Bond 25: No Time To Die

[Jrzag42]

Who is 00W?

 

[Warbler]

think about it.

 

[Jrzag42]

Double-Oh-Warbler?

 

[Warbler]

nope.

 

[Zamros]

00Wumbo?

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

007 is a designation and since Bond is retired it makes sense another agent would assume that designation. I’ve enjoyed the Craig Bond films quite a bit. I loathe the campy Bond of the latter Moore movies. Casino Royale is one of the best of all time. But I do think the recent trend of having these cinematic universes has caused the Bond movies to lose something. Everything doesn’t need to be connected. They will definitely make more Bond movies and they should simply tell self contained stories as they’ve mostly done in the past. Craig’s Bond retiring or even dying shouldn’t matter at all to the next Bond movie, whoever is cast in the role.

 

[Warbler]

00Wumbo?

No.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

00Wentz? He’s got some free time.

 

[Jrzag42]

I'm excited for a new 007, be it a new Bond, or a different person taking the mantle. I don't like Daniel Craig. I tried watching Casino Royale a while back on TV, but I couldn't get into it. I've watched a fanedit that includes him amongst the other Bonds, and he was the worst part. I just don't like him. Maybe it's his face. Maybe it's his overall attitude. I don't know, but I have no interest in watching any of his movies all of the way through.

 

[Hymie]

How could anybody actually believe that the new OO7 won't be killed in action at some point only for Bond to reluctantly reclaim the mantle by the end of the film?  

Nowadays studios are huge about branding and marketing. A gender swap for something like Doctor Who makes sense as The Doctor is an alien who already switches bodies and they've teased a possible female for decades now; it only made sense to radically shift the show as ratings waned and the public began to lose interest.  Bond is still hugely popular, however, and bringing in a female to take over the oldest continuous franchise in film history in such a way would seem disingenuous and not a smart marketing move. EON already has The Rhythm Section coming out and if it's successful, will likely become a franchise the same as OO7.  Bond's character is inherently tied to his male chauvinism, to change now just to listen to a small group of "potential" patrons on the internet is far too risky of a gamble.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I don’t think she necessarily has to be killed but yes, Bond will almost certainly reassume the 007 designation at some point in the movie. I think this idea that James Bond is being replaced by a woman is absolute nonsense that the Internet fabricated simply because a female character has the 007 designation in this movie. It’s much ado about nothing and proof that movie geeks can get themselves worked up about the silliest things.

 

[Warbler]

00Wentz? He’s got some free time.

Nope.

 

[TM2YC]

Bond is still hugely popular

You're not wrong! I happened to be looking over the financial stats on Wikipedia yesterday and was surprised by quite how profitable and consistent the franchise has been:

Eon films

Since GoldenEye, the 2005 adjusted boxoffice for these films has not dipped much below $450million and going as high as a billion with Skyfall. Even arguably the worst film in the whole franchise 'Die Another Day' made $300m profit. It's a licence to kill print money.

 

[mnkykungfu]

Hymie I think you're being far too respectful to this franchise.  I enjoy a good Bond flick, but it's almost always followed trends and had a "throw s*** at the wall and see what sticks" kind of attitude.  They're almost never visionary films, they always follow what has already come out in other films.  So it makes perfect sense that they'd gender swap Bond 3 years after all those kind of films started to deluge Hollywood.  If it doesn't stick, they'll just switch back.

People might complain on the internet about Bond all day, but most theater-goers are going to see whatever new Bond film as long as it has some gags and looks like good action.  It won't matter much if Bond is Scottish or blonde or black or female, most people will get over it.  They essentially just try to keep a Bond for about a generation.  10 years or so, then that Bond was "your" Bond and there's a new, interesting Bond for the younger people coming up.  I wouldn't instill too much meaning in the franchise...it'll fall apart on closer examination.

 

[Warbler]

.  It won't matter much if Bond is Scottish or blonde or black or female, most people will get over it. 

Not me.

 

[Zamros]

.  It won't matter much if Bond is Scottish or blonde or black or female, most people will get over it. 

Not me.

 

[Hymie]

Hymie I think you're being far too respectful to this franchise.  I enjoy a good Bond flick, but it's almost always followed trends and had a "throw s*** at the wall and see what sticks" kind of attitude.  They're almost never visionary films, they always follow what has already come out in other films.  So it makes perfect sense that they'd gender swap Bond 3 years after all those kind of films started to deluge Hollywood.  If it doesn't stick, they'll just switch back.

People might complain on the internet about Bond all day, but most theater-goers are going to see whatever new Bond film as long as it has some gags and looks like good action.  It won't matter much if Bond is Scottish or blonde or black or female, most people will get over it.  They essentially just try to keep a Bond for about a generation.  10 years or so, then that Bond was "your" Bond and there's a new, interesting Bond for the younger people coming up.  I wouldn't instill too much meaning in the franchise...it'll fall apart on closer examination.

I think you are not understanding the situation clearly enough. 

These other properties that have gone the gender swapped route have either been long dormant (Ghostbusters) trying to reignite the property or have face falling interest by the public at large (Doctor Who) and switched things up in an attempt to revive the brand.  EON has nothing else besides Bond, its there only franchise and moneymaker.  As TM2YC pointed out, the franchise is still very successful and even with limited theatrical releases in the last two decades, still bring people to the theaters in droves.  I just find it difficult to believe that EON is going to go to such an extreme for no real reason.  Hell, they caught flak 10 years ago because Craig was keeping his blonde hair, I can't imagine the backlash that would accompany such a drastic shift for no real reason.

Only time will tell, but I would be incredibly shocked if EON took such a drastic measure to appease a potential audience while potentially alienating a large percentage of their audience which are older males.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I still don’t even know why we’re discussing this. Is there any indication whatsoever that there’s a movement afoot to reboot James Bond as female? Having a female 007 in a James Bond movie has nothing to do with changing the character of James Bond to female. It’s like the slightest thing sends these fans into a tizzy.

 

[Warbler]

I still don’t even know why we’re discussing this. Is there any indication whatsoever that there’s a movement afoot to reboot James Bond as female?

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I still don’t even know why we’re discussing this. Is there any indication whatsoever that there’s a movement afoot to reboot James Bond as female?

It takes effort to intentionally remove the context from a quote so I assume you know you’re being an ass.