Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
July 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The next James Bond movie has been canceled as a result of the financial woes of MGM. The fans of agent ‘007′ will find the news extremely disappointing as the Daniel Craig starrer has been canceled and the next project could take years to finalize. Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a joint statement that due to the uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio the development of BOND 23 had to be canceled indefinitely.

According to certain speculations, MGM is looking for a party to finance the upcoming projects. ‘The Hobbit’ by Peter Jackson is however on its way after the drama surrounding the director’s role and the delays by MGM. James Bond is considered the third most successful film franchise of all times and raked in a whopping $1.6 billion from ticket sales alone in US and Canada over the years. The last two installments, ‘Quantum of Solace’ and ‘Casino Royale’ had brought in more than a billion dollars from the box office globally. Daniel Craig took over the role of the 007 agent from Pierce Brosnan in the last two installments.

The financial woes of MGM became evident after it announced that it was considering going on sale last November. The studio is reportedly facing a debt to the tune of $3.7 billion. Stephen Cooper took over recently to manage the companies dwindling condition. Certain speculations say that MGM is planning to sell of the profitable assets like rights to the ‘James Bond’ franchise and ‘The Hobbit’ series. The latest and 23rd installment of James bond was hyped to be a ’shocking story’ by the writers, which generated tremendous publicity for the fans of James Bond.