The release date for Bond 25 has been moved from October 25 next year to sometime in late 2020. At least.
Following the news that director Danny Boyle has left the film over “creative differences”, the producers are left with a lot of work on their hands to find a replacement – making the already tight filming schedule an impossibility.
The original plan was for someone else to direct a script written by longtime Bond scriptwriters, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but that plan got ditched when Boyle signed on – bringing his own screenwriter on board in the shape of Trainspotting’s John Hodge.
With Boyle stepping down, the producers are presumably left with a choice between finding someone else to rework Hodge’s script (which is no easy feat if Boyle can’t make it work), or starting from scratch with Purvis and Wade’s original idea. Adding an extra year to the production schedule now seems to suggest they’re opting for the latter – with a quick and easy director swap seemingly off the cards.
With filming slated to begin in December, sets would have been built, locations booked and actors hired – so a big delay like this is likely to be expensive. An interesting director gone, a divisive script in the bin and a lot of budget blown before shooting even begins… none of this bodes well for Bond 25.
Even worse, we now have to wait even longer to see it.