MGM Studios has seen some dark days of late, having barely been salvaged by filing bankruptcy. Their nearly insurmountable financial woes led to the delay of not only The Hobbit, directed by Peter Jackson, but also James Bond 23 - starring the blondest James Bond of all, Daniel Craig.

Recently, the studio went through a massive, thorough restructuring and was able to acquire $500 million worth of credit from JP Morgan, a good chunk of which will likely be spent on the follow-up to Quantum of Solace. MGM is expected to partner with Sony for co-financing, as it has done in the past with Casino Royale and Quantum.

2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Dr. No (1962), the very first James Bond movie ever, which obviously makes it the perfect time to release a brand spanking new Bond movie. Thus, the studio will be attempting to lockdown its cast, director, and screenplay for the new movie as quickly as possible.

The studio previously announced (that is, before it almost imploded) that Peter Morgan, and frequent Bond collaborators Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, would be penning a draft of Bond 23. Purvis and Wade have worked on every James Bond film since The World Is Not Enough – for you forgetful filmgoers, that includes Die Another Day (gag), Casino Royale (awesome), and Quantum of Solace (gag) - the last two of which were rewritten, to some extent, by Paul Haggis.

Paramount or Sony distributing Bond 23

Additionally, rumors for months have indicated that Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) is the frontrunner to direct the new movie. Now, Mendes is not a filmmaker known for his action-oriented filmmaking skills – the closest he has come to directing an action picture, in fact, would be the immensely dreary but incredibly well-made Road to Perdition, co-starring none other than Daniel Craig – but neither was Marc Forster, another typically art-house filmmaker, who helmed Quantum.

Hopefully, Mendes has a better time with 23 than Forster had with Quantum, which was plagued by A) a weak-as-the-dickens villain, B) a nearly non-existent story, C) a Ukrainian beauty painted orange to look Brazilian, and D) an obsession with (vomit-inducing) shaky-cam that would make Jason Bourne blush.

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