the Mist, the Up series of documentaries, and many other movies and television shows.   You can read more about Michael here at Variety.com.

 

THE 355

The 355 movie, starring Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger and Lupita Nyong’o – a female-dominated heist thriller movie –  has pushed its release date back a whole year – from January 15, 2021 to January 14, 2022.  The movie follows international spies trying to stop a world -changing event.  5 women form a faction called 355.

You can read about it here on ScreenRant.com.

 

HOLLYWOOD STILL ON HOLD 

According to this article on MovieWeb.Com, most Hollywood productions will remain on hiatus until at least mid-January as we all deal with the COVID pandemic.

 

AMC THEATRES TRYING TO RAISE $125 MILLION TO FIGHT OFF BANKRUPTCY 

In another sign of the struggles for the movie industry, AMC is seeking to sell up to 50 million shares of stock to avoid bankruptcy.  They say that if they fail to raise the funds, bankruptcy is likely.

This really shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on the restaurant and entertainment business.  We’re hoping that with vaccines starting around the world that they will be able to sell tickets and not just stock to keep going.

You can read the article here on MovieWeb.com.

 

THE MOLE AGENT IS CHILE’S OFFICIAL SELECTION AS BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FOR THE ACCADEMY AWARDS 

Ok, so we thought we’d end with this one. This documentary is more about an undercover detective than what we would consider a spy movie, but, we love the name and the premise.  This Spanish-language movie with English subtitles is about an “agent” recruited to detect the reality of what is happening in a nursing home.  As the movie’s director says: “He was the worst spy in the world”.   The Mole Agent is a documentary of an undercover operation, but it has spy written all over it in a touching way.  No, no huge explosions or weapons, just sleuthing.

Read about it here at Deadline.com

 

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for January 12, 2021.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and Instagram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!

Spy Movie News Article Dec 29, 2020 MGM for Sale, NTTD, Mission: Impossible rant, The Survivalist, Tenet Costumes & More!

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Here’s our December 29, 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with MGM maybe looking for a sale, No Time to Die title song, James Bond comic, Mission: Impossible spaced-out?, The Tom Cruise rant Jet-Pack man on video, Tenet, The Gray Man, Black Widow,, The King’s Man, The Survivalist, Red Notice and a couple of memorials. Let’s go!

We have this article available as a podcast if you would rather listen to it than read it. You’ll find that here.

MGM LOOKING TO SELL?

The Wall Street Journal reported on December 21,2020 that MGM Holdings Inc. is looking into a sale thinking that its library of content might prove to be an attractive offering for other companies looking to expand their streaming service.   Big tech companies, the article says, are logical targets for buying the company.

LATimes.com reports that Apple and Amazon had been previously pegged as potential suitors, but that has apparently passed.

Our opinion:  no one knows what this means yet – if there will be a sale, if there are interested buyers, if MGM Holdings Inc will sell the whole company or streaming rights to all or some of their vast library of content.   And what this means to us Bond fans, waiting for No Time To Die.  MGM is a closely held company, meaning there are limited number of shareholders and is privately held.    And how does DANJAQ (the Eon Productions company) play into this decision?   Our only concern is this:  Please don’t sell it to Disney, or we may never see James Bond as James Bond again!  This might get complicated!

See the whole article at wsj.com if you have a subscription.  Or you can read about it in this article on FoxBusiness.com or at this LaTimes.com article.

What is the impact of the WarnerMedia announcement on all of this?

In a related article, complicating things even more, FilmStories.co.uk released an article December 7 2020, by Simon Brew, suggesting that things are even more complicated when it comes to No Time To Die potential streaming or MGM sale.  The WarnerMedia announcement, which we covered in our December 8, 2020 Spy Move News, said they are releasing their content in theaters and through streaming services.  So, this puts pressure on other studios.

But, we just talked about MGM’s possible sale, and this article points out how complicated this can get.  More than one studio is involved here: the article says in the US, the film will be released by MGM/United Artists Releasing, while outside of America it’s a Universal release.

MGM/United Artists and Universal don’t necessarily think alike: they have different approaches and so there must be consensus.  And of course, we have Eon Productions that must be happy about any plan.

And we have the overwhelming feeling from the powers that be that No Time to Die is a big screen event.   And a lot of the big screen theater release stuff is coming from Eon Productions – remember a streaming deal fell apart a few months ago.

So, consensus is always a difficult task and here we have. That agreement also has to satisfy the James Bond overlords, Eon Productions too.

But also, there’s an arguably even bigger discussion: because much like TENET last summer, No Time To Die is seen as absolutely a cinema film.

You can read the article on filmstories.co.uk here

JAMES BOND


No Time to Die

Speaking of No Time To Die, in a CinemaBlend.com article December 22 2020, called “No Time To Die Singer Billie Eilish Describes ‘Rough’ Reaction To Her Theme Song,” Billie Eilish talks about how rough it was when the title song she wrote with her brother was released.

She said that the theme was not well-received by Bond fan traditionalists, but she hinted that people kept an open mind about it.

Our opinion: We kept an open mind about it, and so we think Billie is right.  At first, we did not like the title/theme some very much.  But after many listens, it grew on us and now we think it is a fitting piece for the new (well kinda new) film, No Time To Die. What do you think? We did a podcast analyzing the lyrics of Billie Eilish’s song that you can listen to here. – or through your favorite podcast app where you can  subscribe to our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies.
You can read the full article at CinemaBlend.com.


New James Bond Comic

According to an article on Hollywoodreporter.com, Dynamite Entertainment will debut its newest comic entitled James Bond: Agent of SPECTRE in March, 2021. You can read more about this here on HollywoodReporter.com.

Who is this guy in the picture from Dr. No?   

An article on The Spy Command talks about the “controversy” as to who the third person in a lobby card photo is.  Ursula Andress and Sean Connery are easy to identify but the third person has caused a bit of a stir.  This conversation started on our own SpyMovieNavigator Facebook page.  The Spy Command shows some pictures identifying the third person as Jack Lord.  You can read about it here on The Spy Command’s post.

The Return of Jet Pack man?

We’ve previously reported on the sightings in Los Angeles area of a person flying in a jet pack (we remember the jetpack / rocket belt from Thunderball.  We’ll he’s back and this time there is video footage on thedrive.com.  It is hard to tell from the video if the object is a person in a jetpack or a drone, but it’s compelling video nonetheless.  You can read the article and see the video here on thedrive.com.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7

Tom Cruise’s rant, and walking on eggshells!

In a FoxNews.Com article by Jessica Napoli, entitled: “Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ crew is ‘walking on eggshells’ after his rant: report”

Well, we have heard by now that Tom Cruise pretty much yelled at the crew for violating Covid safety protocols while filming Mission: Impossible.

The article reports this has put the crew on edge, threatening them that if he sees it again, they are gone.

Cruise warned them that they are not going to shut this movie down.

Our opinion: the rant was real using a lot of f-bombs, but we have to remember that Cruise spent between $500,000 – $600,000 renting cruise ships to house the crew and actors while filming in Norway – to keep them safe and top keep production going.  So, he was miffed.   Anyway, we think it is amazing they have accomplished what they have filming in the UK, Norway, Italy all during this pandemic.

See this article on FoxNews.com for the full story.

Complex.com reported on December 17, 2020, that 5 crew members quit after the Tom Cruise rant.  They quote The Sun as a source.   Who knows!

From MI to Porn?

According to an article on movieweb.com, the five crew members who walked off of Mission: Impossible 7 after Cruise’s rant have been offered a job with an adult entertainment camming website.  The article does not say if any of them accepted the offer.

Mission: Impossible in Space?  Or Spaced-out?

We in our December 8th Spy Movie News, that Tom Cruise is trying to film on the international space station.  We’ve speculated this was for Mission: Impossible 8, but that’s just our speculation.   Now it turns out he has competition.   According to an article on CinemaBlend.com, Russian Channel One TV is trying to shoot a movie at the space station in October 2021.  This would be in direct conflict with when Cruise wants to film there.  This could get interesting.  You can read about it here on Cinemablend.com.

RED NOTICE

As we reported in a previous Spy Movie News, Red Notice wrapped up filming in November, due to some very strict Covd-19 safety protocols.   An article at CinemaBlend.com details the safety bubble concept that they used for the cast and crew, as Netflix, who has a heavy investment in the movie, was one of the first resume production during the pandemic.

There is no solid release date that we can confirm other than probably mid to late 2021.  You can read the article here on CinemaBlend.com

BLACK WIDOW

Black Widow is still on schedule to be released May 7, 2021.

THE KING’S MAN

The King’s Man is still holding for the moment at a March 12 2021 release.  This is the pre-quell to the two Kingsmen movies out already,  Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).

THE SURVIVALIST

According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, Johnathan Rhys Meyers and John Malkovich will star in the pandemic-inspired thriller called The Survivalist.  “The movie follows a former FBI agent who is must protect a young woman immune to the disease from a dangerous gang leader hunting her.” According to the article, production has wrapped, but we’ve been unable to find anything about a release date/platform. The Survivalist wraps production.  You can read about this on HollywoodReporter.com.

TENET NEWS

Variety.com has an article that talks about how the wardrobe used in TENET reflects the character’s personalities.  We don’t find too many articles with costume designers and there is a five-minute discussion with Jeffrey Kurland, the movie’s costume designer which gives a nice look at how costumes help tell the story.  You can find the article here on Variety.com.

THE GRAY MAN PRODUCTION HAS PUSHED BACK

According to an article on deadline.com, the Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans espionage thriller, The Gray Man, has had its production paused for a couple of weeks due to Covid concerns.  This is a big-budget movie based on a bestselling book series by 2009 Mark Greaney.  The article states “The Intention here is to create a new franchise with a James Bond level of scale and budget.”  You can read the article here on Deadline.com:

IN MEMORIAL

We’re sad to report that two legends in the spy movie world have died since our last Spy Movie News:

  • On December 12, 2020 we lost John le Carré, the writer of the novels behind a host of spy-stories.  His novels were responsible for the George Smiley movies, The Russia House, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tailor of Panama, The Little Drummer Girl, and others.  You can read more in this article on reuters.com.
  • On December 18, 2020 we also lost Peter Lamont.  He was the production designer or art director on 18 James Bond movies from Goldfinger through the 2006 Casino Royale.  He won an Academy Award for his work on Titanic and was nominated for his work on The Spy Who Loved Me, Fiddler on the Roof, and Aliens.  You can read more in this Hollywood Reporter Article.

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for December 29 2020.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and InstaGram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!  Thanks for listening – we appreciate it!

Spy Movie News Dec 8 2020 Article: NTTD, WarnerMedia, Women Spies, M:I, a Real James Bond, Black Widow, The 355

Contributed by: Daniel Silvestri and SpyMovieNavigator.com

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Here’s our December 8, 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with more lots of theater news as WarnerMedia drops a bombshellWomen as leads in Spy Movies in 2021James Bond updates, Dr. No prop sells for over a quarter of a million dollars, Black Widow and  Mission: Impossible and more! 

If you would rather listen to the podcast, click here!

WARNERMEDIA WITH MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT

WarnerMedia’s movies will simultaneously release on HBO Max and theaters in 2021

CNBC.com reports a big one!  Wow!   On Thursday December 3rd 2020 AT&T’s WarnerMedia announced it that it’s entire 2021 slate of films will be released directly on HBO Max at the same time they would be released in theaters. 

WarnerMedia CEO, Jason Kilar said this decision is definitely pandemic-related, and said for everyone to basically take a breather and not overreact.  Basically, he wants to see what happens over the next 6  – 10 months.   

Of course, he made no proclamations about what would happen in 2022.  But the article also reminds us all that Kilar wants to turn HBO MAX into a streaming giant to compete directly with Netflix.  

It was also pointed out that if you are a subscriber to HBO MAX then you would get the 17 movies in 2021 at no additional charge, unlike what Disney did for Mulan (which charged subscribers an additional $30 to view the movie).  Wow – that is big.  

Our Opinion: This is a major announcement for several reasons.  1) amidst the continuing global pandemic, new movie releases will be available to the HBO MAX subscribing-public.   Will other movie industry companies follow suit?  2) What impact will this have on the movie theaters and movie theater chains like AMC?   These are the ripple-affect questions that will be answered probably sooner than later.    

Check out the full article, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar doesn’t think he destroyed the movie theaters  at CNBC.com.

Movie Theater Companies in Shock

On the flipside, move theaters are in shock over the WarnerMedia announcement.   Other studios have not yet followed suit, but Universal already had deals in place with key cinema chairs that would allow for a new release to be also released on-demand only 2 weeks after a movie theater run. 

In an article at CinemaBlend.com, they claim these trends may change the entire movie-going experience.  They suggest it may change the model to more like going to live theater to see a play – maybe you do it a couple times a year, and it is a more formal event than it is now.  And more expensive.

Or they suggest theaters may morph into offering more amenities, like dinner and so, on.  Dine-in theaters have been popular for live performances and theaters make a lot of money from the food.   Could this happen for the movies as well?   They suggest it is a possibility.  Will it look more like a theater than a restaurant or more like a restaurant than a theater?  All yet to be seen.  

They suggest another scenario or two as well.    So, check out this article on CinemaBlend.com for more.

There are many articles out right now about the movie theater chains’ reaction to this recent announcement from WarnerMedia.  Here are two of them:

 

ARECIBO RADIO TELESCOPE’S CABLES SNAP 

CBS.com reported that the Arecibo Observatory radio telescope suffers major damage after cable breaks. 

The radio telescope, featured in the James Bond movie GoldenEye, and in the 1997 movie Contacthad already been scheduled for demolition, but a cable snapped, causing major damage to the telescope surface December 1st.   After a similar incident in November, the radio telescope, which has participated in the search for extra-terrestrial life on other planets in real-life (which was the theme of the movie Contact), was scheduled to be closed because of the severe damage, 

It is sad to see this iconic radio telescope go.  

Click this link to the CBS.COM article for the details.

This link to Euronews.com has a video of the collapse as it happened.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE NEWS 

Out of this world

We reported on this one before, but confirmed again in this December 5, 2020 article on Mirror.co.uk – that Tom Cruise plans to film, for real, in outer space.   Probably for Mission: Impossible 8, Tom Cruise wants to perform the ultimate stunt and take cameras beyond the Earth’s atmosphere to actually film in space, and has had discussions with the US aerospace group NASA about this already.   

Our opinion: yeah – we believe if anyone can take a movie to space, and go where no movie has gone before, it’s Tom Cruise! 

Mission: Impossible 7 car stunt 

Check out CinemaBlend.com for this December 2nd 2020 article entitled, “Latest Mission: Impossible Set Video Highlights Epic Car Stunt” 

There is a short video clip on a stunt in Rome Italy.   Kind of cool – so check it out.  

Also see this article on ScreenRant.com for a photo of the car chase scene in Rome, Italy, of Cruise in an overturned car.  All cool stuff of course – what else can we expect from Cruise? 

JAMES BOND NEWS 

That’s An Expensive Gun

According to a Variety.com December 3rd article, entitled,  Sean Connery’s ‘Dr. No’ Gun Sells for $256,000 at Auction Bond’s famous gun used in Dr. No fetched more that the projected $150,000 – $200,000 in a recent Julien’s Auctions held in Beverly Hills California.   

It was noted that this semi-automatic pistol identified in the movie as a Walther PPK is really a Walther PP.   

Oh darn!  SpyMovieNavigator.com missed out on this one!  Ha!  See, the article in Variety.com for all the details. 

NO TIME TO DIE News 

Will NTTD Be Delayed Again?

When will we ever see No Time to Die? In this December 2, 2020 article at ScreenRant.com, titled: “No Time To Die May Be Delayed For A Third Time” the article claims that there is growing pressure for another delay due to the pandemic, and speculates a bit on what that might mean. 

With other movie producers like WarnerMedia, as we talked about earlier in this article, developing a hybrid strategy to release on demand (on HBO MAX) and in theaters simultaneously, will others follow suit? 

The article highlights that a major demographic of Bond films is an older audience who are even more reluctant to go to a theater at this time.   A quite from the article sums it up:  

“A third delay would indeed be a first, but with previously planned cinematic releases now hedging their bets away from cinemas and towards streaming services, MGM may have to adapt quicker than they thought. In fact, Universal, the distributor of No Time To Die, reportedly made a sizable profit after releasing Trolls World Tour on VOD earlier this year”

Our opinion: These are tough times and many unprecedented decisions are being made and will continue to be made as studios assess the best strategies.  You can find similar articles on MovieWeb.com and JoBlo.com

These delays mean big money to the studio as reported in this article on NME.com,  which states that the delay is costing MGM about $1 million a month! 

Who Over The Years Wanted Or Was Considered, To Play James Bond? 

In a fun Wikipedia article, posted in November, they list all the actors who were considered to play the role of James Bond, by movie!   It is a fun scan with interesting names like, Rex Harrison, Jeremy Brett (who brilliantly played Sherlock Holmes in the made-for-tv series from 1984 – 1994),  Michael Caine, Dick van Dyke,  John Gavin and many more!    

Click here to view the list on Wikipedia.com.

WOMEN IN SPY MOVIES TAKE THE LEAD! 

The 355

No Time to Die has Lashana Lynch taking a lead role as an MI6 00 agent. But she is not alone in developing and promoting (literally) female spies!  The movie, The 355, is scheduled for a 2021 release, starring a bunch of women, including Jessica Chastain, and Penelope Cruz and others, in what is called a “woman-led spy thriller”. 

Variety.com has an article about the movie and has the trailer linked in the article.  The trailer shows women spies from different world agencies working together (maybe a Man From U.N.C.L.E. kind of thing?)    These women spies are from the United States, United Kingdom, Colombia, Germany and China. 

You can read the article and see the trailer at Variety.com here

Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot Lands Role In A Female Spy Movie! 

DigitalSpy.com says Gal Gadot will be the female spy lead in a new upcoming spy thriller called, Heart of Stone, which the article says will put “a female spin on action franchises such as James Bond and Mission: Impossible.” 

There is no release date set yet, but producers Skydance Media are keeping options open including both theatrical and streaming. 

