The next James Bond is....

[enyawd72]

"My name is Bond. James Bond. I'll have a Colt 45 and Sprite. Shaken, not stirred."

[gummi]

I love Idris Elba, and have no doubt that he could pull it off, but it would be odd to see a James Bond that's built like a linebacker.

[Keeler]

"My name is Bond. James Bond. I'll have a Colt 45 and Sprite. Shaken, not stirred."

Stereotypes are still funny?

[johnnystorm]

Doesn't everything still need to go through Fleming's estate?

[enyawd72]

Stereotypes are still funny?

All In the Family and The Jeffersons are as funny now as they were 35 years ago, so yes.

[Captain Big Trousers]

Ok. But an elderly Vietnamese woman. In a wheelchair. Deaf and blind in one eye. And she's adopted.

A *lesbian* elderly Vietnamese woman. In a wheelchair. Deaf and blind in one eye. Adopted, *and* she has asperger syndrome.

[hedrap]

I wish we'd stop saying studios are being "PC". It's a major franchise and the studio is a business, if they didn't think it would make money, they wouldn't consider it.

That depends on how you define business consideration. The main concern is about breaking even during theatrical, thereby turning all the other revenue streams into nearly pure profit. John Carter was a massive bust because it had no prayer of theatrical break-even which meant the ancillaries had to cover costs.

In the Sony emails regarding Denzel and The Equalizer, an unnamed producer was urging caution casting Denzel as the lead because non-sequel/franchise films starring a black male do not play in Asia and underperform in Europe. That's not bigotry, it's data going back to the 80's. Sony still went ahead with Denzel because the budget was 55 million and he's a domestic lock for 100Million in an action role. And that's what happened: 100M stateside, and 90M international, which is great for him in a solo headliner. But compare it to something like Taken 2, which did 135M domestic and 240M international, and you see Denzel is not a big commodity internationally.

Now consider Elba as Bond. He has no proven theatrical track record for a such a huge, huge role which means they would have to hype the "black Bond" narrative while at the same time, try and act like it was colorblind casting. You then can't cast an Asian/Latino/Middle Eastern male as the villain without more cultural clash. Iron Man 3 is still the poster boy for coddling the Chinese, denying it for years, than admitting to it post-DVD release. They changed the Mandarin for the tax breaks and Chinese ticket sales percentage, and also to guarantee a domestic release lest they fall astray of the Cultural Standards Office.

So Elba Bond guarantees a white guy as villain, which is going to infuriate the audience in the UK and US because it's always a white corporate or military male and that subtext will overrun the actual story. Then we have the leading ladies. Can't be an Asian or Indian female or you'll lose India and most of Asia. So casting Elba relegates you to a much smaller Bond movie in scope, which in turn lowers the box office returns target, and that shrinks the budget. If they budget less than Casino Royale, Sony is then going to get crushed in the marketing/PR game as not giving the first black male an equal chance. But Royale did huge international dollars, nearly three times what it made in the States, (430 v 130), and you can't bank on that with Elba.

If they want to run with Elba, make him 008. Spin him out of the Craig film, partner him with a new Felix Lighter and you have an easy hit in North America, Europe and Australia as it could mimic the Fast & Furious model.

[hedrap]

So the question remains: is Daniel Craig done after SPECTRE?

If Sony is finally sold, which I've said is coming for the past five years, then yes. The rights would most likely revert en totale to EON and then they can go where they want, which would be Fox, Legendary or Paramount.

[TrekStar]

Sean Connery and Daniel Craig were the best Bonds IMO, It would have been interesting if Bond had a daughter
and she became the next Bond, a female Bond, Jane Bond, maybe sounds silly but why not?

[Nostalgiabuff]

If they want to run with Elba, make him 008. Spin him out of the Craig film, partner him with a new Felix Lighter and you have an easy hit in North America, Europe and Australia as it could mimic the Fast & Furious model.

I was thinking the same thing. introduce Elba as a character with Bond, have in 2 movies with a huge role in the films and then spin him off into a new franchise. that way you get a new ethnic character, with a franchise backstory and can now (hopefully) carry his own franchise within the same continuity. you are also not alienating any of your existing fan base

[megomania]

Now consider Elba as Bond. He has no proven theatrical track record for a such a huge, huge role .

Well you've obviously never seen 'This Christmas'......