The massive hack on Sony has revealed quite a bit of interesting information, such as the drama behind the Aaron Sorkin penned Steve Jobs movie, salaries for many employees and partners and producer Scott Rudin referring to Angelina Jolie as a “spoiled brat”. One nugget of info I found particularly interesting was the budget for the twenty-fourth film in the James Bond franchise, SPECTRE. The budget has ballooned to over $300 million, making it one of the most expensive productions of all time, and it only just began filming. Remember, Skyfall cost a reported $200 million… Now take that number add 100 Dr. Nos or 2.5 The Living Daylights, depending on your exchange system (not adjusting for inflation, of course).
In memos sent by MGM president Jonathan Glickman, he talks about trying to cut costs as much as they can to get it down to $250 million. Most of his suggestions include cutting out travel costs by filming as much as they can in England along with the following (possibly spoilerish) notes:
- Villa in Rome? It’s a nighttime scene, so try doing it in London instead.
- There’s fighting on a train! Again! But use fewer carriages — three instead of four.
- Forget the dramatic finale in the rain. It’ll lower the cost of visual/special effects.
- Earn an extra $6 million by showing “the more modern aspects” of Mexico to maximize “the Mexican incentive.” (The makers of Spectre are getting paid to film there.)
My question: Why does a Bond movie have to cost so much money? A Bond movie should not require vast amounts of CGI, which is usually the reason for modern blockbuster budgets blowing up. He is a spy doing, you know, spy stuff. There is not a giant blue laser shooting into the sky, opening a portal to another galaxy. You just need a hollowed out volcano set. I understand movies cost more now, but why this much?
For comparison, here are the budgets for the previous fourth Bond movies:
- Thunderball (1965) – $9 million (adj. $67 million)
- Moonraker (1979) – $34 million (adj. $110 million)
- Die Another Day (2002) – $142 million (adj. $186 million)
They are on the pricier side for their time, but they are not the most expensive things ever. So, I hope Sony and MGM do find ways to cut down the budget.
The thing I glean most from that list of fourth Bond films is fourth Bond films are not very good. I hope SPECTRE can break the streak and be something really great.
Original report from CNN.