You can read the article on DigitalSpy.com for more details. 

Who Have Been The Women in James Bond Movies

And, speaking of women in spy movies, if you want to see all the key women who have been in the James Bond films, see Steven Jay Rubin’s book, The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia available for purchase right now!  You can order the book here. You can preview this list on our website, in our SPYmdb by clicking here!

BLACK WIDOW POSTPONED UNTIL MAY 2021

In an article about 2021 movies at CNET.com, they claim that Black Widow is now scheduled for a May 7, 2021 release – about a year late.  This picture stars Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh and others.  

Please see this article on CNET.com for the details about this movie and other movies delayed due to the pandemic.

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for December 8, 2020!  Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and Instagram too!  And please Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app (see the table below for the links)! 

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Spy Movie News Article – November 24 2020

Contributed by: Daniel Silvestri and SpyMovieNavigator.com

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Here’s our Special mid-November 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with more No Time to Die stunts, NOW, NO Time to StreamRed NoticeTribute to Sean Connery as he passes, And Mission: Impossible . . .a real James Bond? And . . .more! 

This article is an adaptation from our podcast.  If you would rather listen to this than read it, please click here to go to the podcast page for the Mid-November Spy Movie News.

JAMES BOND

SEAN CONNERY

First,  as we know, Sean Connery passed away October 31 2020 as the age of 90.   Sir Sean Connery was a terrific actor who defined the role, character and persona of James Bond in the movies.   He was terrific on other movies as well, like The Untouchables The Hunt for Red OctoberEntrapmentFinding ForesterThe Man Who Would Be King and so many more.   We at SpyMovieNavigator.com and our show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies, join the world community in sadness at the loss of a great one.  Sir Sean Connery, Rest in Peace.   

His wife reports his ashes will be spread over the Bahamas and Scotland.   

We put a Sir Sean Connery Tribute podcast out as a tribute to him. 

NO TIME TO DIE 

No Time To Stream?

Just when some were getting excited at the end of October about No Time To Die possibly in a streaming deal with maybe Apple TV or Netflix, a Deadline.com article, entitled James Bond No Time To Doe Streamer Deal Died Quickly says  nope – not happening.  

In the article they claim that streamers were only willing to put up about half for what was being asked for, also saying that Deadline.Com hear that Barbara Broccoli nixed the deal. 

Our Opinion: after all, No Time To Die box office sales were being projected to be in the ballpark of Skyfall – that means, in the billiondollar range.   So, maybe MGM, Eon and Universal are willing to wait this one out a little longer.   But April 2021, given what is happening now worldwide with the pandemic, might still be a stretch.   That’s what we think.  Maybe another delay?   Who knows!  Things are changing every week on this stuff, so stay tuned! 

You can read the full article on the deadline.com website at this link.


What Could You Do With 8,400 Gallons of Coca Cola?

 Well, the James Bond No Time To Die filming crew figured out a good use for it!!

 In an article at SlashFilm.com, entitled, “‘No Time to Die’ Motorcycle Stunt Sprayed Street with 8,400 Gallons of Coca-Cola, Presumably Shaken, Not Stirred” the motorcycle stunt where “Bond” is leaping up a ramp onto a cobblestoned street in the scene in question – landing a motorcycle on slick cobblestone can be tricky – so, make it sticky instead of tricky – yeah – they sprayed the street with 8,400 gallons of Coca-Cola to pull off this stunt.    

Supposedly this was while in Matera, Italy.  The article quotes sources from Total Film Magazine and IndieWire.  

Our opinion:  Come on, the Bond guys, particularly Lee Morrison the stunt coordinator, have pulled off a Mission: Impossible- like stunt!  Well, pretty original actually!   Go, Bond! 

You can read the full article here.

Rami’s Remarks

In a GQMagazine.co.uk article, November 2020, Rami Malek is quoted as saying: No matter what you expect from Bond, you will be shocked”   

In a suite at The London Hotel in Hollywood, Rami Malek has been writing some behind-the-scenes commentaries for the long-awaited Bond film,  No Time To Die.  Rami says he thinks the rumors of a Dr. No reincarnation are interesting, but, he quips, “I’m not going to bite on that.”   “because no matter what you expect from this movie, you will be shocked when you watch the film. I will not add any fuel to that fire.”  Read the great article all about Rami Malek here at GQ-Magazine.co.uk.

Will No Time to Disee James Bond Really retire? 

Well, there has been tons of speculation for over a year now on this subject.   And reportedly, Lashana Lynch has said she is 007 in the film.   Well, take a look at an interesting article at Express.co.uk entitled:  “James Bond: Will James Bond actually retire after No Time to Die? ‘Flirted with it before’  By Jenny Desborough. It’s an interesting read, saying Lashana is the new 007 character, and speculating on what will happen to James Bond.  In the article it is James Bond expert Dr. Ian Kinane doing the speculating. 

Check out the article here!    

Our opinion: in No Time To Die – we have no idea what will happen.   Will Bond really return and hang it up?  Will he die?  Will he return to service as a new numbered agent, or return as 007?  It’s fun to speculate – we obviously have time! 

Nomi, Played by Lashana Lynch, Will Take On A Major Role 

In a ScreenRant.com article by Craig Elvy, entitled, Why James Bond’s New 007 Is No Time To Die‘s Most Important Character they talk a lot about the power of women now in the film and about how Nomi takes on a lot of the characteristics of our traditional 007 agent, James Bond, from quips, to efficiency to driving an Aston Martin.   It’s a nice read – check it out here at ScreenRant.com.

 

Tomorrow Never Dies
 

We’re sad to report that Geoffrey Palmer, who played Admiral Roebuck in Tomorrow Never Dies has passed away at age 93.  See this FoxNews.com article for all the details.   

 

REAL JAMES BOND?? 

The Wall Street Journal, in an October 22, 2020 article suggests that recently declassified documents reveal a possible spy in Poland named . . . James Bond! 

In Warsaw, Poland, an archivist uncovered a file from the Cold War about a British diplomat who arrived in Poland in 1964, then vanished.   The papers suggest his name: James Albert Bond.   See the WSJ.com article for more details. 

 You can also find an article on this if you don’t have a Wall Street Journal subscription here at the FirstNews.com.

 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE  7 . . . or 8 

Angela Basset Returns 

Angela Bassettas reported by CinemaBlend.com, discloses that she will return to Mission: Impossible reprising her role of Erica Sloane in Mission: Impossible: Fallout  But – it is not known yet whether she will be in Mission: Impossible 7 or 8! 

Check out this Cinemablend.com article for more details.  DigitalSpy.com also has a similar story here.

More Derring-do for Tom Cruise

It’s reported through videos that have surfaced, that MI7 is focusing on action sequences at the moment, with Cruise as Ethan Hunt jumping off mountains and riding on top of trains – nothing new there for Cruise, huh?  Ha! 

Mission: Impossible 7 Ready to Wrap Filming?

Also, at DailyMail.co.uk in a November 12th article it is reported that Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson are filming FINAL scenes for Mission: Impossible 7 in Venice’s San Marco Square    

Venice is gorgeous – I’ve been there twice  – but remember Venice is where they were filming when the pandemic started and they had to leave Venice before completing filming there. 

We have to give this team props: in October 12 people on set reportedly tested positive for the Covid disease.   

Our opinion: We really don’t know how they are doing this on location in so many places as the pandemic is still raging.   Stay safe! 

Check out this DailyMail.co.uk article for the details.

RED NOTICE

Red Notice Wraps Filming!

SlashFilm.com reports that Netflix has released photos of the heist film, Red Notice and reports some good news that Red Notice has completed filming!   Of course, they were shut down like all others back in March.  So, some good news on this front! 

Here’s the Slash.com article for the details.

 

THEATER NEWS

More Theaters in Trouble as AMC Makes Announcement 

CNBC.COM published this article on 10/22/2020 on AMC Entertainment.  The article, entitled:AMC warns bankruptcy is on the table as cash runs low ”

The article says that  “AMC continued to warn investors about its dwindling cash pile and said it may have to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy if it is unable to secure additional sources of liquidity.”  AMC, the article claims is the largest theater chain in the world.   This is tough news.   

They also say that “Chapter 11 bankruptcy would likely allow AMC to stay in business while it reworks its debts and sorts out new lines of liquidity.” 

We say, let’s all hope  for the best to a solution to this worldwide pandemic crisis.  It is far-reaching affecting millions of lives.    

Yet, at CNBC.com it has also been reported that Regal theaters, who just closed 500 theaters about 2 weeks ago, plans on re-opening 11 of them in New York state in the US.  The governor of New York is allowing some theaters outside of New York City to reopen at limited capacity.   See this article on CNBC.com for all the details. 

Cineplex Reached a Deal With Universal Pictures

This article on SeekingAlpha.com discusses a deal that Canada-based Cineplex has made with Universal Pictures.  This deal is similar to the two other deals Universal has made with AMC and Cinemark.  It essentially shortens the release windows for new releases to 17 days.  This means that a new movie can hit video-on-demand 17 days after it releases in the theaters.  There used to be a 75-90 day window for this.  Titles opening opening at $50 million have to wait 31 days to hit video-on-demand.

FBI RELEASES A SPY FILM!

Ok, this is a for real spy film!  The US FBI released a film in September  called, The Nevernight Connection,” and tells a fictional story, but based on reality of a former U.S. intelligence official who turned and went  to spy for the Chinese, who recruited him through fake profiles on a professional networking site.   It highlights recent attempts also by Russia, China and Iran regarding attempts to affect US national elections.    

It’s a 30 minute film, free, and on the FBI website at FBI.gov. Here’s a link to it on their site.

Check out Bloomberg.com for more this one 

 

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for November 2020 and our focus on No Time To Die and James BondMission: Impossible, Red Notice, and some industry news!  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and InstaGram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app! 

 

 

SPY MOVIE NEWS FOR OCTOBER 27

Contributed by: Daniel Silvestri and SpyMovieNavigator.com

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Here’s our Special October 27 2020 edition of Spy Movie News where we’ll look at Mission: Impossible news,  will No Time to Die to Stream??, the No Time to Die Sound track.  Jetpacks seen flying in Los Angeles?  And more!  

 

NO TIME TO DIE MIGHT STREAM! 

 

We’ll start out with a quick discussion about  No Time To Die and possible streaming of the movie!   In an article at imore.com, they claim there are rumors that MGM is in talks with Apple TV and Netflix about the streaming rights to No Time To Die, as MGM is under pressure to make some money after all the release delays!

Wow – this would be huge.   The rumor is Apple TV and Netflix are in the lead, and that the amounts of money being talked about are enormous.   There’s a bidding war going on, and we will see who the winner is if there is one.   Does this mean maybe both a theatrical release where possible AND streaming release?   Stay tuned to Spy Movie News for more news when it breaks!

 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE  7

 

Returning To Italy

After filming in Venice was shut-down early in the pandemic, the Mission Impossible 7 crew has returned to Italy – and Cruise and company have been spotted in Rome.

They had just shot scenes in Norway and in the UK and are now back in Italy.   Wow – they really ARE the Impossible Mission Force.

See this article in Collider.com for all the details.  Also see this article in EuroNews.com – for a similar story and video of Tom Cruise waving to the fans!

 

More Mission: Impossible News

And continuing our Mission: Impossible 7 coverage, CinemaBlend.com reports that Tom Cruise was seen atop a moving train and has now been seen doing a car crash scene, along with Hayley Atwell. What is seen, is after the crash, and Cruise trying to get Atwell out of the crashed car – hints at another great stunt. 

In our opinion, Tom Cruise is just amazing! He has done it all from flying jets, doing HALO dives, motorcycle stunts, climbing stunts, martial arts kicks. And now, at 58, is still at it strong.  

The hype building for Mission: Impossible 7 is tremendous and Cruise and Company can be a genuine threat to the Bond Franchise if they keep doing things right.   And don’t forget, Mission: Impossible 8 has already been announced and planned for about a year after the Mission: Impossible 7 release.  

    • Mission Impossible 7 has a current release date theoretically as November 19, 2021
    • Mission Impossible 8 is then currently scheduled for November 4, 2022.

Remember, in a CinemaBlend article on May 15, 2020, they, reminded us that:

    • “When we were officially told that Mission: Impossible 7 was on the way, we were also told that Mission: Impossible 8 was as well.” 
    • “Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie recently told the Light the Fuse podcast that the decision to go with two films came out of the need to have the space to tell a compelling emotional story, not simply for lead character Ethan Hunt, but the rest of the IMF team as well.”

But these days, who knows?!  What we think is that this puts a lot more pressure on the Bond franchise who has had to date about 6 years between the last Bond film and the tentative release date of April 2021 now for No Time To Die.  

 

JAMES BOND

 

No Time To Die

 

Article On Cary Fukunaga

OK, we’re still disappointed about another delay, but there is still news to talk about! 

The Wall Street Journal has a nice Feature article on Cary Fukunaga dated October 10, 2020.  It’s an enlightening article on the writer, director of the movie and his accomplishments, his feelings and what it was like filming a Bond movie.  It’s a fun read.

Sound Track For No Time To Die

You can pre-order the sound track for No Time to Die, as reported by The Spy Command in October.    They say that Hans Zimmer website  has a listing of the 21 track titles – so – that might be a bit of  spoiler for you – so proceed at your own risk!

Who Will Be The Next James Bond?

While there has been a lot of speculation on this, an article dated. October 14th 2020, on MovieWeb.com says that the Daniel Craig James Bond replacement hasn’t yet been chosen.  They report that Barbara Broccoli has confirmed that the next James Bond actor will be chosen after (emphasis added) No Time to Die comes out.  She further claims that EON and the powers that be have not decided yet on who will succeed Craig in the role.  They say they will not make that decision until after No Time to Die is released, hinting that the role will be once again be reimagined. 

So, here’s our opinion: Even if they have someone in mind for the next James Bond, there is no way that is going to be announced prior to Daniel Craig finishing off his role as 007.  This means it will be after the big splash of No Time To Die’s release and run.  They can’t diminish No Time To Die considering everything that has happened already.  

Daniel Craig Has Simple Advice for the Next James Bond

In another MovieWeb.com article, Daniel Craig has some simple advice for the next James Bond, whoever it is:  “Don’t F–k it up”. 

He did offer a bit more:  “It’s a beautiful, amazing thing. Leave it better than when you found it.”

 

JET PACKS IN LA?!  YIKES!

Check New.Yahoo.com for this one!  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-09-01/fbi-investigating-man-flying-jet-pack-near-lax-jets

Check this article on LATimes.com for this one.  Recently, in Los Angeles California in the US, there was a report from a pilot near LAX International Airport that read, ““Tower, American 1997.  We just passed a guy in a jet pack,”   and a few moments later, a Jet Blue airliner: “We just saw the guy pass us by in the jet pack.” 

OK – we all remember Thunderball and Bond’s escape from the French Chateau via jet pack!   But . . . this is for real?   

There are lots of investigations going on.  But in reality, there are very few jet packs around.  One company, JetPack Aviation has created five jet packs that are worn like Bond wore his, on the back. According to this article on news.yahoo.com about this topic, JetPack Aviation says they know where all of there jet packs are and they cannot fly as high as report because of fuel consumption. There just is not enough fuel to fly that high (one report said it was at 6,000 feet!) and land. 

Maybe it was a drone with a dummy attached?  That’s one theory – but who knows!   

NEW TECHNONOLGY THAT COULD HELP THEATERS

HollywoodReport.com just published an article about a patent granted to the technology company Christie.  It claims to “enable exhibitors to securely show customers premium cinematic content on their own terms, opening an additional potential revenue stream, in these difficult times.”  This technology basically is set up “to allow the theater to deliver content over IP networks directly from the cinema to consumers’ homes”.

Wow – check out this HollywoodReport.com article from October 15th  for more exciting details.  

 

SPOILER ALERT WARNING!  NO TIME TO DIE – RUMOR!

THIS MIGHT be a spoiler alert – so proceed at your own risk!  But it is in the public at CinemaBlend.com.

 

We are going to end this edition of Spy Movie News with a potential spoiler/rumor on No Time To Die.  If you don’t want to read the speculation, we’ll hope you’ll be back for our next article.

 

According to this article in CinemaBlend.Com by Mike Reyes, the opening for No Time To Die will not be that face-paced or action pre-title sequence that we have come accustomed to. Rather, we are going to see something of a slower-paced opening, even devoid of Bond.   Something much more emotional might be coming our way. Of course, in From Russia With Love, “James Bond” wasn’t in the pre-title sequence as well.

It will be the longest pre-title sequence of any James Bond movie.

So, even more with the SPOILER ALERT, the article reports that the pre-title might be a very long sequence of flashbacks of Madeleine Swann’s childhood.  It reminds us that in SPECTRE, Swann refers to something traumatic that happened in her childhood.  

There is a lot of detail in the article with some quotes from Cary Fukunaga – revealing in some ways what might be happening.   So, so head to the article if you will!  

Also see IndieWire.com for another well-written article on the same subject.  This article gives us even more details on Cary Fukunaga’spre-title sequence concept.

OK SPOILER ALERT COMPLETE!

So, in our opinion:  This makes us wonder what other icons and things we have come to expect in a Bond movie will be busted in No Time To Die . . . and who will die? Or not?  And will the audience like it?  We still have to wait.

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for October 27, 2020 and our focus on Mission: Impossible, No Time To Die and James Bond and some industry news!  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and InstaGram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app!

 

JAMES BOND FANS TO BATTLE IN INTERNATIONAL TRIVIA MARATHON NOVEMBER 14TH

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For Immediate Release                Contact: Steve Rubin (213) 300-1896

      (Los Angeles, California, October 6, 2020) Producers Steven Jay Rubin and Charles Sherman, in association with the Spy Movie Navigator website are producing the International 007 Trivia Marathon, which will take place at 10:00 a.m. PST, on Saturday November 14th on Zoom.  James Bond fans throughout the world are eligible to compete for prizes in the double elimination tournament, which will coincide with the publication of Rubin’s book, The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia, 4th edition. 

