We all remember the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike that lasted 100 days (from late 2007 to early 2008) and cost Hollywood a couple of billion dollars in lost wages and revenue.  Sure, plenty of movies went into production anyway so there would be at least some new movies, but without writers to do onset re-writes has the quality suffered?

For example, the recent James Bond film Quantum of Solace; writer Paul Haggis turned in the script right before the WGA strike began in November 2007, and the film started shooting soon after.  Production was well underway by the time the strike ended, so it is possible they had some rewrites done, especially if there were any major reshoots.

Quantum Of Solace, the 2008 follow up to the incredibly successful Bond film, Casino Royale had a lot to live up to. Casino Royale completely revamped the Bond industry with a stellar, action packed story line, and the introduction of Daniel Craig as the new face of James Bond.  So it was really important for Quantum Of Solace director Marc Forster to make sure his installment lived up to the pressure and the hype.

Welcome to the final installment of this two part examination of James Bond. We look at how Ian Fleming’s character has remained popular for over 50 years. You can read Part One here. When an aging Roger Moore finally retired from the James Bond series in 1985, a young Irish actor named Pierce Brosnan was hired to replace him. However, when his series Remington Steele featured a surge in popularity following his casting announcement an option in his contract for more episodes was accepted meaning that he had to turn the role down.

It’s time for another Mid-Week Movie News Wrap Up.

In this week’s installment:

There’s half the blood in The Half Blooded Prince; The Mutant Chronicles finally sees the darkened theater; Mangold gets romantic with Juliet; Ender’s Game comes to the end of the road; nobody does it better than Quantum of Solace.

This weeks Weekend Movie News Wrap Up features:

The Box Office; Brad Pitt gets Lost; Pesce is Smokin’ Aces; we learn more details about Stallone’s The Expendables; Twilight really is Near Dark and Kenneth Brannagh talks Thor!

It’s hard to believe that we are now into December. It seems like only yesterday I was talking about the big summer releases – and now we are looking forward to next years big movies.

This weeks Weekend Movie News Wrap Up features the obligatory box office wrap up as well as:

La Beouf is The Associate; Stiller talks Zoolander 2; who is Angelina Jolie? Zombie returns to Halloween and Brownlow Vs Captain Blood.

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. This weekend the news wrap up features:

What hit the top of the box office; Oldboy gets a scriptwriter; Genesis: Apes is real; there will be a New Moon in March and Hugh Jackman discusses the end of Wolverine.

This week:

Spielberg and Eastwood visit the Hereafter; Len Wiseman drives a Motorcade; Guillermo del Toro plays with Pinocchio; George Miller has Happy Feet again and Matthew McConaughey and David O. Russell fight with The Grackle.

It’s Sunday so that can only mean one thing – The Weekend Movie News Wrap Up!

This week:

John Landis robs with graves with Burke and Hare; Spielberg and Will Smith eye Oldboy; Tom Hanks doesn’t take The Road To Purgatory; we can expect another 30 Days of Night and Carpenter and Cage think that it’s a Riot that they are no longer Scared Straight. Also there is the usual Box Office break down.

Welcome to the first Weekend Movie News Wrap Up of November. Let’s see what movie news we can read to take our minds off buying Christmas presents.

This week:

Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman read The Book of Eli; Samuel L. Jackson is a Dragon; Ridley Scott is howling; Shyamalan is a Devil and just what is Genesis: Apes?

Short version: Quantum of Solace is the best James Bond film in over a decade.

Screen Rant’s Niall Browne reviews Quantum of Solace

As a life long James Bond fan I always look forward to new adventures from the super-spy. My very first cinematic memory is watching Roger Moore’s final outing as Bond in A View To A Kill, and my teenage years and early twenties were filled with Pierce Brosnan’s daring-do.

