Being one of only a handful of people that thoroughly enjoyed Quantum of Solace, I’ve been eager to hear what the next stage of the restarted franchise with Daniel Craig was going to be like. After months of location scouting issues, potential singers for the opening song and the inevitable question of what the film’s title will be, a good number of answers came today during the presser for it. The 23rd installment in the James Bond franchise will be known as Skyfall and is set for 2012 release with production to start shooting on Monday next week. Sam Mendes came on as director awhile back and is looking to be someone who wants to balance out the action with drama, which is going to send some Bond fans into a tizzy considering the last installment and the fact that Mendes is not known as an action director (/understatement). And Mendes is already open to potentially following it up as well if he’s still keen on the whole franchise in six months time when principal photography around Whitehall, London (the government district), Scotland, Istanbul and China.
The presser revealed that the new Bond girl for the feature will be Bérénice Marlohe, playing Severine. Other cast members confirmed include Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris, playing a secret agent named Eve. And this is also on top of the formal confirmation that Javier Bardem will be playing the big bad of the film, but they’re still not revealing whether he’s the rebooted Blofeld.
The $230 million budgeted feature is due on November 9th, 2012 in the US. The previous installment had a budget of $200 million and brought in just under $600 million worldwide in theaters before taking into account home video and other revenue streams. Bond features use a lot of product placement to reduce the budget as well as tax incentives and credits with its worldwide shoot. It’s also the kind of film that will play better internationally in a marketplace where we’re already seeing a greater importance on how movies do outside of the US rather than in the US itself.
[Source: Deadline]