     Interested contestants should email their contact information to fastcarrier1944@gmail.com The contest is a first come, first serve event – only the first 100 contestants who turn in their contact information will be eligible. Those contestants will then receive Zoom info via email. Contestant must have computer access and the latest installed Zoom application to participate.

     The top ten contestants will each receive an autographed copy of Rubin’s book. The contest winner will be crowned Champion of 007 trivia and be given a selection of 007 material from Mr. Rubin’s own files.

     Rubin and Sherman produced the original James Bond 007 Trivia Marathon in 1981, which was part of a James Bond Weekend in Century City, headlined by a luncheon at the Playboy Club – George Lazenby, Martine Beswick, Marc Lawrence, Herve Villechaize,  Bruce Glover, Lana Wood, Norman Burton and Barry Nelson were guests.

      SpyMovieNavigator.com is dedicated to the continued building of a worldwide community of spy movie fans.   Their podcasts, social media releases and website concentrate on spy movies from 1935 – present, including Bond, analyzing key scenes in each movie, looking for connections to, and influences on, other spy movies and real-world events.  Their podcast show, Cracking the Code of Spy Movies, has been downloaded in over 92 countries!  They can be found at SpyMovieNavigator.com, and on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator) and Instagram.

 

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Spy Movie News Article: Oct 3 2020 – NO TIME TO DIE Delay & Fan Reactions

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The Bond Hype Machine WAS Cranking! And has come to a grinding halt!  Here’s our Special October 3rd, 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with the disappointing announcement of the delay of No Time to Die again with some fan reaction! 

  

NO TIME TO DIE – DELAYED AGAIN

 

Well, It’s still No Time to Die!  As announced October 2, 2020: 

MGM, Universal, and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of NO TIME TO DIE the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April 2021 in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience.

 

 

 

In our last Spy Movie News it was looking good for a November 2020 release date, but MGM, Universal, and Eon Productions have decided that based on the current potential worldwide theater situation, and the fact that probably only 22% of the global theater-going market was comfortable going back to theaters, the delay makes sense.

Disappointing for sure – NO TIME TO DIE will be a year and a half after the initial planned release when it finally comes out.   Here is to hoping that by March 2021 things are looking up for this global pandemic.  We hope that it is behind us for the most part – or . . . who knows what else might happen.   Hope for the best!

Fan reaction: from the @007 post about the delay on Twitter:

  • Not unexpected and I fully understand your reasoning. Let’s just hope that in 6 months things might have improved?
  • Your confident there will be a theatrical audience to show it to? what are theatres supposed to do until then? 
  • I’m sad that we have to wait longer to see the movie, but it is ultimately the correct decision.
  • That is just plain stupid! Find another way! If you are waiting for things to get normal again and have the movie theaters filled…you are never going to premiere this film…beyond disappointed!
  • I’d rather just watch it on demand now and see it released in theaters when this whole thing is over with
  • Don’t worry, I understand. I’ll be ready to watch it when you’re ready to show it.
  • And simply put, “So disappointing!”

One very clever post, which added some humor to this dreadful news, was by a “Simon Hinks”

If other Bond movies took this long to be released what would they be called?

    • No release date…
    • Tomorrow never comes…
    • Diamonds take forever…
    • For nobodies eyes only…
    • For the Living daylights… when?
    • Die another year…
    • No time to be released…

Another amusing one was. “And if you put YET another trailer…. then we have seen all the movie so STOP PUTTING OUT TRAILERS . . .”

Many posters said to release it on-demand and we’ll pay a lot of money!  There were a lot of posters with this sentiment.

Certainly, the studios and Eon did all of their homework about the numbers if delayed again versus releasing it on-demand.   Sure, it’s not the same seeing a major motion picture on your own home entertainment system, but lots of posters are calling for this instead of a delay.   Can this happen?   If April is not significantly better regarding this pandemic, maybe it will.  

There were many, many sad and unhappy posts regarding the delay.   Many posts were supporting the decision as well, but naturally, many fans are disappointed.  A lot of the posts asked why all the marketing hype over the past week with the Official James Bond Podcast launch, the Billie Eilish video release, and more.   But, who knows when the final decision was made?  And, importantly, we will see more hype for the film to keep people’s interest high.  So, we aren’t surprised by the hype this past week or so.

 

The Cinema Impact

But some of the most poignant posts were from cinema workers and the fear of now what might happen to the cinema theaters without this monumental release, and to their jobs.   These posts are heart-wrenching – as the decision truly affects the lives of some people.

And some fans posted that they were willing to go support their local theaters just to help keep them going and all.  They said things like:

  • “Nah. This is the wrong move. You’re gonna kill the cinema. .  .
  • Or, “We won’t have any cinema to go back to at this rate come April . . .”

For us fans, yeah, there’s another delay.   For people in the theater industry, they have more to worry about.

So, we must keep things in perspective.

Some fans were just complaining that this is all about money – the studios and Eon want bigger audiences, which some said, “was shameful.”   Wow – there are a lot of emotions involved here.

But ultimately, these decisions are made based on the worldwide opportunity to make No Time To Die as successful at the box office as was Skyfall (which was over a billion US dollars worldwide).   It is money that drives this bus.

We shall see how this all pans out.

 

JAMES BOND – WHO WILL BE NEXT?

And will he still be young enough when No Time To Die is released?

According to this article on CinemaBlend.com, Tom Hardy is looking good!   So good, in fact, that betting has been suspended!  Yeah, you can bet on just about anything, and there were lots of bets placed on who will be the next James Bond!

Right now, Tom Hardy seems to be the favorite.   Of course, there is no way the MGM or Eon would be announcing the next James Bond before the release and run of No Time To Die, Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond.

Sure other names have surfaced, like

Tom Hardy: 1/3
James Norton: 7/2
who was in the lead until Tom Hardy just passed him up in the odds column

Sam Heughan: 5/1
Richard Madden: 7/1
Idris Elba: 8/1
Cillian Murphy: 14/1
Tom Hiddleston: 18/1
Jack Lowden: 25/1

 But the odds are with Tom Hardy!  And as we know, these things can change in a heartbeat, so at this point, it all we know is the odds-makers and betters see Hardy in the lead spot.

We won’t hear anything for a while.   But, I was cleaning up some old stuff and ran into an article about Sean Connery in the 2000 January/February edition of Modern Maturity.  When Connery was asked what’s the secret to Bond, he replied, “The person who plays Bond has to be dangerous.  If there isn’t a sense of threat, you can’t be cool.”

Connery as Bond was dangerous and cool!   So, what are your thoughts on Tom Hardy?

 

HENRY CAVILL AND MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE

Henry Cavill seems to be jealous that he is not part of Mission: Impossible 7.   He loved working with Tom Cruise on Mission: Impossible – Fallout.  This, again, is according to this CinemaBlend.com’s article by Mike Reyes.

But, as the article states, his character August •%09https:/www.cinemablend.com/news/2555807/why-mission-impossibles-henry-cavill-is-very-jealous-of-mi-7-filming-right-nowWalker, got killed off in Fallout.   Ah, well.  But as the article also states, and as we have said here at SpyMovienavigator.com, anything can happen in fiction!  Write it and it is done!   There are ways to bring back dead characters if you want to!

Still, Henry Cavill has thrown his hat into the James Bond ring as well, as we mentioned.   Wow.  As the betting list indicates, he isn’t even in the Top 10!  See this article by Katherine Webb on CinemaBlend.com for more details.

UPDATE:

ANNOUNCED OCTOBER 2, 2020 – NO TIME TO DIE NOW DELAYED UNTIL APRIL 2020

The Bond Hype Machine is Cranking!  Here’s our Special October 1st, 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with lots of updates on No Time to Die including release strategies, The Official James Bond Podcast, Billie Eilish, Ana de Armas, and more! 

NO TIME TO DIE:  STICKING TO THE NOVEMBER RELEASE DATES

Wow – according to Express.UK.CO It looks like MGM and Universal are sticking to the November 2020 release date of No Time to Die.  They reference a September 23, 2020 Tweet by https://twitter.com/007 of a photo of Paloma and Bond at a bar, saying “Dressed to kill. Bond and Paloma from #NoTimeToDie, in cinemas this November.”   Now, we noted before that the new posters said November.   This Tweet definitely says THIS November.  

We mentioned that other movie releases, like Black Widow, have been delayed until next year.  

Express also reports that fans are replying to the Tweet with encouragement to either delay the release or stream it so that viewers can stay safe during this pandemic, which is far from over.  

Here are a couple of responses that SpyMovieNavigator noted:

  • “Which I will not be seeing in theaters, as it isn’t safe to be in a movie theatre until there’s a vaccine. Now if you released it for streaming rental, I’d definitely pay $30 to watch it at home (that’s like the cost of seeing it in IMAX twice!)”
  • “There is no way I’m entering a cinema this November. Health comes first. . . . So a big PASS from me. I look forward to streaming the film in due course.”

As we reported in our September 24th, 2020 Spy Movie News, in a recent survey, only about 22% of people around the world feel safe to go to a theater now to watch a movie.  

Many fans want the movie released this November, and there were plenty of responses who wanted the movie released in November 2020.  That’s just the way it is. But, the negative response to the https://twitter.com/007 recent Tweet is some indication of what some of the fan base thinks.  

The decision for the studios and Eon will be economic more than likely.   If they think they can make a threshold, baseline, minimum required take, they will go for it.   If the indication is that they won’t then they may delay.   But, a hybrid solution of releasing to the theaters AND releasing on video on demand simultaneously might not work.

Just reporting the news!  What do you think?  Check out this link at Express.co.uk for all the details.

WHY NO TIME TO DIE MIGHT COME OUT IN NOVEMBER 2020

Still at CinemaBlend.com, check out this article by Michael Reyes, to see why he thinks NO TIME TO DIE might want to stick with it’s November 2020 Release date.

In what is the most compelling reason advanced by CinemaBlend, MGM and Universal might want to release in November as planned because of their new 17-day contract with movie theaters like AMC.  We talked about this new deal between AMC and Universal in our August 11th Spy Movie News podcast and article.

New movies can be released in theaters and run for 17 days. Then they can be released on Paid Video on Demand.  That way, the studios and Eon can do both – not simultaneously, but sequentially.   So, if you choose NOT to go to the theater, then in a matter of weeks to a month after the release, you can be watching it in the comfort and safety of your own home.  

We think this is a pretty compelling reason why they will release in November.  

CinemaBlend also says that with all the other delays in releases to next year, No Time To Die might have very little competition in November. 

What we at SpyMovieNavigator.com have observed as of late is that Eon Productions and the studios are gearing up for a November 2020 release – with new official podcasts released September 30th, new posters, video, and more.  It looks like they are getting ready to go.

NEW OFFICIAL JAMES BOND PODCAST

The Official James Bond Podcast launched on September 30,  with interviews with the actors of No Time to Die and more.  

What does this mean for the release of the movie in November?   Is this pre-release hype and marketing to get people really pumped to go see the movie in theaters this November?  Does it mean they are testing the waters to see reactions, or just putting something out to keep the interest level high?   Who knows.   But they did it.   We listened to the first one and it was good.

Here is the copy from their Apple podcast page:

No Time To Die: The Official James Bond Podcast is a new and exclusive podcast hosted by James King. The six-part series features exclusive interviews with Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Naomie Harris, director Cary Joji Fukunaga, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell and a host of key behind the scenes crew from casting director to special effects supervisor.

Each of the six episodes focusses on a different aspect of the franchise. Learn everything about Bond from music, gadgets, locations, stunts, costumes and cars.

Podcast listeners will be the first to hear exclusive score from Hans Zimmer and brand-new recordings from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from Bond 25 released by Decca Records.

No Time To Die: The Official James Bond Podcast is produced by Somethin’ Else in association with Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Universal Pictures International, United Artists Releasing and Eon Productions.

And here is the episode list, from an article at IGN.COM:

  • Episode 1: Bond in Context
  • Episode 2: Bond Around the World
  • Episode 3: A Name to Die For: Allies and Enemies of Bond
  • Episode 4: The Craft of Bond
  • Episode 5: Clothes, Tech, and Cars
  • Episode 6: Being 007

Also, see MovieWeb.com’s article on this podcast.   The reality is, releasing a new podcast each week for 6 weeks gets you to about a week before No Time to Die is scheduled for release in the UK.   This is no coincidence.

BILLIE EILISH VIDEO RELEASE

Couple the podcast with this week’s video release of the Billie Eilish No Time to Die title song.  This is a strong signal that November 2020 is it!

Check out Variety.com’s article for all the details and the video.

The video is a collage of shots of Billie Eish singing and clips from the movie.   It is well done with Billie Eilish coming out of the dark shadows into view – adding more mystery to the film.  Directed by Daniel Kleinman, it is first-rate. 

ANA DE ARMAS ON PLAYING PALOMA IN NO TIME TO DIE

Reported by CinemaBlend.com, that Ana de Armas wanted to play a role that was not a stereotypical “Bond” woman role, but to add something that represents women well.  Having spoken to Cary Fukunaga about her role, she emphasized that she wanted her character to be empowered and realistic, and not stereotypical.  

Well, from the clips we have seen, she looks empowered – wielding two guns at once, flying through the air for kicks – yeah – she looks good!   Go Ana de Armas!

See CinemaBlend.com’s article by Dirk Libbey for more.

IT’S A LOVE STORY

In Tom Butler’s article on Yahoo.com, he says that No Time to Die will tie together all of what Craig’s Bond has been through from Casino Royale to this final Craig appearance as Bond. 

From losing his love, Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, to maybe settling down with Dr. Madeleine Swann, Bond has gone through many emotions and attitude changes.   He’s tough, but maybe mellowing a bit now with a new love interest.  

Barbara Broccoli has said, “it is a pretty epic film, I have to say.”  Léa Seydoux said it is “more psychological and more emotional” than Spectre.  

OK –from our point of view at SpyMovieNavigator.com,  we certainly have not seen Bond in love very often in the Bond movies.  Sex, lust yes.  Love.  Um.  Not often.  Of course, Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.  In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to be sure – he married Tracy di Vincenzo.   Spectre ? We assumed that at the end of the movie, Bond was hanging it up and driving off into the sunset with his new love, Swann.  

In No Time To Die, there are plenty of rumors that he has been with Swann for the last 5 years, during which he has been retired.  And there are even rumors they have a daughter.   Nothing is substantiated yet, and all this is speculation, but there does seem to be a love story in here. 

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCASTS

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for October 1 2020 and our focus on No Time To Die and James Bond!  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@SpyNavigator), and Instagram too!  Subscribe right now to our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies show on your favorite podcast app! 


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SPY MOVIE NEWS  9-24-2020 

 

Here’s our September 24th, 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with latest updates on Black Widow, Tom Cruise in space, Mission: Impossible 7, the Mission: Impossible theme, Red NoticeNTime To Die, Pinewood Studio news, and Lashana Lynch.  

 

BLACK WIDOW

This just in. According to cnbc.com, Disney pushed the debut of Black Widow to 2021, which is a huge blow. The theaters across the country ticket sales in the US after a soft reopening of the theaters in August have not been stellar.  

The article cites data from a global survey.  Only 22% feel comfortable returning to the theater.  The US still has daily increases of COVID-19 cases in many parts of the country.  You can read the full article on Cnbc.com here for all the details. 

Black Widow was the last tentpole movie planned to be released until No Time To Die.  This does not make us James Bond fans comfortable. 

 

TOM CRUISE IS OUT OF THIS WORLD 

Tom Cruise is teamed up with Elon Musk and NASA to film a movie in space. Yeah, talk about stunts. 

Doug Liman might direct the film.  

The launch is planned for October 2021 with filming theoretically aboard the Axiom Space Station.  

There’s still No title for the film, but Doug Liman is writing at least part of the script. Liman has worked with Cruise before on Edge of Tomorrow and American Made. He also directed The Bourne Identity. 

Our question at SpyMovieNavigator.com: Is this a Mission: Impossible? The website Deadline Hollywood reports that this movie will not be an installment of Mission: Impossible.  But with Tom Cruise, who knows, stay tuned 

Click here to see the details of this article on NME.com 

 

 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 

Speaking about Tom Cruise, we have to talk about Mission: Impossible 7 

First click here for a link to YouTube for a video where Tom Cruise talks about MIssion:Impossible 7 stunt.  In this interview with Tom Cruise, he discusses the latest aerial stunt with the motorcycle leaping off the ramp and over a Cliff like 600 feet and you see it all here so check it out. 

Independent.co.uk has an older article about the MissionImpossible music.  This is inspirational and worthy of a revisit.  Independent.co.uk interviewed Layla Schifrin about the MissionImpossible Theme that he wrote. 

Schifrin said Bruce Geller needed the music right away and didn’t really like his first take. So, Schifrin realized what he had to write had to be like a logo for MissionImpossible. And he claims once he sat down to write it, he wrote the entire thing. Everything we hear in about 3 minutes. This is genius. 

Click here to read the article on Independent.co.uk’s website for all the details.   

 

NO TIME TO DIE 

There are release-day concerns for No Time To Die.  Is James Bond headed for staggered debut like TENET  

George Simpson wrote about this in a September 22nd, 2020 article on Express.co.uk. But in this article, he talks about all the product placement in the movie and how all of these campaigns would need to be pushed back again.  That’s companies like Aston Martin, of course, Coca Cola, Omega, Nokia, and Heineken. 

Somaybe it will be staggered release dates. It’s all speculation at this point. As we know, anything can happen. So far publicly, they’re sticking to the November 2020 release dates, so let’s see. 

Click here to read Simpson’s article. 

The article bases some of this on a recent MGM call with investors that we mentioned in our September 1st Spy Movie News podcast.  Click here to hear that podcast. 

 

LASHANA LYNCH 

No Time To Die star, Lashana Lynch, spoke with TechRadar.com about her pivotal role in the new James Bond movie. 

Lashana plays Nomi, a 00 agent for MI 6.   In this article, she speaks of the relationship she has with Bond in the movie and describes it as evolving. They are two very different people trying to work together in the beginning – and grow closer.  

