WHY NOT OTHER SPY MOVIES

[AMERIBOND]

Why doesn't anyone else make spy movies? The money is there. CR made loads of money, simply because the main character is named James Bond. It was not a great movie. It was not a cult movie. It was not an award winning movie. It was a Spy movie. Movie-goers like spy movies. Where's the competition? Is there some kind of unwritten law in "Movieland" that you cannot compete with Bond? Dreamworks bought out the movie rights to all the Matt Helm books 3 years ago. Countless, great, spy books are waiting to be made into movies out there. DC's version of Bond is so flawed, I believe it leaves the door open for another "SECRET AGENT" to take hold. Lots of them are out there.Anybody got any favorites?

[Count_Lippe]

There were a lot of "Bond style" spy movies made in the 60s when the phenomenon were at it's height, both in europe and america.

Hollywood had Matt Helm, Derek Flint, and various spy TV shows.

In europe there were the french OSS 117 movies and countless italian spy movies.

So it has already been done, I don't think it would be quite as easy to compete with the Bond movies nowadays since they are such an institution.

Besides now it's the other way around, many times the Bond filmmakers look at other action movies for inspiration instead of being uniqe and leading the way, and it has been like this more or less ever since the 70s.

[Kristatos]

We have the Bourne and Mission Impossible franchises, so Bond isn't entirely alone in the spy field.

[Oddjob]

We have the Bourne and Mission Impossible franchises, so Bond isn't entirely alone in the spy field.

Plus XXX in recent years, and True Lies going back a bit further. People always make 007 style spy pictures but nothing that will be as enduring.

I would like to see a Daniel Craig/Broccoli free renegade James Bond picture.

[Dr. No]

isn't there some new spy movie in the pipeline? I remember reading something about Hugh Jackman with his own franchise.
Who else is there? Spy games, The breach, not a series, jack Ryan, Spy kids, the saint

[AMERIBOND]

Far as I can tell the same people that own Bond now own Helm. They plan to sit on Helm till Bond goes sour on them. XXX is dead. MI is out of commission, Bourne has run out of gas. Tough time for spies.

[Kristatos]

Bourne has run out of gas.

That's a bit premature. We won't know what sort of health the franchise is in until the next film comes out.

[Skywalker]

Far as I can tell the same people that own Bond now own Helm. They plan to sit on Helm till Bond goes sour on them. XXX is dead. MI is out of commission, Bourne has run out of gas. Tough time for spies.

I actually felt MI3 was a return to form after the awful MI2. Care to explain your Bourne theory?

[Captain Nash]

Isn't there talk of a movie version of Spyhunter, with 'The Rock'?

[Blowfeld]

I haven't cared much for the M:I franchise. It became too centralized around one character: Ethan Hunt. I much prefer the old Television series. It was about team effort not one man.
M:Is are a star driven franchise, now in trouble because of Tom Cruse falling out of favor.

I agree it hard to tell the health of Bourne before the new movie is out. Although it was surprising to me that Eon chose to imitate Bourne when that franchise never got near the same kind of Box Office #'s James Bond did.

[stockslivevan]

Apparently there will be a new Matt Helm film, only instead of being adapted into a sh!@fest like Dean Martin's camp '60 films, they will actually reamain true to the source.

[Count_Lippe]

There was also a new OSS 117 film recently, set in the 60s. It did well in France apparently, haven't seen it myself.

[ID]

More OSS 117 films are planned for the future. John Gavin played the Agent in the sixties I think.

[Commander 0077]

A bit of reflecting on why there hasn't been a series (or at least a trilogy) to compete with Bond:
1. MONEY. Although an independent company (with less funding) could possibly do a great job, a Bond-type film (BTF) would ideally have big bucks, with location shooting, beautiful sets, etc.
2. CREATIVITY. A lot of times, money isn't a close relative of flair, and a BTF obviously would require a huge dose -- a production team that loves the genre, or at least has that special touch that the early Bond team had.
T
So we have to wait for 'fate' or some great visionary to put the money and creative team together; this visionary would naturally be a Bond fan, who happens to be a world class financier, who understands what the storyline would need; and that it needs a great composer, etc. Not an easy formula.

3. THE STAR. Not just an actor, but someone with 'it.'

There was something of this in the creation of Indiana Jones. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wanted to do a Bond-type film; then they hit on the idea of Indy Jones. So they had the money and the creative thing.
Although, I don't care much for the extreme over the top stunts (falling from a plane in a raft and schussing down the ice into rapids), which ruined much of the films for me.

So, there's no executive at the major studio saying to himslef (or her), Hm... can't we do something better than MI or Bond? .... Where is that Commander 0077 when we need him? On the Hong Kong ferry again? Doesn't that twit get tired of going back and forth back and forth?