bjmdds wrote:Why is Jackman not on the list? The LA Times today commented that the poorly named QOS with an aging hipster with a bad facelift was reason enough to stall production of Bond 23, let alone MGM's problems. The wheels are off CR-egg's run. I now really do see an end to his run if there is a new buyer.

Jackman is at least on friendly terms with the Brocs. Danny Boy may be better walking off, if Brozza had walked off after DAD they never would have smeared his career and publicly criticized all the movies, his through Connery.
Babs is smitten with a man who is the antithesis of Ian Fleming's James Bond a few more years, a few more sags and crags isn't likely to change that. Now I could imagine a buyer putting pressure on them to change production habits, perhaps making a few more movies than one every two years on a good schedule. The studios don't make that much off Bond to wait twenty years to recoup their investment.
Eon putting Bond on the shelf my be the best thing for it. They were either frustrated by the funding stalemate and are throwing their weight around or they truly see nothing happening for long time. They can either come back with a new series refreshed like GE or truly to prop up a aging micro-man action star.
There is one parallel from 1989 to today: The star predicted trouble long before it came about. In Dalton's case Bond was coming off a string of movies where the studio didn't see a profit LTK was only the straw that broke the camels back. Since VTAK, on paper at least, Bond Box Office was not benefiting the studio coffers much. But LTK really sank them taking over seven years for investors to recoup enough to break even. It is a similar situation today, one report I've seen had the studio in the negative for the Bond since Brozza era, TWIN or DAD I don't have it in front of me to be completely accurate, but the trend continued with Craig's two outings being same kettle of fish.
I don't completely believe those reports which on first blush are accurate, but I've seen writeups where a movie couldn't lose money when various advertising and other revenue not related to Box Office were counted. Ridiculous amounts of money, completely implausible and utterly unrealistic still they bothered to try to spin it.