She feels the women are empowered in this movie.  As in her earlier conversations, while auditioning for this part they wanted to create a Badass Ninja, she says. 

The article is a fun read. So, click here to read the article on TechRadar.com’s website. 

And speaking of Lashana Lynchcheck out this link on dailymail.co.uk  for an article about Lashana Lynch promoting 007’s new SMARTPHONE! The picture of her and her 00 gear and the surrounds with fire, explosions the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, and the Triumph Thruxton RS motorcycle are spectacular.  And, she looks tough.  Go Lashana! 

 

SPEAKING OF BOND 

Pinewood Studios 

It is reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Pinewood Studioswhere lots of Bond filming occurs, along with others, are planning a major visitor center as part of their over 500-million-dollar expansion. The article says the expansion would include an educational training and skills hub, a creative industries business growth hub and a green campus. It would be located on land adjacent to the existing Pinewood Studios. 

This is in the beginning phase and Pinewood is preparing an application for this and discussions with the community, etc. It’s a huge opportunity for job creation and positive economic impact. More later.  

Click this link to read the article on HollywoodReporter.com.  

 

INTERNATIONAL NO TIME TO DIE TRAILER 2 

The Bond Experience reports that in India a different NTime To Die trailer was released by Universal Pictures India 

Click here to watch this trailer on YouTube. 

 

YIKES!  JAMES BOND GUNS STOLEN 

We pushed this out through our social media outlets, but a major James Bondish heist occurred in the UK. Five James Bond movieused guns were stolen in the UK, including Roger Moore’s gun from View to a Kill (Walther PPK),  Halle Berry’s gun from Die Another Day (Beretta Tomcat), and from Live and Let Diethe Smith and Wesson Model .44 Magnum revolver! 

Click here to get the details in the article on the-sun.com.  

 

MICHAEL LONSDALE (1931-2020) 

 

 

In sad Bond newsAs reportedMichael Lonsdale, who played Hugo Drax in Moonraker so brilliantly, has passed away at the age of 89. 

Click here to read the well-written article on movieweb.com. 

 

 

RED NOTICE 

 

After lots of delays, cinemablend.com reports that Dwayne Johnson is back on the set of Red Notice, with costars Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot. Safety measures are being taken, of course, as the pandemic risks continue. But they have had a very productive first week, it is reported.   

So, check out the details on cinemablend.com by clicking here. 

 

 

TENET

 

 

TENET continues to do well in the UK and Ireland.  It has not had a good run in the US, however. 

 

 

 

That wraps up our Spy Movie News for September 24th, 2020.  You can listen to these articles in a podcast on our show Called Cracking The Code Of Spy Movies in your favorite podcast app.   


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Here’s our September 15 2020 edition of Spy Movie News with the latest updates on Mission: Impossible 7, Red Notice, Five Eyes, TENET, The Duke, NO TIME TO DIE, and some Idris Elba and spy industry news. 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7

  • Let’s start with some Mission: Impossible 7 news. We know that Tom Cruise has been in England on some rented land practicing stunts for the movie Mission: Impossible 7
  • From a Cinemablend.com article, Christopher Mcquarrie, the director says filming has started up again.  And he and released the photo that shows a huge ramp.  This will be used for a stunt with a motorcycle launching off this ramp which is probably 600 feet in the air. It’s something to see if you haven’t seen it yet.  
  • According to independent.co.uk, Mission: Impossible 7 filming in Norway.  Tom Cruise rented a £ 500,000 cruise liner. That’s about $645,000. And this is for the crew and the stars, to prevent further delays and to protect them from COVID-19. So this is clever.  Expensive but clever. Bravo, Tom Cruise you are Top Gun. 

RED NOTICE

  • The Netflix movie Red Notice has some news.  In March, shooting was postponed because of the COVID-19  pandemic. In August 2020 they announced the shooting would start back up in mid-September. So here we are.  According to cinemablend.com, it looks like they are back on the set.  They are being vigilant about making sure that anyone arriving back on the sets for filming is COVID-19 free through testing and so on. No other details were available, but Ryan Reynolds posted pics of him taking the COVID-19 test and said it was easy.
  • Good to hear Hollywood is being careful.

THE GRAY MAN

  • Speaking of Netflix, they’re investing 200 million dollars, according to theverge.com, on a movie based on Mark Greaney’s, “The Gray Man” series of books.  The movie will be about a former CIA agent who was an assassin, also called The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. And Chris Evans would be the CIA agent who’s on the hunt for The Gray Man.
  • Netflix hopes to build a franchise out of this first movie. We don’t know much else about the movie other than what was reported, but sounds a little like Bourne doesn’t it? Hey, no release date yet. Production should start next year. Check theverge.com for all the details.

Five Eyes

  • From deadline.com we see that German major Leonine has won the rights to the recently announced Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie spy thriller, Five Eyes.  This marks the first major deal to go down during Toronto’s virtual market. According to the article, in this spy thriller, Statham will play an MI 6 guns-and-steel agent recruited by the Global Intelligence Alliance,’ Five Eyes’.  His mission will be to track and stop the sale of a deadly weapon that threatens to disrupt the world order.  Reluctantly paired with a high tech CIA expert, he sets off on a globe-trotting mission to infiltrate a billionaire arms broker.
  • Principle photography is due to start in October 2020 in Europe. Additional casting is underway. 
  •  In a related article in collider.com, they say that Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie are teaming up again for Five Eyes. They say Statham’s character, the MI 6 agent, will be named Orson Fortune, who is paired with CIA agent Sarah Fidel. This is the fifth time Statham and Ritchie are working together.  And the article says, hey, this is an appropriate title then, Five Eyes. Oh wait, there are two of them. Shouldn’t the title be Ten Eyes? (groan)

WIFE OF A SPY

  • Yahoo has a review of the Kyoshi Kurosawa movie, Wife of a Spy, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. 
  •  The review makes it unclear if the movie is really a spy movie.  But there are bioweapons,  smuggled reels of surveillance footage, and forged letters.
  •  The author appeared to not want to give away the film, which of course, hey, that’s a good idea. 
  • This movie is seeking US distribution.

TENET

Here’s an update on TENET from Europe and the US.

  • Hollywoodreporter.com reports that while the domestic box office launch for Warner Brother’s TENET has widely been described as tepid, one analyst said he sees it as a good sign. “We actually view the results as encouraging and a positive indicator of demand. Given all of the COVID-19 headwinds.  That’s what B Riley, analyst Eric Wold wrote in a Monday report.
  • The analyst echoed Warner Brothers’ argument that it was a promising sign that TENET this weekend dropped just 29% from the 9.4 million earned during the September 4th through the 6th weekend. Even though that isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison since the film rolled over the long Labor Day weekend and is now playing in 100 more theaters.
  • According to deadline.com, one of the offshoots of the release of tenant has Warner Brothers, who has both TENET and Wonder Woman 1984, pushing Wonder Woman 1984 to a Christmas release.  Part of the speculation is that the original early October release might have competed with what Warner Brothers hopes will be an early October reopening of theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Warner Brothers will release TENET in those cities if they do open up.  They didn’t want to have Wonder Woman 1984 compete with it.
  • Also, 30% of the nation’s theater space in the US is still closed down due to the pandemic.  If TENET doesn’t open in New York in LA, Warner Brothers might not want to open another blockbuster to only 70% of the US market. In addition, the spot opened up once, the movie Top Gun: Maverick had its release pushed to July 2021. 
  • So what does this portend for the November 6th and 20th release in the US of Black Widow and NO TIME TO DIE respectively? Well in terms of NO TIME TO DIE,  in an article on express.co.uk, they’re wondering about the release date. In a compelling statement, they suggest that
  • Wonder Woman 1984 has moved from its October 2nd release to Christmas Day.
  • MGM’s Candyman has been delayed indefinitely from the same month to 2021
  • The same studio, MGM, has the movie NO TIME TO DIE, which is internationally distributed by Universal Pictures.

So what does this mean? Read their article for more info, but it does make one wonder!  And they point out we should take another look at the most recent movie poster release for NO TIME TO DIE. Anything about the date pop out? Check out their article.

IDRIS ELBA

  • Movieweb.com has an article on an upcoming espionage movie starring Idris Elba.  The movie is untitled, but will release on Apple TV plus.
  • So it isn’t James Bond, but Elba will have another spy movie leading role. 
  •  Not much else has been said about the movie other than it’s being called a “spy movie with romance” and is set in Africa.

Let’s hope it’s not a romance movie like director John Woo called Mission: Impossible II. Let’s also hope it’s a better movie than Mission: Impossible II.

JAMES BOND, LIFE AFTER NO TIME TO DIE

  • Digitalspy.com has an article quoting Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, saying that the next James Bond movie is an “opportunity for change, be it female, male, BI gay, straight, trans, Asian, Black, Latina.
  • He ducks the question of if he’s been approached for the role.

THE DUKE

  • We’ll end with a story about a movie that isn’t technically a spy movie.  But the story it tells had a slight influence on the first James Bond movie, Dr. No.  In our podcast on Dr. No, we talked about how EON Productions brought a bit of the real world into the movie.
  • In one scene when James Bond is in Dr. No’s lair, he passes a portrait,  “The Duke of Wellington” by Goya. He stops and takes a quick look.   That portrait in real life had been stolen from the National Gallery in London before the filming of the movie. EON Productions added that touch of reality.
  • At the Venice Film Festival, the movie The Duke, starring Helen Mirren, Matthew Goode, and Jim Broadbent, was shown.  The topic of that movie, the theft of the Duke of Wellington portrait. The movie has an expected UK release in 2021.

So that’s it for this edition of Cracking the Code of Spy Movie News.  Be sure to check out our website, SpyMovieNavigator.com, and our podcasts on your favorite podcast app,  we have a YouTube channel too.  Tell your friends about us.

We’ll catch you in the next edition of Spy Movie News.


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Here’s our September 1st, 2020, edition of Spy Movie News where we are Cracking the Code of Spy Movies with the latest updates on TENET, Mission: Impossible 7, and NO TIME TO DIE,  plus we look at some industry trends.

TENET

  • In breaking news, we have confirmed that TENET did open in England on August 26 and was planned to open in over 20 additional countries on that same date. And it has a scattered release plan through the September 18th release in Japan. It officially opens September 3rd in the United States, but early access showing started August 31st. 
  • Tom Cruise was seen going to the pre-screening of TENET in England, so there you go.
  • Our co-host in the UK, Vicky Hodges saw TENET the day it opened in the UK, August 26th.  We have a no-spoiler podcast out on it, released August 28th. Check it out, here. It’s a fun 8 minutes and has no spoilers.
  • Variety.com reports that TENET had a strong opening for the weekend in Europe with box office sales at $53,000,000 for a film that cost $200 million to produce.   They quote Toby Emmerich, Warner Brothers Pictures Group chairman as saying: “We are off to a fantastic start internationally and couldn’t be more pleased.”  See Variety.com for the full story. 

 Disney

  • Disney didn’t wait to see what would happen with TENET or Disney’s own, The New Mutants which they released last weekend. Disney pushed The King’s Man to 2021. 
  • Interestingly, they announced this the day before The New Mutants hit theaters. This does make one wonder if Disney plans to push back Black Widow from its November 6th release.   We’re guessing ticket sales for TENET will have a big impact on that decision.
  • It also makes us wonder what 2021’s release schedule will look like. Will all the movies that have been pushed to 2021 have an impact on the movies scheduled for later in 2021? Might they be pushed to 2022?  Mission: Impossible 7,  we’re staring you down for an answer on this one. 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7

  • Here’s some Mission: Impossible 7 news.   They suffered a little set back after an expensive motorcycle stunt went wrong. Check cinemablend.com for all the news. A motorcycle stunt went wrong as the bike burst into flames, but the stuntman is OK. but it was a well planned and costly stunt that had been in the works for a long time.  And it is now a financial and time-frame set back for Mission: Impossible 7.  This movie is scheduled for release on November 19th, 2021. Reportedly, Tom Cruise was not too happy about the accident.  See Cinemablend.com again for more details. 
  •  In our August 1st edition of Spy Movie News, we mentioned that Mission: Impossible 7 wanted to blow up a 111-year-old bridge in Poland. Now here is an update.  Writer-director Chris McQuarrie said “Mission: Impossible says they would never harm icons or historical landmarks.  They were looking for a bridge that needed to come down somewhere in the world and they were contacted by Poland.  But never a monument. No historically significant monuments would be destroyed. But there is a possibility that a portion of the bridge which is now unsafe would need to come down. See empireonline.com/movies for more info. The Bottom Line is that Mission: Impossible is acting responsibly and working with Poland on what might be possible. 
  • Screenrant reports that Tom Cruise, a certified helicopter pilot, during a break, landed a helicopter near the 9th hole at a golf course in England so he could grab lunch at the clubhouse. How’s that for a stunt? 
  • And here’s another real stunt.  Nme.com reports that Tom Cruise will jump off a motorcycle mid-air for a fabulous action stunt in Mission: Impossible 7.  He’s like 160 feet in the air. Photos at Nme.com and also at thesun.co.uk.  #CruiseisCool.

NO TIME TO DIE

Let’s move on to NO TIME TO DIE.

  • From “The Spy Command”,  August 18th, 2020 edition: there hasn’t been a whole lot of news for NO TIME TO DIE, but there has been enough to get fans interested. As usual, there are questions. 
  •  You see a lot of licensed product news like the Funko pops and usually, that means that the release is imminent for the film. However, as “The Spy Command” says, who knows if the licensees are really in the know about when the movie will release, so there’s still always a question.
  • “The Spy Command” also reports that there was an investor’s call by MGM with its investors and the chief operating officer said: “yeah, two releases in 2020 are scheduled, but there is a but, and who knows if these releases will slip.” There is always a but.
  • Indiewire.com reported that if there is another slip for NO TIME TO DIE, it is unlikely that the movie will be pushed to summer 2021.  There have been no EON Productions summer releases since Licence to Kill’s release in July 1989.  That movie was not well received great release, coming in 4th at that time. It was the worst opening of any EON Productions Bond film.  So, it’s unlikely that it would be the summer of 2021.
  • Some things that will affect the release, of course, are:
  • worldwide statistics for the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The decisions countries are making concerning theaters opening or not.
  •  Billie Eilish’s recording of the NO TIME TO DIE theme song was a first for James Bond films.  It was recorded at her home studio and not in a traditional recording studio Read all about it at cinemablend.com
  • And also at cinemablend.com: there is a new image of Rami Malek’s character, Safin, which was also released on Instagram. Check that out. It’s pretty cool.
  • Radiotimes.com reports even this summer that Cary Fukunaga is not tweaking NO TIME TO DIE.  He says he had mentally and emotionally finished the film in the spring of 2020.   Read the full report at Radiotimes.com. 

INDUSTRY NEWS

  • In general news, some companies are moving filming locations to Canada due to COVID-19.  Other venues being looked at are the UK and Australia.  For The Last Duel, Ben Affleck, the producer and star, is doing this. Will we see more of this? Cnbc.com has an article on this topic.   Will this affect planned releases of movies in the fall of 2020?  We will see. 
  • And a belated Happy 90th Birthday to Sean Connery. Our first 007 from Eon Productions, who was also recently voted the best James Bond in a poll by radiotimes.com.  Timothy Dalton came in at #2 in the poll. 

 

So that’s it for this edition of Cracking the Code of Spy Movie News.  Be sure to check out our website, SpyMovieNavigator.com, and our podcasts on your favorite podcast app,  we have a YouTube channel too.  Tell your friends about us.

We’ll catch you in the next edition of Spy Movie News.

 


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Spy Movie News Article – Sept 1 2020:  NO TIME TO DIE., M: I 7, TENET,  THE KING’S MAN

Here's our September 1st, 2020, edition of Spy Movie News where we are Cracking the Code of Spy Movies with the latest updates on TENET, Mission: Impossible 7, and NO TIME TO DIE,  plus we look at some industry trends.

Spy Movie News – Tenet, The King’s Man, Black Widow, & Red Notice – 8/11/2020 Update

Related: Spy Movie News – Tenet, The King’s Man, Black Widow, & Red Notice – 8/11/2020 Update

Related: 2020 Spy Movie release schedule – April 3 Update

Related: Spy Movie News Article for Oct 1 2020 – No Time To Die!

Contributed by:

Posted on

We have recorded this article as a podcast.  If you want to watch it,  click here.

This article will update the status of the movies The King’s Man, Tenet, Black Widow, and Red Notice.  We last talked about these movies in this article from April. We’ll also look at a couple of industry changes that will likely have an impact on movie going for the foreseeable future.

Tenet

(currently set for and August -September release depending on the location)

So, let’s start with Tenet.   This is the Christopher Nolan movie which is supposed to be the first tent pole movie released in the US during the pandemic.  What happens here will have ramifications for the industry as a whole.

The release has been pushed numerous times as the movie industry is trying to figure out how to release a movie safely during the pandemic and in a manner in which consumers will still go to a theater.

According to an article by Tom Brueggmann in Indiewire, the current plan for Tenet is a UK release date of August 26, 2020, and in 50 other territories between the 26th and 28th. China’s release date is still unknown, but the movie has been approved there. It will have a US release on September 3rd in select theaters.

Currently, 45 states in the US permit indoor theaters to operate with some restrictions/safety precautions.  Cinemark, Regal, and AMC all have opening dates scheduled by the end of August with wide releases starting on August 21st.   Warner Brothers is re-releasing Inception as well.   From what I’ve read, you should probably watch Inception again before seeing Tenet.  So, as Brueggmann’s article states “even if California and New York couldn’t open and a few other areas besides, more than 80% of the population would still have the potential to see Tenet in an indoor theater.”   We’re eager to see how many people will actually go.  As Seth Rogan said about Tenet in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter: “For a while, it seemed like the answer was to kill his greatest fans,” Rogen told THR. “But that’s not the answer of today, it seems, so that’s good. But we have no idea. We don’t want to be the first to rush into anything.”

We here are SpyMovieNavigator are watching this closely.

