According to various sources who have posted blog entries and news articles to the James Bond page on Facebook, it seems as though Mr. Bond has finally been defeated. After decades of eluding death by SPECTRE, Jaws, and other freelance ne'er-do-wells with messianic complexes, Agent 007 may finally have met his death by the very company that made him great: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Evidently, MGM has run afoul of the economy crash (made with pride in the USA, from the same brilliant minds what brought you trust-funds, Ponzi schemes, and trans-fats) -- to that end, they've postponed the next Bond film indefinitely.
Now, don't get me wrong -- it's unfortunate and all, that the world's greatest action hero for half a century has to suffer the decisions of a few greedy bastards in New York City -- but, I don't believe for a fraction of a second that the Bond series will simply fade away. Established by Ian Fleming in 1953, the James Bond franchise has infiltrated the very fabric of society. Go up to a random person on the street of any age group and say, "James Bond." Some will regale you with their favourite line from a Bond film (usually, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!" from Goldfinger), some will start whistling Monty Norman's James Bond Theme, some will tell you how many kills they're notorious for in GoldenEye 007 multiplayer.
It's like Star Trek. Go up to another random person and do the Vulcan salute. "Live long and prosper," they'll say. The Star Trek series is so intertwined with society that new technological advances are based on equipment seen on a Star Trek show. James Bond, of course, is not like that. The stuff that comes out of Q Branch is generally too specialised to have a productive use in real everyday life.
The point is, Star Trek hadn't had a television programme or a film for years until J.J. Abrams comes out with a new Star Trek film, expected to be followed in a year or so by a sequel. Before that, the CBS situation comedy, The Big Bang Theory, is built somewhat around Trek references (e.g. "rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock").
In other words, I'm unconvinced that the James Bond series is as fragile as people make it out to be. Remember, there was a six-year hiatus between License to Kill and GoldenEye. During that time, the old cliché was absolutely right, absence did, in fact, make the heart grow fonder. There was a greater turnout in cinemas for GoldenEye than there was for either of the Dalton-era Bond films. After all, MGM had been trying to sign Pierce Brosnan as James Bond since A View to a Kill, but his contractual obligations to Remington Steele prevented it.
But, fortunately, just in case anyone has any lingering doubts, the indefinite hiatus between Quantum of Solace and whatever Bond #23 might be has an extra card to play -- one that License to Kill didn't have.
Videogames.
Certainly, there were computer games based on James Bond, but none were as dramatically successful as Rareware's GoldenEye 007. That game launched the Bond franchise into orbit of the gaming industry, alongside Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Needless to say, it brought new popularity to the first-person shooter genre for game developers, trying to capitalise on GoldenEye's success (there probably wouldn't be a Halo series, were it not for GoldenEye 007).
Putting it another way, the Bond series will weather the economic crisis through the popularity of its multimedia ventures. People will watch the James Bond Ultimate Collection on DVD and play the Bond games until the next film is released. Then, they will see the film, buy the film, play the games, watch the other films, until Bond #24 is released.
To answer the question posed in the title of this entry:
Has James Bond met his death by MGM?
No.
