What if there was a Rival Bond film series?

[ChrisIII]

Never happened but for years there was a rights dispute over Bond film rights, which resulted in Never Say Never Again, which remade Thunderball although with some slight changes, with Derval being changed back to Patachi and the whole body double plot (Which slowed down Thunderball's first act) changed to be Patachi like in the novel(but under duress) and the Nassau setting of both the novel and the first film mostly ditched (apart from a few scenes) for a more international setting.

This mainly focused on THUNDERBALL, but also Blofeld and SPECTRE, since the latter were both introduced in the novel version of Thunderball. (The movies introduced them a bit earlier, adding them to the plots of Dr.No and FWRL, which the novel versions simply had Russian agents/proxies).


While NSNA didn't really lead to anything there were attempts again to make a third Thunderball remake and perhaps a series of rival Bond films featuring SPECTRE and a non-Brosnan Bond.

Of course all this eventually got settled and SPECTRE returned to proper Bond in 2015, with the plots of the earlier Craig films and Quantum retconned to have been SPECTRE/Blofeld all along.

The hypothetical third Thunderball might've been called WARHEAD 2000. Reportedly Liam Neeson was approached, but they also wanted Timothy Dalton back (Dalton left during the 1989-1995 break although he did have the option to return for Goldeneye), and think there was even talk of getting Connery as the villain, perhaps Blofeld or Largo. Not only would there be a "battle of Bonds" between the two franchises but on screen as well.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

So would it be two seperate takes on Bond? Like how we have Elementary, BBC Sherlock and Guy Ritchies's Sherlock films at the same time?

[achilles]

Interesting. Never Say Never Again happens to be my favorite Bond movie, and it's off-brand. I don't know what it was, but it all seemed even more lush and extravagant than the normal Bond movies did, and Connery seemed reinvigorated as Bond.

[DanMad1977]

Isnt Tom Cruise Mission Impossible the second Bond franchise?

[ChrisIII]

Interesting. Never Say Never Again happens to be my favorite Bond movie, and it's off-brand. I don't know what it was, but it all seemed even more lush and extravagant than the normal Bond movies did, and Connery seemed reinvigorated as Bond.

Think Connery had slightly more creative input/producer credit on NSNA. It was also directed by Irvin Kershner and used the casino at Monaco (Although it's kind of funny that they filled it with Centipede arcade machines).

He was also in somewhat better shape in NSNA, in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER he seems to have a bit of a gut (Not helped by all his shirtless scenes in the hotels) and the 70's style toupee doesn't exactly work.


Curiously Goldeneye also used a few things kind of borrowed from NSNA: Not only the Monaco location (although not as much) but the exploding pen (although the NSNA version is a small missile, not a grenade) and the laser watch.

[ChrisIII]

Isnt Tom Cruise Mission Impossible the second Bond franchise?

The original MI TV show probably was made in part thanks to the spy craze of the 1960s started by Bond along with Man From Uncle, The Avengers, Get Smart etc.

Even Doctor Who to an extent, with the third Doctor and UNIT (The sonic screwdriver also became more prominent during that era. Although it appeared in the later Troughton era, they were kind of already starting to introduce parts of UNIT even then).

[Username taken]

Interesting thought.

The last time we had something like was with Never Say, Never Again.

A more "hardcore" slightly truer to the novels take on James Bond could be pretty interesting. However, given the cost, I'm not sure any major studio would do that.

[Mister Mets]

The biggest precedent would be public domain characters, where studios can have their own versions of the same characters.

So, you had the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes films, as well as one-off projects like the Ian McKellan Holmes.

But if you have different studios with different rights doing rival series, it can get messy.

I don't know how much the studios would work with one another. One idea would be to use casting or setting to distinguish the different versions.

If another studio got the rights to a few Bond novels, it could make sense to set the stories in the 1950s with the assumption this is not how MGM will move forward.

Casting might be important as a way to stand out. It could make sense to give Idris Elba a truck full of money figuring there's good-will and that he would be a different Bond than what MGM is looking for (at the moment, it seems to be white guys in their early 30s.)

It would likely get confusing, and you may very well cannibalize sales.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

When they launched the film XxX in early 2000s , the idea was to make a rival Bond series. The tagline was "A Bond for the next generation...."

Well they tried this by doing a 2nd XxX series with a new agent in Vin Diesel's place and that failed. Then they brought Diesel back years later and it was too late for the series by then.

[DrNewGod]

It's possible, but I'm not sure it would work on the big screen as both sides would be worried about brand confusion. However, it seems like a good idea for streaming, particularly if they made it a book-faithful series of period pieces, like Timothy Hutton did with Nero Wolf Mysteries.

[achilles]

Think Connery had slightly more creative input/producer credit on NSNA. It was also directed by Irvin Kershner and used the casino at Monaco (Although it's kind of funny that they filled it with Centipede arcade machines).

He was also in somewhat better shape in NSNA, in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER he seems to have a bit of a gut (Not helped by all his shirtless scenes in the hotels) and the 70's style toupee doesn't exactly work.


Curiously Goldeneye also used a few things kind of borrowed from NSNA: Not only the Monaco location (although not as much) but the exploding pen (although the NSNA version is a small missile, not a grenade) and the laser watch.

And Goldeneye was my favorite of the Brosnan movies; thought it was excellent.

[Scott Taylor]

So like a Thunderdome but with James Bond films?

Bond isn't like other franchises. It basically runs out of steam then gets renewed and reinvented every time they switch out for a new Bond. Consistency went out the window the moment George Lazenby entered the room. There have been many, many attempts at franchises that were Bond in everything but name. Some based on properties and some just independent of any existing property. But the thing that they all missed is that you can never compete properly with the Bond franchise because of its incredible flexibility. In essence its like trying to hit a moving target that doesn't move until after you have fired the shot.

[K7P5V]

And Goldeneye was my favorite of the Brosnan movies; thought it was excellent.

Yeah! Endlessly entertaining, no matter how silly it gets...

[Nate Grey]

I always thought Jack Ryan was supposed to be something akin to Bond while not being 1:1 exactly. Multple actors in the role, and most of the titles sure sound Bond-like.

[krazijoe]

Austin Powers is the closest...