The King’s Man

(Currently set for it’s US release in September)

The next spy movie scheduled to be released is The King’s Man, the prequel to earlier Kingsman movies.  This is still scheduled for a September 18, 2020 release date in the US.  We can only imagine that what happens with Tenet will have a huge effect as to whether this date changes.

In an article on this prequel on movieweb.com by Jon Fuge,  Director Matthew Vaughan said that this prequel will lay the foundations for Kingsman 3. Vaughan says: “We’ve put seeds for what’s going to happen in Kingsman 3 all the way back into this. And it’s going to be very different.”

So, while The King’s Man is a prequel it is being used to set up Kingsman 3 (this sounds like Star Wars numbering here).   What I would have called Kingsman 3 is this prequel, maybe you can think of it as Kingsman 1?  Thus the 4th Kingsman movie would be Kingsman 3?  My head hurts when they do stuff like this.

INDUSTRY NEWS

In industry news, two big recent announcements may change theatrical releases for a long time, one by Disney and one by AMC and Universal. Will Black Widow be affected by these announcements?

DISNEY WILL RELEASE MULAN ON DISNEY+ AND NOT IN MOST THEATERS

The first is an acknowledgement of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the movie business.  Disney announced last week that Mulan will no longer have its initial release in theaters.  Instead, they will be releasing it on September 3rd on Disney Plus, but not as a regular part of the service.    In addition to the monthly $6.99 Disney Plus monthly subscription price, if you want to see this movie, you can rent it for $29.99. It will be released theatrically in markets in which access to Disney Plus is not available.  That means you can see it in a theater if you are in a country that doesn’t have Disney Plus.

Initially, we were surprised by the price point.   However, after doing some research, we think the $30 rental price is a fair price for a family movie.   According to Statista.com, in 2019 the average ticket price at North American movie theaters was $9.16 with AMC coming in higher than that.   Let’s make the math easy and call it $10.00 a ticket.   A family of 3 would spend $30 just to see the movie in a theater, not counting the prices of any food and drink you might get.  So the $30 price point seems reasonable.  

Assuming that same number of people who would have gone to the theater buy into this, Disney will make more money than if this was in a theater.   A 2016 article on theweek.com says that US theaters end up paying the studios somewhere around 60% of their proceeds from the box office, up to 90% for a first-run movie.  So to Disney’s bottom line, they would net about the equivalent of just under 5 people going the theater to see the movie at the 60% number. Plus, you need the Disney Plus subscription.  Given the estimate of over $1billion in the expected global box office, this has to really hurt theaters.

According to an article in Variety, Disney CEO Bob Chapek says that this is a one-time event.  “We’re looking at Mulan as a one-off as opposed to saying there is some new business windowing model that we’re looking at. “

This quote by Chapek is intriguing as Black Widow was pushed back from May 2020 to November 6, 2020, in the US.  MCU fans are now asking Disney to do the same release to Digital strategy for Black Widow as Disney is doing with Mulan.  We’ll see if the “one-off” is a reality or just too good a deal for Disney to not make part of its release model.

UNIVERSAL AND AMC KISS AND MAKE UP

The second bit of general movie news is that prior to this Disney announcement, Universal and AMC made a deal to try to quell the fears of straight-to-digital killing the movie theater market.  After Universal released Trolls World Tour on digital on the same day as theaters after the pandemic hit, AMC banned Universal movies from its theaters.   This new deal mends that fence. Universal movies will be in AMC theaters exclusively for at least 3 weekends or 17 days, instead of the old model of 70 days.  Universal can keep a movie exclusively in theaters for longer than that, but 17 days is the new minimum.   Movies will hit the digital marketplace much sooner, but AMC can still survive on the new release.

An August 4th article on CNBC.com by Sarah Whitten talks about how Cinemark and Regal which combined have more theaters than AMC don’t have, nor do they want this deal AMC struck.  So this might get interesting.

It’s also interesting when juxtaposing this news with the Disney news which happened a week later.  First, as we said, a theater may have to pay up to 90% of a first release’s box office to the studio.   At 17 days, they won’t be able to make that much profit from the movie before they lose exclusivity.  Now, they may be able to keep the movie in the theater while it’s available on digital . And I assume they’d have to pay Universal much less than 90% once digital becomes competition. 

That said, I’d rather see Black Widow, The Kings Man, or No Time To Die on a big screen.  They are visual movies.  So, let’s hope this deal helps theaters stay afloat in these changing market conditions.   

Second, with Disney charging for Mulan separate from their subscription pricing, how can movie theaters compete with this?   We’re assuming this “one-off” isn’t going to end up as a one-off and Disney does this more often, and possibly with Black Widow.   How will the movie theater chains react?

Times are changing and it is not just because of the pandemic.  The combined effects of digital distribution with the impact of the pandemic are likely to change the movie industry to a large degree. We think the studios want to accelerate the move to digital and the pandemic is giving them the excuse to do so.  So stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted.

RED NOTICE

Finally, the release movie called Red Notice has been pushed to 2021.  It doesn’t have a release date yet.

So, there you have the latest news on the current state of spy movies for 2020.  We’ll be shocked if it doesn’t change again with the pandemic. But we hope we get to see at least a couple of these movies this year.


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Spy Movie News Article for Oct 1 2020 – No Time To Die!

Lots of news on No Time to Die this period, so this entire episode is devoted to it - looking release date strategies, The Official James Bond Podcast launch Billie Eilish, Ana de Armas and more!

No Time To Die is now scheduled for a November 2020 release, after the April 2020 delay due to the worldwide pandemic.  

Plenty of speculation of what will happen in the film – we have about 6 podcasts out on No Time To Die already!  The biggest
question is:  What will happen to Bond?   Will he survive?  Die? Be Dying?  Will someone big, who we are used to, die?

James Bond has been around since Ian Fleming first published “Casino Royale” in 1953.   He has been on television with Barry Nelson playing an American version of Jimmy Bond, in the 1954 production of Casino Royale.  The first actor to play Bond on screen.   Then Eon Productions took over striking a deal with Fleming to produce James Bond movies, and Dr. No was the first one they produced, released in 1962. It was an immediate hit.    About $1 million to produce, and it grossed over $59 million!

Eon continued to produce James Bond movies, and No Time To Die will be their 25th film in the franchise. Over the decades, they grossed at the box office over $7 billion.  And then there are licensing fees, DVD and Blue Ray sales and more that bring in revenue.

The formula, although changed gradually over the decades, has worked well for Eon Productions.   It has made them a lot of money, has gained them tons of recognition around the world, and continues to be a juggernaut.   Skyfall (2012), their 23rd movie, grossed over $1 billion at the box office.   And Spectre, in 2015, grossed over $878 million dollars.   So, this franchise is strong and continues to grow in popularity and in making money.   Which is a good thing.

So, now we have No Time to Die, the 25th entry, scheduled.   And speculations abound.  Many serious reports that Bond will survive, and others that he will die.   Now, if you are Eon Productions, which has successfully tweaked Bond’s character over the decades, reducing his misogynist tendencies and womanizing, and make him more in tune with the brave new world.  

And, as of the last film, Spectre (not one of the fans’ favorite films in general), they still grossed over $879 million. Not bad, right?

 

You’re in a meeting with Eon.  Where should the franchise head?

So, now suppose you are sitting in one of the Eon meetings where they are deciding what to do next.   Are you raising your hand saying, “I think what is best for the business is if we kill off Bond in our next release?”

Well, if not you, who?  Danny Boyle?  And what is the argument?

“I think in Bond 25, we should kill off Bond and start afresh with a new 007 – perhaps a woman.   It would fit the social narrative of our cultures now, and we can gain a large part of the female audience that we lack so much now.   The male audience will continue to come to see the “Bond” movies because they are used to it and will want to see how the new 007 develops. We can merchandise lots of clothing and other items around the new 007 who is female.   We won’t lose out massive Bond audience if we do this right.”

What happens if you’re wrong?

Well.   What if you DO lose your audience – your multi-billion-dollar business might be competing with Charlies’ Angels instead of dominating the spy movie world.   What happens if the new 007 is NOT accepted?  IF people want Ian Fleming’s Bond still around – after all, THAT is the whole basis of the James Bond franchise – the original Ian Fleming manuscripts.

 Yes – James Bond has changed over the decades as we have said. He is becoming more of a good social citizen.   But we must remember, a spy by nature is two-faced.   When we talked to Roberto Schaefer, Director of Photography for Quantum of Solace, he said as much.   A spy is something else in the known world and an undercover assassin in the dark underworld.   So, how much do we want him to change IN the dark underworld where his business takes him? Do we want a completely different spy? A nicer spy in this dark world?  

Then what?

Basically, what else do we demand to be changed in the character of James Bond?   Let’s make a list.

  1. He is still too much a misogynist.  So, we must get rid of that.
  2. He still does not have enough respect for women.  So, we must change that
  3. He has been a cold-hearted killer.   Shooting and killing people who are unarmed, like Professor Dent on Dr. No.  We can’t have that.
  4. Bond knows how to do everything.  He can fly any craft, drive any vehicle, get out of any jam, disarm bombs – is anyone THAT good?  He needs to be more realistic. 
  5. And on what an agent makes, how can Bond afford the best clothes, the best food and drink, the best of everything?  MI6 isn’t paying for all that stuff, are they? Unrealistic.   Need a more grounded agent – grounded in the real world.

And if we change all of this in Bond, no one will accept this new iteration of Bond.   So, maybe we switch to a whole new spy.  A female “Bond-like” character.

This is all possible. With the delay of No Time to Die, we have more time to speculate. 

Our thoughts

Now, if it were SpyMovieNavigator making this decision, we would do one of two things.

Leave Bond alone.  People for decades have been loving James Bond in the movies, so leave him alone.
Sure, tweak some things as you have done in the past.   The faithful audience can accept that people, even spies, change over time.    And James Bond in the movies, HAS changed over time, and the last couple of Bond movies were the highest-grossing box office Bond films ever.   So, there is plenty of reason to stay the course.

If you are going to introduce another MI6 agent to take Bond’s place – a complete replacement – then do it as an experiment.  Do NOT kill off Bond.  Ian Fleming left us hanging at the end of his novel, “From Russia With Love, not knowing if Bond would survive the poison unleashed upon him by Klebb.   In No Time to Die, do a similar thing then, if you must.  Leave us hanging.

If you KILL off Bond, and the new agent replacement for 007 is NOT accepted, what do you do?   Now, if this were science fiction, you have no problem.   Because no one ever dies in science fiction.  You can write anyone back into the next script. 

But this is not science fiction.

Where have we seen this before?

But wait.   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did it with Sherlock Holmes!  Sherlock Holmes died in “The Adventure of the Final Problem”, after falling off Reichenbach Falls.  Sherlock Holmes.  Dead.   And fans did not like it!  They were outraged!

So, after pressure from his publisher and the public, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “brought back” Sherlock Holmes in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, which was
a prequel to Holmes’ death in “The Final Problem”. So, he really was not brought back from the dead.   Yet.
They COULD do the same with Bond. Bring back Bond, if the new non-Bond 007 is a flop – in a series of prequels.  

But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle finally did bring Holmes back to life, in a series of short stories, “The Return of Sherlock Holmes”.

So, maybe EON Productions can bring back James Bond in a similar manner.   He dies, let’s say, in No Time to Die.  The movie-going public is outraged and rejects the new 007 in the next film released.   A board meeting.   Eon decides, we must bring Bond back.  And, they fabricate a screenplay that does just that.  It is possible.

And would the public accept it?  Yes, of course!  They did for Sherlock Holmes and they will for Bond!  

And that takes us to … To die or not to die?  That is the question . . . that may not matter!

So, it seems:

  1. If Eon Productions kills off Bond in No Time to Die, they could probably bring him back to life somehow in a future movie, that is either a prequel or he is resurrected and is alive again to “Die Another Day.”  Or, perhaps the new 007 is even more popular than James Bond, and he remains dead as long as the money is rolling in. 
  2. If they leave us hanging, with Bond appearing to die, or dying at the end, then Eon could easily choose to do what they want next.
  3. If Bond survives, then life goes on.  And so does the Bond franchise.

So, it looks like Eon Productions can do whatever they want in No Time to Die, and all will be fine for them.   Sure, some rough waters could be ahead, but they can always return to calm seas.  

For us James Bond 007 fans, let’s see what they do.  But, whatever they do, let’s just chill out.  In fiction, where you write it and it is done, anything can happen. 

 

 

 

 


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The Lost and Overlooked Bonds

Contributed by: Daniel Silvestri and Tom Pizzato of SpyMovieNavigator.com

Posted on

James Bond has been big for decades!  Spies still rule movies, and James Bond still rules spies!  There have been six actors who have played James Bond so far in the EON Production James Bond 007 movies.  Hundreds of articles and polls rank these actors as to who is the best, with rankings from one to sixThere is some consensus that people like Sean Connery the best.  Daniel Craig is ranked highly as well And, there are those who love Pierce Brosnan, and others who adore Roger Moore. Many times, what influences a person’s rankings or favorite Bond is the era in which they grew up. If you grew up with Pierce, then a lot of people like Pierce and so on. As a result, that means that there are two who are the lost and overlooked Bonds. 

We would like to concentrate on these “forgotten” Bonds. Namely, George Lazenby from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Timothy Dalton from The Living Daylights  and Licence to Kill 

Is George Lazenby – A lost and Overlooked Bond?

George Lazenby wearing a tux - headshotOn Her Majesty’s Secret Service is just one of the best Bond stories Fleming ever wroteAnd while bringing it to film, EON Productions stuck very closely to the Fleming text. George’s only acting experience had been in television commercials.  Still, he landed the role after Sean Connery decided to leave the franchise.

The Criticism

There is a loof criticism swirling about that George Lazenby was a poor Bond, that his acting was terrible, that his characterization of Bond was weak. However, we think that this is misguided.  In our opinion, George is one of the lost and overlooked Bonds who deserves more credit than he gets.  We think George did a wonderful job as Bond.  He was surrounded by an outstanding cast spearheaded by Diana Rigg (Tracy di Vincenzo) and Gabriele Ferzetti (Draco, Tracy’s father)The movie was well done.  It has great cinematography and wonderful locations selected in Portugal and Switzerland 

George Lazenby’s Talent

George Lazenby was a believable, emotional, real-person Bond: much like Fleming wrote Bond. For example, look at the scene  at Draco’s birthday party at the bull ring.  Bond follows Tracy down the stairs and speaks with her just outside the bull ring.  Lazenby’s acting is just spot-on, he’s a believable guy. He’s a guy, not just a spy guy.  

James Bond (George Lazenby) and Tracy (Diana Rigg) in the barn

 

And when Bond and Tracy are hiding in the barn, and Bond asks Tracy to marry him. We think this is just a perfect scene – well played.  Diana Rigg certainly elevates the emotions and acting here.

 

George Lazenby as James Bond - see his expression when he looks at Tracy's dead body

 

In the last scene, he is cradling his dead wife in his arms in the car after she is killed.  George is just outstandingWe believe is a very real Bond.  He’s a very believable spy who is also a human being.  Lazenby gives a very consistent portrayal of Bond throughout this production. 

 

Our Thoughts On George Lazenby

Lazenby should have continued to do more Bond films, but he received advice from agents or friends that he should move onAnd he didThat is too bad because we think he would have been better and better as Bond, and a very solid contribution to the history of the franchiseGeorge Lazenby, at the time of this writing, is still active.  He participated in the 50th Anniversary of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service celebration held in Portugal and Switzerland in 2019, and is active on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lazenbyofficial 

We truly believe that George Lazenby is one of the lost and overlooked Bonds.  That is unfortunate because we really liked his performance in the role.

Is Timothy Dalton – a lost and overlooked Bond?

Timothy Dalton wearing a tux - headshotAfter Roger Moore left the Bond franchise having done seven James Bond films, Timothy Dalton stepped in as the next James Bond, for the 1987 film, The Living DaylightsHis take on the role was to bring back the Fleming-esque elements of Bond – the blunt instrument of the government – the tough, rough assassin who is dedicated to Queen and Country.   The transition from a very light Bond portrayed by Roger Moore, with a more tongue-in-cheek approach, lots of funny quips, more humor than we have seen ion any other Bond – to Timothy Dalton’s Bond was like Evel Knievel leaping across Grand Canyon on a motorcycle – a huge challenge.   

In short, after seven Bond films with Moore, the viewing public might not have been ready for this take on Bond. Dalton played a very serious James Bond – with few quips, few smiles, and a very hard-nosed focus on getting the job done, and in a way that was a very believable approach to how a spy in the real-world night workThe missions were more down-to-earth too: transporting a defecting spy from the Russians to the British in The Living Daylights, and capturing a South American drug lord in Licence to Kill.  This is stuff that really happens in the real world – not dealing with some demented, super-megalomaniacal enemy who wants to rule the world. Although in real life we have some instances of that.    

We like that “normal” approach to the spy world – which is more realistic.  However, we have enjoyed the world domination theme as well in the other films 

With Dalton, you can see several things which stand out in his acting: 

Facial Expressions

For instance, his facial expressions are exactly that – they express a lot to the viewer in just a few short seconds.  This is very difficult to doSome great examples of this are: 

    • In The Living Daylights:

Timothy Dalton looking for revenge after Saunder's death • Saunders gets killed and Bond runs to his side. A balloon blows in with “Smiert Spionom” written on it.  Dalton’s angry face says it all – he will retaliate.  

• Similarly, during the entire scene with Pushkin in the hotel room where Bond is threatening him with his gun.  Dalton has perfect facial expressions and body movement. 

    • In Licence to Kill:

Timothy Dalton's expression when looking at Della after her death 

When Bond finds Della’s body 

 

 

And then finds Felix in the body bag – his face just says it all – terrific acting.

 

 • His facial expression when M is talking to Bond at the Hemingway House, revoking his license to kill is top-notch.

• When Bond tells Sanchez about potential traitors and Sanchez says he was right and got the guy, and Bond says, “Only one?”  Again, lots of potential dialogue delivered in a couple of words and great facial communications which substitutes for more linePerfect.