When the Broccoli family ditched Brosnan in favor of the younger, more rugged Daniel Craig I was a bit annoyed (to say the least). Although I was a tad skeptical that Daniel Craig had what it took to slip into the tuxedo, I will admit that I was more worried about EON’s idea to reboot Bond for the Bourne generation. Over the years the character of James Bond has been constantly reinvented, without having to start all over again.

On Monday, Stephanie Sanchez at IESB.net had a chance to speak with Daniel Craig in Beverly Hills for a Quantum of Solace press event.

Sanchez asked Craig if he would be up for trying something new and different in a character role such as Thor and he laughed it off. Sanchez then told him she had heard that Craig was on Marvel’s shortlist to play Thor.

In response, Mr. Craig, Daniel Craig, revealed that Marvel indeed had already approached him for this role and he had turned it down. He jokingly clarified that it would be too much of a power trip playing both James Bond and the mighty Thor.

While I’m still very excited about the upcoming James Bond flick Quantum of Solace, I was disappointed to hear that a couple of classic lines will be missing from the film. It’s being reported that this will be the first James Bond film in which our hero does NOT utter the introductory phrase:

“Bond. James Bond.”

Just over a week ago, we posted the full trailer for Quantum of Solace and already we’re being treated to more.

Here we have two new TV spots for what could be one of this year’s best movies. Quantum of Solace is the sequel to the 2006 hit Casino Royale – a film that revitalized the franchise.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in a scene from the new Quantum of Solace trailer

This next James Bond movie is pretty much the only big film I’m looking forward to for the rest of 2008.

And this new trailer (number 2) for Quantum of Solace just confirmed that for me.

With Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince opting to move to July 2009, now comes word that Quantum of Solace (the highly-anticipated sequel to the James Bond reboot Casino Royale) has pushed its U.S. release date back one week from November 7th to November 14.

Movie and music fans alike love to know who will sing the new Bond theme, and there is always as much speculation about who the artist will be as there is about the film’s plot.

Quantum Of Solace was no different.

After reports that tabloid Queen Amy Whinehouse would be singing the tune, hopes were dashed due to the singer’s personal problems (I’d be in rehab too if the press were on my doorstep 24/7) and speculation again went into overdrive.

However, it has now been announced Jack White and Alicia Keys have recorded the theme song for the 22nd James Bond film and the title is… drum roll please…

Here’ the promised first trailer for James Bond 22, better known as Quantum of Solace, courtesy of MovieFone. It looks to continue the gritty, dark tone of the last Bond film.

This isn’t your dad’s James Bond boys and girls… but I like it.

Check it out below.

I’m actually counting down the days till the newest James Bond installment Quantum of Solace opens – that’d be November 7th here in the U.S.

Yes, Casino Royale and Daniel Craig’s Bond were really that great.

Along with cool new pictures, USA Today has some new information regarding said film.

The day I marry my beautiful wife and the birth of my wonderful children; these are two dates I’m looking forward to.

Yeah, right… of course, those are B.S. I’m about as single as single gets and childless beyond imagination.

No, the real dates I’m looking forward to are the theatrical releases of The Hobbit and Superman: The Man of Steel whenever Warner Brothers officially announces the dates (both coming in 2010) and Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (this coming Memorial Day weekend!)

An old saying says that a week is a long time in politics – well that dude obviously didn’t follow movie news, because a week in film can make or break a career, or in Vic’s case: a DVD player.

It’s once again time for us to fill you in on some of the news stories from the past week that we missed and make sure that you know everything about every film that is currently in production. That is a slight exaggeration, but you see what I’m getting at.

Just keep reading to heighten your Screen Rant experience.

Hey there guys and gals, welcome to my first Weekend Movie News Wrap Up.

This new column is to try and fill you in on various pieces of news that happened during the week that we may have missed.

We at Screen Rant are a dedicated bunch, but there are only so many hours in the day, and movie news comes in thick and fast – so to try and keep you up to speed, we will now be picking up some news stories from the past week that we missed and bring them to a computer near you!

