Yesterday, a snippet of info from James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, made its way online about the upcoming sequel to Quantum of Solace, referred to as simply Bond 23 for the time being. A Bond fansite called Commanderbond.net picked up on the info which came from when Craig was signing autographs after a performance of his stage play, A Steady Rain, with Hugh Jackman.

When I said a snippet of info, I meant exactly that. According to a quick comment Craig gave to a fan, Bond 23 will, “start at the end of the next year.” That’s it. He was really busy signing autographs to elaborate and the play he’d just done was probably at the forefront of his mind more than Bond was. Just in case you think he’s been misquoted, there’s an actual video on YouTube of it and we’ve included it in the post for you (Craig says it just before the 1:00 mark):

Update: MGM has contacted the guys over at Film School Rejects directly to let them, and us all, know that this news is incorrect, and that Fox is NOT going to be distributing and marketing the Bond franchise. A source says that MGM owns the Bond franchise, and will announce the release date and distribution details in due time.

When news struck that MGM was in a little bit of financial trouble recently ($3.5 BILLION, little), two big projects/franchises were brought into question: the Bond franchise, and the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. With regards to the latter: as predicted, The Hobbit is quite safe, as the film’s other financiers, Warner Bros., stepped in to handle costs. But it appears the Bond franchise isn’t quite so safe.

Well, it’s still safe in that it’ll definitely continue on – let’s face it, it’s the Bond franchise and someone will always be there to pick up the financial reigns on it (it’s a guaranteed money-maker, no?). But fairly significant word comes from the guys over at We Are Movie Geeks who say that the Bond franchise might be packing its bags, loading up the moving van and settling in at la casa de 20th Century Fox.

[Update: Just as we thought, MGM's Financial backers are pitching in to save The Hobbit]

One of the biggest and most well-known movie studios out there is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or MGM, known for its classic logo with the lion roaring during the opening credits – an almost expected introduction to many of our movies from the last 85 years.

Well, we may have to get used to some movies without that logo at some point in the near future (at least for a while), as today we get word of very complex financial problems occurring at MGM, which basically boils down to the studio, “teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.”

This week:

The box office is Transfomed; Ryan Reynold’s career is Buried; Lorenzo di Bonaventura knows Jack Ryan; Zac Efron grows up and Daniel Craig moves into his Dream House.

The inevitable wild rumors have already been started about the next Bond movie, which is currently untitled and is being referred to as simply Bond 23 for the time being. British tabloid newspaper The Daily Express is reporting that Frost/Nixon star Michael Sheen is in talks to not only star in Bond 23 as the villain, but to play the legendary Bond villain, Blofeld. Before we get onto more info and discussion on this “news,” just know that this is an UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMOR.

The next installment in the long-running James Bond franchise (for now referred to as simply Bond 23), has had its screenwriters announced. They are the returning Neil Purvis and Robert Wade (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace), with a new addition of Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen, The Last King of Scotland). Daniel Craig will of course be reprising his role as 007, and the film will be produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

The name is Bond, James Bond.

If you’ve recently seen Quantum of Solace you’ll be aware that the infamous line above was not spoken by Daniel Craig in the film. In fact a lot of key elements that have made the James Bond films iconic over the years were missing from the new entry in the series (the same was also true of Casino Royale).

Many believe that Solace is the middle part of a “Bond Trilogy” and that the next film will complete the story arc. Not true, says Daniel Craig – and if he gets his way James Bond will be doing more “Bondish” things in the next installment of the uber-successful franchise.