In the scene where Sanchez dies.  Bond is wounded and bleeding.  Sanchez, after saying “You could have had it all” goes up in flames. Examine Bond’s face – you feel the pain, you feel the tension.   

Body Movement

Similarly, Timothy Dalton’s body movements are spot on.  In other words, he walks, he fights, and he runs just like what we think a normal human being would be like 

    • In Licence to Kill:
      • When Bond is walking with Hawkins through Mallory Square in Key West on the way to the Hemingway House to meet M. Bond which Bond did not know that’s where they were going at the time.  However,  he moves like a normal personNatural, walking, and walking. 
      • And, when he’s on the boat with Sharkey going to Wavecrest’s warehouse and research center – again, great facial expressions, and great, natural body movement. 
      • And, when he gets off the boat at the Barrelhead Bar in Bimini – again, perfect movement, perfect facial expressions, and inside the bar, his face says it allSo powerful.
    • In The Living Daylights, as above, with the Pushkin scene Dalton’s body movement is just what you think it should be. And, as you’re watching, you do not think about it. This is the pointThis entire scene is Dalton at his bestLove it! 

Our Thoughts On Timothy Dalton

These are just a few examplesDalton did a great job as Bond and we wish he would have done more Bond moviesFor a variety of reasons it was not to be.  This was partially due to delays in the next release (6 years).  Some licensing issues and rumors that lower box office numbers had something to do with it.  But, Dalton himself says, they approached him to do GoldenEye. However, they wanted a 5 movie deal.  As a result, Dalton thought that would be the rest of his life and turned them down.   See this article in Esquire where he talks about this very point.   

In our opinion, Timothy is the other lost and overlooked Bonds who deserves more credit than he gets.

Bravo Gentlemen

In short, these overlooked and mostly forgotten Bonds deserve an honored place in Bond movie folklore, performance, and durabilityThey have survived the years, and more people now think that their work should be appreciated as part of the James Bond 007 movie franchise 

Therefore, we salute both George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton as rightful Bonds! 

What do you think?

10 Spy Movies for Kids and Your Whole Family

Related: Spy Movies For Kids – Spies In Disguise – Why Is It Rated PG? – Podcast Video

Related: Spies in Disguise – A Quick-Fire Look

Related: Spy Movies For Kids – behind the PG rating of SPIES IN DISGUISE!

Contributed by: Spy Movie Navigator

Posted on

As parents, we’re all looking for ideas of things to keep our children busy.  So, why not let them watch some spy movies made for kids?

To help with this, we at Spy Movie Navigator have looked at the movies available that are kid-friendly and created this list of spy movies for kids.
Please note that Spy Movie Navigator receives no compensation if you purchase or rent any of these movies.

Note: The online information was gathered at the beginning of April 2020 so it may change over time.


PG-Rated Spy Movies

Spies in Disguise (2019 movie)

Spies in Disguise - Spy Movies for KidsDescription (from 20th Century website

In this high-flying animated comedy, super-spy Lance Sterling (Will Smith) and scientist Walter Beckett (Tom Holland) are almost exact opposites. Lance is smooth, suave and debonair. Walter is none of the above. But this unlikely duo must team up for the ultimate mission to save the world when a “biodynamic concealment” experiment transforms Lance into a brave, fierce, majestic…pigeon!

Rating: PG

Run Time: 101 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Podcast: Spy Movie Navigator has a podcast about Spies in Disguise which discusses it in more detail.  You can find it by clicking here.

Where to find it online:

 This movie is currently not included free in any service that we’ve found. Therefore, there is currently a rental/purchase charge to view this movie from any of these sites.

Google badge for Spies in Disguise Microsoft badge for Spies in Disguise
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Penguins of Madagascar (2014 movie) 

Penguins of Madagascar - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (from Dreamworks website)

They’re cute…they’re cuddly…they’re back! From the creators of MADAGASCAR comes the hilarious new movie that proves global espionage is for the birds! In DreamWorks’ PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, your favorite super-spies–Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private–join forces with the elite North Wind team to save the world. It’s a side-splitting, globe-trotting adventure the whole family will love!

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 hour 32 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online: 

This movie is currently not included free in any service that we’ve found. Therefore, there is currently a rental/purchase charge to view this movie from any of these sites.

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Inspector Gadget (1999 movie)

Inspector Gadget - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (from Disney’s website

A security guard’s dreams come true when he is selected to be transformed into a cybernetic police officer.

Inspector Gadget isn’t technically a spy movie, but when we ask kids about their favorite spies, his name comes up often so we included him in this list

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 Hour 18 Minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

This movie is included in a Disney+ subscription, click –>         Disney+ Badge

Also, if you don’t have Disney+, you can rent/purchase this movie online here:

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Spy Kids (2001 movie)

Spy Kids - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (from Miramax website)

Nine years ago, top international spies Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez traded the excitement of espionage for the adventure of parenthood. But when they’re called out on a secret mission, the Cortezes are separated from their family and kidnapped by the evil Fegan Floop. Fortunately, there are two people who possess the skills and know-how to reunite the family: Carmen and Juni Cortez, their kids.

Note:  Three more Spy Kids movies followed upon the success of this one.  They are Spy Kids 2, Spy Kids 3: Game Over, and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 hour 28 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

If you have Netflix, Spy Kids is included in the membership at no additional charge (Spy Kids is only on Netflix until 4/30/2020).

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Included with Netflix

However, if you don’t have Netflix, you can rent/purchase the movie online here:

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Spy School (2008 movie)

Spy School - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (From IMDB)

Spy School is the story of a twelve-year-old boy known for telling tall tales who overhears a plot to kidnap the President’s daughter. When he goes public with his story, no one believes him, and he is forced to save her on his own.

Please note this movie is also known as Doubting Thomas.  However, in 2018 another movie called Doubting Thomas was released that is a different movie and isn’t a spy movie. We don’t know if it is a movie for kids as it is unrated and we haven’t seen it.  Also, there is a 1935 Will Rogers movie called Doubting Thomas.  So, please make sure you are looking at the 2008 movie if you want the right one.

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 hour 26 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

This spy movie is available at no cost on Tubi under the title Doubting Thomas.

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Additionally, it is available at the following links for an additional charge:

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Agent Cody Banks (2003 movie)

Agent Cody Banks - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (From IMDB)

A government agent trains Cody Banks in the ways of covert operations that require younger participants.

In addition to this movie, please note that there is a sequel called Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London.

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 hour 42 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

This spy movie is currently available as part of an HBO GO subscription.

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However, if you do not subscribe to HBO, choose one of these other options.  You have a rent/buy option at these other sites.

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Harriet the Spy (1996 movie)

Harriet the Spy - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (From IMDB)

Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. But when Harriet’s friends find her secret notebook the tables are turned on her. Can she win her friends back and still keep on going with the spy business?

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

You’ll find Harriet The Spy  for rent in your Amazon Prime membership.

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It is also available to rent or buy at the following links:

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G-Rated Spy Movies

Sam Steele and the Junior Detective Agency (2009 movie)

Junior Detective Agency - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (From IMDB)

13-year-old Sam Steele Jr. forms his own private detective agency to emulate his father, Des Moines detective Sam Steele and helps track down a jewel thief.

In this movie,  Sam is a detective.  We included this in our list as it is rated G and has some spy-movie elements. The sequels call Sam a spy, so we’ll start with this first one.  The sequels are Sam Steele and the Crystal Chalice in 2011 and The Junior Spy Agency in 2014.

Rating: G

Run Time: 1 hour 27 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

You’ll find Sam Steele and the Junior Detective Agency in your Amazon Prime membership at no additional cost.

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Included with Prime

Also, you might also want to poke around on YouTube.  The links for the three related movies are not consistent on YouTube with trailers for the different movies using each other’s titles.  However, you’ll find what you are looking for there.  In addition, this YouTube link will take you to where you can buy/rent the spy movie. But we strongly suggest you do a YouTube search first.

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Cars 2 (2011 movie)

Cars 2 - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (From Disney website)

Star race car Lightning McQueen and the incomparable tow truck Mater take their friendship on the road from Radiator Springs to exciting new places when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage!

Rating: G

Run Time: 1 hour 46 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

You’ll find Cars 2 in your Disney+ subscription.

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Included with Disney+

However, if you don’t have a Disney+ subscription, you can rent/buy Cars 2  online at these sites:

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Odd Squad: The Movie (2016 movie)

Odd Squad The Movie - Spy Movies for Kids

Description: (from IMDB)

Odd Squad is forced out of business when Weird Team, a rival team of adults, arrives with a gadget that solves odd problems. But while leading normal lives, the Odd Squad agents discover that the group isn’t solving problems, just covering them up.

Rating: G

Run Time: 1 hour 7 minutes

Trailer: (click here to view the trailer from YouTube)

Where to find it online:

If you have Amazon Prime, this spy movie is included in the membership at no additional charge (as of 4/9/2020).

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Included with Prime


In conclusion, we hope you and your kids liked these spy movies.   Please let us know your thoughts on these movies.  Also, if there are other spy movies your kids like that we should include in our next list, please let us know.  To make that easy, just press the red button on the right side of this page.  Then, you can leave a voicemail for us with your thoughts.


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Keeping up with the changes is challenging. Many of the studios have done a terrible job keeping their websites updated with the changing dates. As an example, The Informer was to release on January 10, 2020. Their website still shows the poster with this date. However, the release date got pushed back to July 30, 2020. So check back here and we’ll keep the list as updated as possible.

The pandemic has also caused production delays for movies like that are scheduled for a 2021 release. As of today, Mission: Impossible 7 has kept its July 23, 2021, U.S. release date.

We will do our best to keep you up to date. Just realize that until the pandemic runs its course or movie theaters reopen, this list is very fluid. We’ve also seen a small number of movies releasing direct to Video on Demand (VOD) and bypassing theaters during this pandemic

If you are a spy movie fan, please don’t miss our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies podcasts.  You can find them here.

So, here’s the current 2020 Spy Movie release schedule with U.S. release dates:

Current 2020 US Release Date Title Original Release Month Standards Body Rating Certificate Comments
April 17 My Spy January, then March 2020 US Rating:
PG-13 for action /violence and languageU.K Rating:
12A See All Certifications Here
UPDATE: This movie got pushed from January right into the heart of the COVID pandemic in March. They only pushed it until April 17th, however. We believe it is likely to get pushed one more time to get out of the Coronavirus shutdowns. We’ll keep this article up-to-date on this movie.

This movie stars Dave Bautista, who played Hinx in Spectre.

MY SPY follows JJ a hardened CIA operative (Dave Bautista) who has been demoted and finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, named Sophie (Chloe Coleman) where he has been sent undercover begrudgingly to surveil her family. When Sophie discovers hidden cameras in her apartment she uses her tech-savviness to locate where the surveillance operation is set. In exchange for not blowing JJ’s cover, Sophie convinces him to spend time with her and teach her to be a spy. Despite his reluctance, JJ finds he is no match for Sophie’s disarming charm and wit.

Source: https://www.myspy.movie

July 17 Tenet July 2020 Not Yet Rated Christopher Nolan fans: he’s written and directed this movie.

This is a movie shrouded in secrecy. They are really not letting too much out it at all. All we’ve seen written is from IMDB: “An action epic revolving around international espionage, time travel, and evolution”

There is a trailer for the movie that is very intriguing. You can find it here: https://www.tenetfilm.com.

It is the first big-budget movie ($225 million estimated budget) to film in Tallinn, Estonia which should be good to see.

July 30 The Informer January 2020 US:
Rfor strong violence and pervasive languageUK Rating:
15See All certifications here
This one has Ana de Armas (No Time To Die) and Rosamond Pike (Die Another Day) for the Bond fans.

Update: This is one of those “everything changes, and they don’t tell anyone” movies. This was supposed to release on January 10, 2020. No theaters were playing it yet it showed up on Fandango with no times. It then got pushed to March 13, 2020, right in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic time. Now it is supposed to release on July 31, 2020.

Here’s the synopsis from the official website: Honorably discharged Special Ops soldier Pete Koslow’s (Joel Kinnaman) world is turned upside-down when he is jailed after a fight to protect his wife (Ana de Armas). He’s given a chance for early release by becoming an informant for the FBI (Academy Award nominees Rosamund Pike and Clive Owen) and using his covert skills in an operation to take down The General, the most powerful crime boss in New York.

Source: http://aviron.com/films/the-informer.php

September 18 Without Remorse September, 2020 Not Yet Rated This is an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s novel, “Without Remorse”.

John Clark, a Navy SEAL, goes on a path to avenge his wife’s murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.

September 18 The King’s Man September, 2020 Not Yet Rated This is the prequel to Kingsman: The Secret Service and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in THE KING’S MAN.

Source: https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/the-kings-man

Note: This got bumped from a February 2020 release date to September 2020.

November 6 Black Widow May, 2020 Not Yet Rated Update: This movie has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha/Black Widow in Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller Black Widow — the first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Source: https://www.marvel.com/movies/black-widow

November 25 NO TIME TO DIE April 2020 US:
PG-13For sequences of violence and action, some disturbing images, brief strong language and some suggestive material.
Update: This movie’s US release got pushed back to November 12, 2020, in the U.K. and November 25, 2020, due to “careful consideration and thorough evaluation of the global theatrical marketplace”.

Finally, after 5 years, James Bond is back!

In NO TIME TO DIE, 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.

Source: https://www.007.com/no-time-to-die/

TBD Red Notice November, 2020 Not Yet Rated Update from March 14, 2020 – Variety – “‘Red Notice’ Halts Production Over Coronavirus”. “It is unknown when the shoot was going to end, though the film had yet to be given a release date since going into production.”

Stars Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Godot.

From IMDB: “An Interpol agent tracks the world’s most wanted art thief. “It was originally to be a Universal Pictures release in November 2020 but has moved to Netflix. One offshoot of this is that the release date might be in flux. IMDB now lists this as a 2021 movie without a date so we’ll have to see.

It is rumored to have a $200+ billion budget, making it one of Netflix’s largest budget movies

If you know of another spy movie coming out in 2020 or have any comments or suggestions of the 2020 Spy Movie release schedule, please leave us a voice mail by pressing the red button on the side of this page.


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Official Academy Awards TV Spot – released February 9, 2020

Podcast Available.

Join us as we’re Cracking the Code of Spy Movies – In the new No Time To Die trailer that aired as an ad during the 92nd Academy Awards on February 9th, several new things are revealed, so let’s take a quick look.

We’re just going to look at the differences in this new trailer versus the original trailer and the second Official Game Day Spot ad.

It begins with Bond and Swann in an embrace, and she whispers to him, “This is it.” And he echoes back, “This is it.”   Yes – we are left wondering WHAT is the IT, and why is it happening now?   But we do not know – they tell us no more.   Or do they?

Next, you see Bond standing in what looks like a hilltop graveyard.   There are mausaleum–type burial vaults in front of him – or is this a church and a churchyard?   The very next shot is Bond’s hand (yes it is Bond’s hand) – he is wearing a tan suit with a blue shirt while embracing Swann (you see the blue-collar above the jacket from the rear) and Bond is holding a note, with a crest on top, some indecipherable printing on the bottom, and the hand-written words: “Forgive Me”. And Bond is holding the note with his right hand and lights it afire with his left.

OK – this is big. WHO is the note from?   Is this another one of Bond’s loves gone bad, like in Casino Royale? Remember in Quantum of Solace when Mathis, while dying, tells Bond to forgive her (Vesper) and to forgive himself? Is this note along the same lines? Is it from Swann?   She did something that she now regrets, and wishes Bond’s forgiveness, much like Vesper? Or is the note from someone else?   Probably not from Safin – he seems to be the evil one.   Probably not from Blofeld. He predicted when her secret came out it would be the death of Bond (we think). From Felix Leiter? Did Felix betray Bond in this entire mission, setting him up? Wow – that WOULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.  This note is the most intriguing element in this entire 30-second trailer.   Whoever the author is will reveal a large chunk of the No Time To Die saga.

Let’s get back to the shot of Bond standing in the cemetery or churchyard.   He is looking down at what appears to be a tall burial vault, with what appears to be dried up flowers strewn on the ground in front of it – indicating the death and burial was not just moments ago. But when you blow the picture up, it looks like the flowers may be rather fresh – there are still visible heads on the flower stems.   WHO is buried here? Is Bond lamenting another loss of a key loved-one? Swann?

Again, in terms of arc, we know he lost Vesper in Casino Royale, and realized in Quantum of Solace, that Vesper did not betray him but died for him.   We do not know in this reboot if he has been married yet – to Tracy – from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.   But, here Bond stands, with his hands at his sides, looking down, perhaps at an inscription, on the stone. Generally, when one stands with his or her hands at their sides, it means they are not going to fight – is Bond just giving in here, not fighting what has happened? Accepting it? Or is he destroyed by it?  He looks sad in this shot. His head is slightly cocked downwards. In body language, if a head is cocked downwards OFTEN is a sign of submission. IT can also mean, because you are exposing the hardest part of your head as animals do, that you expect a fight – but combined with your hands at your side, it may mean conflict. Like, “I want to give up but there is another battle ahead.” Which maybe is the conflict he has suffered the entire film, having been in retirement (stepping down or quitting) and then getting drawn back into the battle. Regardless, in this shot, Bond is feeling stressed, conflicted – it certainly is not boredom.   He may be anticipating something big that must still be done. Or it may indicate that he is truly finished – defeated. But . . . this is BOND!

Also notice in this shot, Bond’s left foot is slightly ahead of his right foot – sometimes that is just comfort, but sometimes it may indicate the direction in which you want to head – here, it could be into the grave of whoever is buried there – which may indicate he loved and misses this person so much. Wow – a lot in one shot!

Next, let’s look at still another verbal confrontation with Safin and Bond.   We remember in the first trailer Bond telling Safin, “History isn’t kind to men who play God.”

Here, we see a quick shot of Bond in a tux with people all around him – they almost look like that are backing out of the way to make room for Bond to walk through this crowd – most of the people look rather stern, but the woman on the right of the screen seems to be smiling (or is it sneering) looking strat at the back of his head – and Bond looks intense.