In an interview with MTV, Bond 22 scribe Paul Haggis expressed confusion regarding the title of the movie based on his screenplay, Quantum of Solace.

He told them that he “had no idea” what the title meant, following up with “it’s not my title.” When asked what he thought of the title for the film he just said “no comment” and according to MTV, then sighed.

I’ve never liked the title and I still don’t, although that has no bearing on the quality of the movie, which I’m hoping will be excellent. I just find it odd and awkward. Yes, I know it’s based on an Ian Fleming short story, but based on the above comments by Haggis, I get the impression it has nothing to do with that story – so why use that oddball title?

Source: MTV

The Internet is an amazing thing… It really is.

I mean, who would have thought 20 years ago that we’d be reading movie news and interacting with each other via a computer whilst in different countries? It was total science fiction, but look at us now – I’m in England, writing this story, and you are… well, you are wherever you are.

But as cool as the Internet is, it also has its problems. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to turn into a rant about the negative side of the Internet, I’m not that type of guy, I love my Google, but when reporting movie news, the Internet can be a dangerous thing. It’s not “Hannibal Lecter” dangerous, or even “Hitler” dangerous, but it is “crazy rumor” dangerous. Take, for example the news from AICN that Al Pacino may have a role in Quantum of Solace.

The first poster is out for the latest James Bond movie: Quantum of Solace (aka Bond 22, which I vastly prefer). You may have heard that the latest movie will pick up right where Casino Royale ended and the new poster verifies that. If you compare the poster below to the image on the left, which is from the very end of the previous film, you’ll see they match.

It’s a Sunday and as a film fan I was just sitting around surfing the net. At some point I decided to visit the official James Bond website. As the page loaded I saw that the site is now titled: Quantum Of Solace – Official Site.

While there is not yet a whole lot to see there, they do have a nice detailed story description to pass the time.

The other reason for this article is that I just wanted to see how many times I could type Quantum Of Solace before it sank in as the title for the Bond 22 movie.

I think that by the time Quantum Of Solace is released in November I’ll be ready!

Source: 007.com

The title for the new James Bond film has been revealed. The follow-up to Casino Royale will be called Quantum of Solace.

The title was revealed at a press conference in Pinewood Studios, where producer Michael G. Wilson stated that the film would begin “literally an hour after the last film left off” and that the film would feature “twice as much action” as its predecessor.

The film follows Bond as he tries to track down the organization that caused the death of his love, Vesper Lynd. Here’s an official synopsis of The Quantum of Solace:

“In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit, Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel a sinister plan.”

We haven’t covered much James Bond movie news recently, so here’s a recap of where thing are regarding Bond 22.

Who’s the villain?

Mathieu Amalric, a French actor who most recently appeared as a paraplegic in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

What Ian Fleming book is the next film based on?

None. This is an original James Bond story written explicitly for this film.

Is the screenplay done?

Yes.

When does filming begin?

January 4th, 2008.

Will Bond 22 be funny?

According to FirstShowing.net, Daniel Craig has signed up to play 007 for not just one more, but four more James Bond movies as a follow up to the most excellent Casino Royale. I think this is fantastic news since I think Craig was the best Bond since Sean Connery.

Alex over at First Showing rates Roger Moore as his favorite Bond but I have to disagree. I haven’t watched Moore’s version of Bond in a long time but I don’t recall him ever being in a Bond movie that didn’t come across as campy. Connery’s Bond movies, while straying a bit into fantasy due to the elaborate gizmos and plots, were always played straight.

According to Paul Haggis, screenwriter on the next James Bond movie (for now known only as “Bond 22″), the next film “picks up 2 minutes after the last one.”

If you recall, Casino Royale ended with Bond fully becoming 007 (for lack of a better phrase) with the movie fading to black while finally playing the familiar theme at the very end of the film. I thought Casino Royale was excellent and was just what the franchise needed to rejuvenate it (much like what I’m hoping J.J. Abrams will be doing with the upcoming Star Trek movie).