A second later, in this trailer, Safin says to Bond, “James Bond. I have made you redundant.”   That’s a British term that basically means, irrelevant, unnecessary, unneeded.   Like when someone gets fired from their job, the Brits say “your job has been made redundant.” It is a form of dismissal. So, in a powerful statement, Safin says this to Bond. But Bond quickly retorts, “Not as long as there are people like you in the world.” This indicates that Bond believes the fight must go on – again, we do not know the sequence of the actual clips (or if they are all really in the final cut). Was this after the graveyard scene? Before it? All this is important as well. Both Safin and Bond seem confident in their statements in this short clip. Notice Safin’s head is cocked backward, indicating confidence.   Bond’s is straight ahead – eyes blazing, shifting it in a “no” fashion when he says the words “not as long” – cocky and confident that he is right – that good will defeat evil in this world, and the fight will go on.

          

We see the words, again, THE 25TH FILM . . . WILL CHANGE . . . EVERYTHING. In between, THE 25th FILM . . . WILL CHANGE . . . we see a very short shot of a bare-chest Bond and what appears to be a clothed Swann, embracing – with a possible explosion in the distant background, and torches or lights burning closer to them. When in the sequence is this shot? Why is Bond bare-chested?   What IS going on in the background? The typical James Bond film ending with the villain’s lair blowing up and burning? We do not know.   But look closely at this image – at 21 seconds into the trailer.   What do you think it reveals?

Now we see the word EVERYTHING completing the prophecy that THE 25th FILM WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING statement.

Then a close-up of M, saying, “Come on Bond.” M seems concerned and wanting Bond to succeed. Then Bond and Nomi shoot out of the plane as we saw in the Official Game Day Spot trailer – in the glider with wings expanding after the craft is ejected from the plane.   Then the title No Time To Die again etc.   Wow!

Again, another teaser trailer doing exactly what it should do – make us speculate and wonder and want to see the film.!   Great job Eon Productions!

We have a podcast covering all of this as well so take a listen.   We have had out podcasts downloaded from 44 different countries so far! Join us in Cracking the Code of Spy Movies in all of our podcasts and videos, and on our website. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and let us hear from you! We may include your comments on our show!


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Reel Art Collectibles
6727 Stanley Avenue
Berwyn, IL USA
STORE: 708-637-3244
OWNER (CORY): 708-288-7378

By Dan Silvestri/SpyMovieNavigator.com

 

 

If you are into movies and movie collectibles, then Reel Art Collectibles is the place you want to know.   Cory Glaberson, who owns the place, is the guy you want to know! He has all kinds of movie memorabilia for lots of genres, including spy movies! This is a find!

Cory has . . . are you ready . . . 100,000 movie posters in his shop and warehouse! And he has had some of the rarest posters in the world – like THE INVISIBLE MAN and all of the Sean Connery Bond posters which sell out instantly. And if he does not have it in stock, Cory has connections all over the world to help you find something that you may be looking for. He’s been doing this since 1992!

OK, we have a podcast of us talking with Cory. Check it out (released February 16, 2020). And we will have a video on our YouTube channel too!

Cory has movie posters, toys, vinyl LPs of movie soundtracks, toys, games and tons more!

Cory has sold collectibles and films to some big people! You would recognize the names for sure – listen to him speak about brushing elbows with the rich and famous in the podcast!

Check out the podcast and the video, and give Cory a call – he would be very happy to work with you, anywhere in the world! And please tell him that SpyMovieNavigator.com sent you!

And check out his Reel Art Collectibles website now!

 

 

 


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This article is based on the podcast Spy Movie Navigator did with the same name.   You can listen to this podcast here: (link). 

This article is based on the podcast Spy Movie Navigator did with the same name.

With No Time to Die on the horizon, there is lots of speculation about whether James Bond will survive this mission and whether Nomi, Lashana Lynch’s character, will indeed take over the 007 moniker and become the Double-O agent in future films. Rumor and speculations have been flying worldwide since EON Productions started filming. But as we know anything can happen.

Nomi’s Name

First of all, let’s look at Nomi. We think that’s a variation of Naomi. You can look it up. There are lots of different variations, but Nomi is a name from Hebrew-Japanese origin and it means beautiful, pleasant, delightful. Well, that’s a great name for a front and center Double-O agent’s intro here for Lashana Lynch. And from the No Time to Die trailer, Lashana Lynch is, all of that and tough.

In the trailer when she looks at his other knee and says the one that works, It’s like when she’s going to shoot him in the knee if he doesn’t stay in his lane. Yes, she’s tough.

But Nomi, if you’ll listen, you’ll say it slowly – NO-MI or NO-ME. Maybe her role will be short-lived. Will she survive this mission? Or could it be KNOW-ME, like we need to get to know her as we’ll be seeing her in future movies?

But these all speculations based on wordplay, but we’re all wondering whether Bond will survive, but there are a couple of other things really here.

We don’t know if the screenwriters are into numerology. We tried to find out and I couldn’t find out. In our research, there wasn’t anything that said, ‘yeah, they’re into numerology’. However, if you look into this a little bit, Nomi in numerology is eight, and that means power. It’s the great or marked ability to do, act or accomplish something. It’s a possession of control or command over others. Authority.

And the second big thing here is sacrifice, surrender or destruction of something prized for the sake of a higher claim. How does this fit Nomi in this movie so far? Well, there are a lot of interesting things here.  Is she going to sacrifice her life or is she going to sacrifice Bond’s life for a higher claim by authority, a higher goal? There’s some good stuff in here.

A skeptical view of the name Nomi is to look where we’ve seen the name in other movies. We’ve only found one other movie character with that name, that wasn’t in Asian cartoon, and that was Elizabeth Berkley’s character in the movie Showgirls. We don’t know if it was Elizabeth Berkley’s interpretation, the director’s interpretation or whatever, but she was just a nasty character that you really didn’t want to see anymore. So let’s just hope that the Nomi in No Time to Die is much better than the Nomi was in Showgirls.

We know she’s going to be tough. We know that for sure from the trailer. She was terrific in the trailer. She was good, but there always seems to be something in names. Writers are good at this kind of stuff. That’s why the Hemingway references in Licence to Kill and what we thought about with the bell in the No Time to Die trailer referencing “For Whom the Bell Tolls, are important to examine. We discuss the “For Whom the Bell Tolls” reference in our podcast on the No Time to Die trailer.  You can listen to that here (link). 

The Dove
Paloma is the character portrayed by Ana de Armas. What does Poloma mean? It means dove, which is a symbol of peace. So, is she going to have a character role in this film that’s going to be more like on Bond’s side or what? We don’t know, but these writers think of this stuff like we’re thinking of this stuff.

Coca-Cola’s Secret Formula

Bond is like Coca-Cola. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The Coke formula was secret. No one person knew the entire Coca-Cola formula for a hundred years. It’s locked in a safe and people know pieces of it and then they know or put their pieces together and they make the stuff.

The Pepsi Generation

So, in 1963, the maverick and creative genius Alan Maxwell Pottasch launched the ‘Pepsi Generation’ campaign. It was the first major advertising campaign to associate a product with a lifestyle rather than features.

The model before this was to talk about this product this feature, that feature, so this is why you should buy it. This campaign associated the product, Pepsi, with a lifestyle. So they had commercials showing young people skiing or having fun on beaches. And again, it was a lifestyle they were connecting to and not, not the product features. You’re going to live like this.

This made Pepsi a strong competitor to Coca-Cola. There’s a great article on this that came out right after Alan died. It’s called “Creative Father of the ‘Pepsi Generation’ Turned the Lifestyle into a Selling Point” by Betsy McKay on August 4, 2007, in The Wall Street Journal. Here’s a link to the article: (link).

So, here you see a product marketing campaign against a major competitor, Coca-Cola based on associating its product with the younger generation. And it pigeonholed Coca-Cola as the has-been product for the older generation. They never said that explicitly. They never had to, but it worked brilliantly and they had slogans like, “You’ve got a lot to live. Pepsi’s got a lot to give” – just brilliant stuff.

I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke

Coke fought back in the 70s with its own “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” campaign, which was a huge hit. The man responsible for this campaign was Bill Backer. Bill Backer created the campaign and Billy Davis and Roger Cook actually wrote that song.

But Coke nonetheless was still feeling their market share slipping.

Taking The Gloves Off
Pepsi initially didn’t outright say Coke was the older generation in their initial Pepsi Generation campaign. They kind of implied that.

If you fast forward to the 1990s: you had the Mac versus the PC commercials. This was really in-your-face and not subtle. Did Pepsi’s next move inspire those commercials?

In 1985 Pepsi created an ad attacking Coca-Cola as a relic. There is an archeologist somewhere hundreds of years in the future. And he’s digging up something and it’s a Coke bottle and he’s like quizzically looking at it like, what the hell could this mean? You can see how brilliant this ad is. It won all kinds of awards. It was spectacular. You can find it on YouTube here: (link).

Now Pepsi has Coke cornered. They had to do something.

What Does This Have To Do with James Bond?

We titled this article to imply we would talk about James Bond and No Time to Die, so far we’ve been talking about the cola wars between Coke and Pepsi.   Let’s see where this intersects with today’s James Bond and No Time to Die.

Let’s Change It

In 1985, Coca-Cola decided because the Pepsi generation was eating into their market share, they had to do something. And they came up with the New Coke. They came up with a new formula that they were going to put out there to compete now with Pepsi in a better way, and to become more responsive to the world, to the market, to the new generation, to the new way of doing things.

Pepsi made Coke a relic an out-of-touch-with-reality-dinosaur. Now we’ve heard Bond referred to as a dinosaur in Goldeneye: “I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur — a relic of the Cold War”, M said to Bond. This a little connection. It’s going to get bigger.

Coke was still number one, but Pepsi was eating the market share. That wasn’t good for Coke. So, they changed their formula. Mistake, right? 13% of soda drinkers liked the new formula. Epic implosion for Coke.

Pepsi jumped all over Coke in commercials, consumers protested and wanted the old Coke back and less than three months later, Coca-Cola announced they were bringing back the old formula as Coke Classic.

Was this a colossal failure on the Coca-Cola company’s part? Clearly, they spent millions of dollars on the New Coke campaign and formula.  But they got a lot of press. They got millions of dollars worth of press out of this. And when they brought back the old formula, because consumers were screaming for the old formula again, that was big news.

The Changing World for Bond

EON Productions is looking at the landscape of the world today: with the #Me Too movement, the focus on the power and leadership of young girls, the focus advancing women’s causes. EON Productions has decided not to call Bond Girl Bond Girls anymore, but Bond Women and so on. All of this is now connected. Why? To be altruistic? Probably not. They weren’t doing all this to be altruistic.

We think they were thinking: Well the market is responding in a certain way. Like the Pepsi and Coke markets responded. We must remember that half of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies had better worldwide revenue numbers than the BOND movies introduced since Mission: Impossible released in 1996. Listen to our podcast The Spies Who Loathe Me for a discussion of how MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE is battling the Bond franchise (link).

EON Productions is feeling the heat and you know we still have this Bond guy who is a womanizer and all of his faults. We think they want to broaden the interest in their base: not just men who love Bond movies. But to expand it to the millennials and the younger generation to women and so on.

Dave Holcomb talked a little bit about that on the podcast we did on his book: “His World Never Dies – The Evolution of James Bond”. We have an interview with Dave in our podcast with the same name (link).

Other filmmakers have women spies front and center. Films like: Atomic Blonde, Salt, Charlie’s Angels, Spy, Anna, Red Sparrow, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Get Smart all had a woman spy in a lead role.

Some of these movies were making money. They are all trying to capitalize on highlighting women in these lead roles. EON Productions wants to tap into what is happening today in the real world and not be the Coca-Cola bottle found and examined quizzically a few hundred years from now.

Is EON Productions Changing Its Formula?

Will EON Productions truly change the formula in this movie: No Time to Die? This would be a change after 58 years or so, and not a hundred like Coke. But it looks like they’re doing it. So have EON Productions, taken the 1985 version of Coke as a model?

Let’s hope they learned.

Lots of rumors are flying. At the beginning of the filming of Bond 25, now titled No Time to Die, there were rumors that Lashana Lynch, as Nomi, would be introduced as 007. Remember that rumor? Oh yeah, the door opens after M says “Where’s 007?” and in comes Lashana Lynch. That was the rumor in the beginning when they announced Bond 25. And even with the first official trailer out Nomi is acknowledged as a Double-0 agent. But they never say the number that’s after the Double-O (sneaky ad writers).

And one of the rumors about why they changed directors was that James Bond was supposed to die. 

They might still do that in the movie, we just don’t know. But, like Coca-Cola, there’s a lot of hype and lots of attention being paid to Bond and No Time to Die right now and here we’re talking about it again.

So the formula concept here is the same. They’re looking at how to change the formula. We think Eon Productions wants to change the formula.

James Bond’s Previous Formula Changes

Even if you look back at Ian Fleming, when he wrote “The Spy Who Loved Me”, he was changing the formula. And in that particular novel, Bond doesn’t appear until about the middle of the manuscript. And it’s this woman Viviene Michel who’s telling the story. It was not well received by the public. Ian Fleming had tried to change the formula.

In his next novel, the next year, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, Bond is mentioned right on the first page and he’s back to the old formula. And in reality, when Eon Productions did The Spy Who Loved Me movie, there was nothing based on that novel that Fleming actually wrote other than the title. So what does Eon Productions want to do?

Ian Fleming tried to kill off Bond in “From Russia With Love”. When they end that book he’s actually poisoned, potentially dying. Because you know, Fleming wanted to get rid of James Bond and write something else. This was much like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to do with Sherlock Holmes. He wanted to get rid of Holmes and write something else.

The Impact of Formula Changes

Coke and EON want to change the formula. Okay. It didn’t work out exactly for Coke or for Ian Fleming when he wrote: “The Spy Who Loved Me”. Quite frankly, we don’t think it will work out for EON Productions. But, they seem to be toying with this idea right now.

Reacting To The Consumer

This movie is the Coke formula. This is what they’re thinking. And now what? Coca-Cola realized that Coca-Cola belongs to the consumers, not the company. Meaning that they felt the consumer reaction and flat sales when they came out with their New Coke and Coke change back quickly, like in 10 weeks.

EON Productions doesn’t have the ability to pivot that quickly if they release a movie with a changed formula that the consumer doesn’t like. They can’t change in 10 weeks as Coca-Cola did. It takes them 5 years to put a movie out.

However, they can change within the movie, which we think they did. At least this is our assumption.

Is This All a Publicity Stunt?

So what will EON Productions do? Is all this hype, a publicity stunt? It could be, which would be great for them because it’s been five years since coming out with their last movie. These rumors are getting all of us to talk about Bond, to hype up No Time to Die so that it’s a box office smash and help the franchise.   They haven’t put a movie out in five years, which is a long time. It’s a long time to be waiting: maybe. Or maybe they really wanted to change the formula.

Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They Aren’t After You
Let’s remember Joseph Heller’s line in Catch-22: “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”  EON Productions are running up against MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, which in 2021 and then again in 2022 are releasing movies. This has to be putting the heat on EON. It’s been five years for Bond and they may be changing all this stuff. And if it takes them another five years to react to whatever happens from this one. What happens to the franchise?

Having To Respond To The Backlash

So there you have it. Coke got a lot of backlash from its consumers when they changed the formula. And based on all the rumors at the beginning of Bond 25 when it was being announced, EON Productions got a lot of backlash based on the rumors from fans saying that Bond is Bond, 007 is Bond. Tons of podcasts, YouTube videos, articles almost daily about this stuff.

Look at Bond’s history. Fleming was going to kill off Bond at the end of, “From Russia With Love”. He doesn’t do it. And his next two books were “Dr. No” and “Goldfinger”. If he hadn’t written those books… Remember, the first movie was “Dr. No”.. What would have happened?

So what will EON do?
Maybe, and this is likely to be true if they follow the Coke analogy, maybe we see Bond dying at the end of this film, like in the “From Russia With Love” novel. Dying, not dead. Leaving us with a cliffhanger.

Let’s hope it resolves better than the “Who Shot JR cliffhanger” on the TV show, “Dallas” and his death is just a dream. Or worse yet, assuming this is Daniel Craig’s last turn at Bond, the new Bond actor leaps from the dying/dead body like Joe Pendelton in Here Comes Mr. Jordan or in the remake Heaven Can Wait? A new James Bond pops up from the dying Bond, just as he’s about to expire? Let’s hope not.

A cliffhanger would give Eon Productions another two years, three years, five years, whatever it takes for them to come up with another movie to decide what they’re going to really do.

Is It Time For a Retirement Party?
We talk a little bit about this in our, in our No Time to Die trailer podcast, but maybe Nomi is introduced as 007. Maybe she’s going to be introduced as that. James has kind of retired. The implication is he’s old. In the trailer, they go out of the way to make James Bond seem like he’s been gone a while.

The shot in the trailer when he really looked old was when he’s talking to that security guard. He was asked what his name was. He said Bond …. James Bond. The guard had no idea who this old guy was. We think that was a brilliant way of getting that line into the movie in a different way than normal. (again, changing the formula). Skyfall kind of gave you that feeling as well.

The Trap Eon Productions Finds Itself In

We think EON Productions has a problem though. In the No Time to Die trailer, Nomi tells Bond “the world has changed, Commander Bond. Stay in your lane.” The problem is this: if he survives, (assuming he does and we think he’s going to survive. Based on the Coca-Cola formula, we can assume that.) then how do they bring back an old Bond? This is the problem. They have painted themselves in a little corner here with him being old.

They can’t reboot again. That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? With Daniel, they did a complete reboot and went back to Ian Fleming’s first James Bond book, “Casino Royale”.

But now you’ve got five stories kind of connected here. They’re all connected his five movies, right? So now there’s like, yeah, you’re old, you’re retired, you’re whatever. Now what? He must survive this movie.

With Daniel’s supposed retirement from the role, they are going to have to start with somebody new and in a totally different direction.

So, this is the conundrum there. We think they were thinking at the beginning of their work on this movie, maybe he dies in this movie and we bring up Lashana Lynch as the new 007. We have a woman spy.  But now they’re there in this corner. Now they’re going to have Bond survive because the feedback is not good or whatever. And now he’s old. Now, what do you do? It’s a problem. If they would’ve just said he’s retired cause he was sick of it. Tired of it. Tired of that lifestyle. Okay, that’s good.

Plus, you have a whole industry with James Bond, this James Bond that: all talking about your product and you change it?

So, number one, he’s got to survive. Number two, they have to wrestle with this problem.

However, the trailer appears to go out of its to make him look like he’s been gone awhile nobody even knows who he is anymore. He’s Mr. Irrelevant.

This is a problem. This is a company with about $7 billion in gross revenues for their movies so far. About $4 billion of that was Daniel Craig’s movies. But the world is changing. EON Productions would be wrong if they don’t do what Coke did or at least play around with the formula, but in the end, keep the old one.

Coke released the new formula. and got rid of the old formula. But they were able to react quickly where EON can’t. If they change the formula in this movie and they go with the Lashana-Lynch-as-007 plot, they may find out that only 13% of James Bond fans liked the new formula. Like the Coke experience with their change.

The Old Guard
It’s going to be really interesting, in general, for spy movies because the two biggest series are at a point where their chief spy guy is getting old. We think Tom Cruise’s age is why they’re doing back-to-back releases for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. They need to do a handoff. It will be interesting to see what they do: whether they had come up with a new Ethan Hunt or whether it’s Ethan Hunt now running the whole thing as Phelps did. But MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE has the benefit of what happened in the TV show where the teams changed over. They can continue that model easier.

Bond’s a little tougher problem because of where they’ve taken the story arc and Bond’s aging.

Spy Movie Navigator’s Guess

So, we think James Bond will not only survive into a beyond-Craig-as-Bond film with another male lead, but he’ll survive for many decades to come. We don’t think any of us should worry that the formula is going to be changed in such a big way as Coke did it with New Coke.

Bond. Will Survive.

Classic Coke, Classic Bond.


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NO TIME TO DIE:  Why You Cannot Kill Off James Bond.  Or could you?

With the upcoming release of NO TIME TO DIE, there are lots of rumors about what will happen in this movie and the direction EON Productions will take James Bond going forward. Check out our thoughts these issues.

No Time To Die Trailer Discussion – A Quick-Fire Look

Join Tom and Dan in Cracking the Code of Spy Movies! Here we take a Quick-Fire look at the December 2019 trailer for No Time To Die and speculate as to what it all means.

Charlie’s Angels (2019) – A Quick-Fire Look

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A quick look at Charlie’s Angels (2019) from Spy Movie Navigator

Introduction
Spy Movie Navigator recently published a podcast discussing the 2019 movie Charlie’s Angels. You can get that podcast here (Link) This article is a synopsis of that podcast..

At Spy Movie Navigator, we’re releasing these Cracking the Code of Spy Movies Quick-Fire episodes shortly after we see a new spy movie. We’ll still focus on the interrelationships that happened between the new film and prior movies as well as real-life events. So, let’s look at the November 2019 release of the movie Charlie’s Angels.

This one’s a bit interesting for us as we wouldn’t have examined the Charlie’s Angels movies from the early 2000s because they advertise themselves as a detective movie. The marketing around this version in 2019 was heavily around calling these women’s spies.

The beginning of this movie hammers home a girl-power theme. This was written, produced, directed and acted by Elizabeth Banks. She really took this towards this whole girl-power thing. That might be a potential reason why the box office for the opening weekend was considered a flop. We’re going to talk more about the box office a little bit later, but this girl power thing runs throughout the movie.

Similarities to other Spy Movies or Real-World Events
Our goal at Spy Movie Navigator and our Cracking the Code of Spy Movies podcasts is to highlight the interrelationships of a spy movie with other spy movies or real-world events. So, let’s look at those with Charlie’s Angels.

Pre-Title Sequence
There is a pre-title sequence of course because it’s popular and in other spy movies. And quite frankly our opinion is if you’ve seen other spy movies, you’ve seen this movie anyway. There is a pre-title sequence where they show how strong these women are and how they could just beat the hell out of evil men, which is important in this movie.

The Movie’s Plot
The plot of the movie involves an energy system called Calisto that can bring clean energy to the world. But Elena, the key programmer for this program, thinks there’s a flaw in the programming. She believes Calisto could be weaponized and used to assassinate people by disrupting the neural network of a person’s body and that it could be triggered remotely.  This theme really reminds us of Mission: Impossible II. In that movie, you had the Chimera virus. The Chimera virus was created to create a virus so that the antidote that they had already created, Bellerophon, could be sold. This virus would take over people and end up eventually killing them. They had the antidote and there were people trying to stop the antidote from happening.

Peter Fleming
There are a lot of things in this film that you have seen in other spy films or from other real-life things like the main adversary’s name. At the beginning of the movie, the main adversary is the boss. His name is Peter Fleming. Ian Fleming’s brother was named Peter Fleming. So, is that a little homage to our great friend Ian Fleming? Tom’s thinking is yes. Dan thought it was just a cheap ploy.

Bosley’s Retirement Party
If you’re familiar with the TV show or from prior Charlie’s Angels movies, you have the angels or the three main characters and you’ve got a character named Bosley who’s kind of like the Angel’s boss, and then there’s somebody named Charlie who actually controls everything. Patrick Stewart plays one of the Bosley, John Bosley, and he’s going to retire and so they have a retirement party for him. This scene kind of reminds us of a scene in the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service. When an agent dies in Kingsman, all the agents get together. There are holograms and they all toast.

In Charlie’s Angels, instead of holograms, they had video clips of other Bosleys (there are supposedly multiple Bosleys in different areas of the world). Each of these Bosleys toasts the retiring John Bosley and wish him farewell. So once again, it’s a slight twist on something you’ve seen in another spy movie. They show all these images and clips from the past as they did in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. If we remember in that movie, when they were introducing George Lazenby as the new Bond, we saw images, through the martini glass, with scenes from Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice.

It is important to point that if you didn’t know those other movies, it wouldn’t have affected your viewing of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. If you didn’t know the other Charlie’s Angel movies or television show, seeing those things wouldn’t necessarily impact your viewing of it. So, if you saw the TV series you may have a different feel than somebody who may not have. Our point is that this stuff’s been done before. You’ll hear this theme from us throughout this article.

Exotic Locations
Where does the movie open up? It opens up in Rio de Janeiro, but where do the angels travel? Exotic places? They go to Istanbul. Who else went to Istanbul? Well, for one, James Bond goes there in From Russia With Love. There is a lot of stuff in Istanbul. Where else did they go? Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Hamburg, and Berlin. They’re not in Chicago. They’re not in Peoria, Illinois. No, they are going to exotic places just like every other spy movie.

Charlie
Another thing that is a tie back to the TV series is you a speakerphone and or a box, the speakerphone, and you’ve got Charlie’s voice coming out of it. Remember that the angels report to Bosley, Bosley reports to Charlie, and you never see Charlie’s face. It’s only a voice that’s coming out of the speaker-phone. Now there’s a twist at the end around the girl power stuff. I’m not going to give that away, but that’s another tie back to the original show.

Cheesy Dialogue
In the original television show, they also had some pretty cheesy dialogue. They replicated that concept in this movie. For instance, there is a scene where somebody is getting chased and there’s gunfire. One of the characters says, “Oh my God, you’re not a waitress” and “is that a tank?”, “they’re shooting at us?”. They leave a restaurant where one of the angels was playing a waitress and then this chase happens with this really bad dialogue. Right. The one that just really was cringe-worthy was this gem: “you had a person in my Louis the 14th what is wrong with you?” That doesn’t sound like a quip kind of a thing you’d get out of some of the other spy movies. That sounded like a Bobcat Goldthwait line. Their quips failed miserably, and they were actually, they weren’t delivered all that well either. They’re written poorly and delivered poorly in many cases.

Car Chase
Of course, there’s the mandatory car chase scene. The bad guy’s car has a mounted machine gun. It looks like a Tommy Gun: Not exactly as much finesse as Q’s stuff for Bond. But of course, they had to have this built-in machine-gun thing chasing them. Dan didn’t like this, but Tom thought it was kind of cool. He unloads a thousand rounds; he finally hits a window of the car. Remember, he’s not aiming, he’s driving. The same stuff happens in Bond movies too. So, we’ll let that go.

In these car chase scenes first, they’ve got some pretty high-powered cars. They’ve got some high-end Audi’s. They’ve also got a Lamborghini which ends up in the river. Let’s see, where did we just see that? The car chase scene that ends in the river. Maybe we’re thinking of Spectre. This is another thing we’ve seen in other movies, but that’s okay.

The Gadgets
Another concept spy movies tend to have are gadgets. And the first gadget we see is this camera lens mounted to a cell phone. Sabina, who was the character played by Kristen Stewart has this thing on her mobile phone. These lenses actually exist. You can get those today. So that’s not a really high-tech gadget, but it’s the first one we see in this movie.

When you think about gadgets in Mission: Impossible, you had Jack as the Q-type character from the Bond movies. You’ve got the person who kind of introduces the gadgets to the spies. And in this case, it’s a guy they call the Saint. And this guy does more than just the gadgets. He rubs their back. He has a lot of talents. He cooks. He’s a Q-type guy, and he’s everything for these women.

The gadgets in this movie aren’t numerous though. There are only a few of them that they use. There’s the gun that we just talked about in the car chase scene. There is a gadget they use to put men to sleep. They press it on the guy’s neck, and it puts him out.

We then have one scene where Sabina uses peel-off fingerprints. Now again, this isn’t unique. Where have we seen this before? Think back to Diamond’s Are Forever from 1971. So, 48 years later they get an idea: Hey, let’s use peel-off fingerprints, that would be new.

Now to be fair, if you go to a museum-like SPYSCAPE in New York, you’ll find some things being used now that were being used 50 years ago. Part of what we do in our examinations of movies is to look at things that have been “borrowed” from other spy movies. Almost all spy movies do this do some degree. However, this movie seems to have borrowed almost everything in the movie. In our opinion, if you’ve seen a few spy movies, you’ve seen this one already.

The Gadget Room

For those of you who saw Kingsman: The Secret Service there is a dressing room with a closet. It’s the room where they go and get their suits, shoes, and accessories. There is a door that they open up and all the guns and ammunition and the gadgets are in this room.

Not surprisingly, they have something almost identical in Charlie’s Angels. Instead of the nice suits, the closet is filled with very stylish women’s clothing. This really feels like a cheap rip-off of the Kingsman scene, not an homage. Been there, done that.

The Assassin
There is an assassin in this movie named Hodak. He’s played by Jonathan Tucker. To me, he had an eerie resemblance to T1000 in Terminator 2, the character played by Robert Patrick. He was tatted up in Charlie’s Angels, but in Terminator 2 he wasn’t. But he had the same kind of expression and the same kind of drive as T1000. Every time we saw him, I kept thinking back to that character in Terminator 2.

Some type of affair
I love the scene where there are six prototypes of the Calista thing in the vault, in their safe. They have to get in there somehow and get these out. We’re not going to tell you everything that happened in the movie. Go see the movie if you want.

However, when the three angels go in there with Elena we get another “Hmm. I wonder where they got that idea” scene. The three women are dressed identically. They’ve got on the same wig. The security guards are watching on camera,It is interesting that their skin tones are different, but the guards don’t pick up on that.  I kind of thought it was a little humorous that they didn’t catch them. Now, they do show a lot of them from the back. But the security guys are trying to figure out which one is this Elena character and they don’t know that it’s not the same one. But all of a sudden Elena is on floor five then she’s on floor two and, and it’s like how is she doing this? And it’s, they’re seeing this thing where it looks like it’s the same person in all these different places, which I thought was unique. 

No, no one has ever done this kind of thing except, oh wait, maybe The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan. They do the same thing in that movie as well. It was done actually really well in The Thomas Crown Affair but in Charlie’s Angels, it seemed like a low budget version of it.

The Bathroom Fight Scene
Another thing that was kind of coincidental was the fight scene in the bathroom stall. Where have we seen bathroom fight scenes in spy movies before? This is unique stuff they’re coming up with here. Hmm. Let see: Mission: Impossible – Fallout had an amazing one. Although that uses more of the bathrooms, not just the stall. This was interesting because it was just a stall. There’s an Austin Powers where there’s as scene kind of like that. Casino Royale has a big bathroom scene there. But this one was just a stall. So that part was unique. And then you’ve got, I mean, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li in 2009. You’ve got True Lies, The Matrix, Man from Nowhere, Terminator 3, and even Bee Movie (that 2007 animated movie) all have a fight scene in the bathroom. I guess Charlie’s Angels twist is that it was only in the stall.

Other Fight Scenes
There are a bunch of fight scenes in this movie.  However, some of them mimic fight scenes that we’ve seen before. 

You’ve got them running on top of equipment and jumping from a piece of equipment to a piece of equipment outside. They were in a stone quarry, and they’re jumping from one scaffolding kind of thing or crane kind of thing to another. Geez. I don’t know. I had to really think hard on this one. There might’ve been a Bond movie with that scene in 2006. Then they’re on a conveyor. They’re fighting on a conveyor belt that delivers rocks that are going to get crunched up cruncher into a crusher. Oh, and then boom, they’re falling. Of course, they fall into the crusher. And where have we seen something like that? Oh, wait, this is how Dario dies in Licence to Kill. That was 1989. So, again: been there, done that. Seen it before.

Getting the Point
We see a death where somebody gets impaled on an ice sculpture. Here, not only are they taking scenes from other movies…

This guy gets thrown off a balcony and he lands on a table with ice sculpture things  one of them was a big kind of horn or pointy thing. He gets impaled on that. And wait a minute, what’s the line? She says, “he got the point”. Oh, like in Thunderball. (typed with as much sarcasm as possible) I was thinking this was unique. In Thunderball when Bond shoots Vargas with the speargun. Bond says, “I think he got the point”. Yeah, so it’s not even just the scenes, but the dialogs are getting” paid homage” to.

It wasn’t all bad
Cameos
At the end of the movie, they’re training Elena to become an angel. They have some cameos in there that I actually kind of liked. They had very strong women. Real-life women in cameo roles teaching Elena how to do things. So, look quickly, we won’t spoil it for you yet, but they’re in there. And that I actually thought that that was kind of a fun, powerful message.

Other fun scenes
There were a couple of scenes in the movie where it was kind of fun. There’s a scene with a racetrack that was kind of fun. there were a couple of things like that where you thought, okay, it’s kind of fun. And it was amusing for about five minutes. So yeah, we’ll give credit for that.

Maybe we were the wrong audience
Obviously, Charlie’s Angels (2019) was not our favorite movie, but I will also say we weren’t likely the target audience. Dan and Tom are a couple of middle-aged guys that were around and saw the TV show when it was on in the 1970s. At the time they called it jiggle TV.

This movie is trying to pull away from that stigma with these characters. And it actually does that. Elizabeth Banks who wrote this movie said: “if this movie doesn’t make money, it reinforces a stereotype in Hollywood that men don’t go to see women do action movies.” So, that’s kind of her thoughts or her thinking, I think is, you know, I’m not creating this movie for Dan and Tom. So, it’ll be interesting to see if this thing gets legs with the teen to mid-twenties women.

The Box Office
We did a podcast that we called The Spies Who Loathe Me about James Bond (Link). We talked a lot about box office. The headlines in November, when this Charlie’s Angels movie released, are talking about how big a flop it is. This movie costs $48 million to make. So, on opening weekend, in the US it only opened with $8.3 million with the three lead female characters in this thing. Worldwide gross is $27.6 million. Are we too far removed from the TV show that the TV show fans are going to come and see this? Who are the fans of that show? We don’t know.

If we look at more current female-led spy movies and look at the box office. We think they’re trying to capitalize on that. But it’s interesting because Red Joan came out, they released it at film festivals and the opening weekend for that movie was only $38,000. With Anna, which came out in 2019, opening weekend was $3.6 million. This is actually worse than what Charlie’s Angels did. So, you may be Elizabeth has a point, but then we moved to something like Red Sparrow, which had $16.8 million on opening. Atomic Blonde opened with $18.2 million. Those were good movies. The original Charlie’s Angels movies in 2000 and 2003 opened with $40 million gross and $37.6 million gross. So, either something big has happened in the last couple of years with this, putting the female spies in the lead, or this movie is just missing the mark. We think they’re missing the mark.

The Wrap Up
Charlie’s Angels is a fun movie and they do promote strong women in this film, which is great. There are a lot of other similarities that we’re not going to tell you about because some of them are major similarities that will make you think, oh I’ve seen this already. But we’re not going to tell you that in case you want to go see it.

If you’re reading this and you are younger than Dan and Tom, you might not catch all the nuances or the non-nuanced copying that was being done in this film from other movies which would be great for you as you aren’t coming in with biases we have.

If you’ve seen some of the other major spy movies in the last 10 years, you’re likely to say, “Oh yeah” on some things.

However, if we look at either of our daughters, who are in their mid-twenties, they probably don’t have a Charlie’s Angels background. They probably don’t have as thorough of a Bond understanding or Mission: Impossible understanding as we do. So, they may actually appreciate this movie.

Obviously, you can tell Dan and Tom didn’t really love this movie, but if you’re the target audience: Hey, go ahead.

And as we go forward and we continue these Quick-Fire podcasts and articles that we’re creating here, we’ll keep them going. And they’re not going to all be this negative. This is just the first one we happened to see since coming up with this idea and we’re being honest.

We’re showing you where these ideas came from. That’s all. That’s what we do. We’re looking for connections between these movies and how one impacts another. Just not expecting the whole movie to be “borrowed” from other movies. Charlie’s Angels was almost engulfed by everything that happened before it.

So, thanks for joining us as we continue cracking the code of spy movies with our first quick-fire episode. This is Tom Pizzato and Dan Silvestri from SpyMovieNnavigator.com: spy movie podcasts, videos, discussions, and more. Please continue to listen to our podcasts and subscribe to our show or your favorite podcast app.

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