Jonwo

It sounds like a good premise but I wonder if audiences are going to burnt out by talking animal films by the time this comes out?

I'm guessing there is a reason for the casting, maybe she's someone else pretending to be Jim Gordon

Disney had US distribution rights but ended up distributing through Touchstone

The double whammy of Hunger Games and The Good Dinosaur will hurt Spectre in a few weeks. The last weekend of November is pretty jam packed with Black Mass, Bridge of Spies and Carol as well as The Good Dinosaur, guessing everyone wants to avoid Star Wars. Also, Sisters has a 9 day opening which I guess Universal is aiming to pick up some box office before it get crushed by Star Wars

Is Peanuts Blue Sky's highest opening since Ice Age 4? I wouldn't be surprised if more animated studios are encouraged to release animated films against big blockbusters in November or December although I doubt they'll schedule them against say a live action Disney fairytale film,

Casino Royale opened second to Happy Feet IIRC so Gitesh's tweet is incorrect

I really want a Knights of the Old Republic film but I don't know if they'll go that far back.

The acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm made sense because Disney had tried and failed to appeal to boys with their films and TV series, they had the girl market sown up with Disney Princesses and Disney Channel and those three appealed to boys and men especially in merchandises and the theme parks. I reckon Katzenberg will end up selling DWA in a few years, they've sort of got out of their financial mess but I do think its days as a independent animated studio are coming to an end and it would prosper under a studio like Paramount or Warner Bros, the latter with its vast animated library would be the best fit

I'd say they slightly overpaid for Pixar but I think they needed Pixar more than Pixar needed Disney but Cars merchandise alone likely have paid off that investment and Lasseter and Catmull rejuvenated WDAS in the process so it was worth it. But I agree that EON won't be up for sale for a long time if ever and MGM unless they have financial problems again likely won't sell their share either

The in game purchases add up to a significant amount of money, the Candy Crush concept has been copied by other companies like Disney with their own puzzle games with in game purchases

Personally, I think Bond probably is worth less than Lucasfilm, Marvel or Pixar but still around the $1bn mark.

MGM and EON would never sell Bond, I imagine if Barbara and Michael wanted to sell EON, we'd be looking at a $4-5bn pricetag similar to what Disney paid for Marvel and Lucasfilm. I think Bond would be fine under WB although I wonder if we'll see Bond in the summer, it's been 25 years since Bond has a summer slot and with WB scheduling Fantastic Beasts and JL in November for the next 5 years, I wonder if they would consider it.

Damian's already in his 40s, he'll be too old by the time Craig steps down.

I reckon they'll go for an unknown or a semi-known actor, Craig before Bond had only done a handful of Hollywood films like Tomb Raider and Road to Perdition as well as indie films like Layer Cake. Actually I think it was Layer Cake that secured him the role of Bond. My current favourites for the next Bond are Dan Stevens and a British actor called James Norton who is IMO going to be hot property very soon, he's starred in a BBC drama called Happy Valley which I think aired on Netflix in which he played a serial killer and also Grantchester which aired on PBS, he's going to star in the upcoming miniseries of War and Peace with Lily James, Paul Dano and Gillian Anderson.

I think Nicholson needs to do another film like The Departed or maybe a comedy but I guess his salary means he's unlikely to do something like a Birdman or anything mid to low budget.

Disney must have let their rights lapsed since Paramount and MGM are now involved.

I don't think they offer backend either, bonuses when they hit certain milestones maybe, I assume Craig got extra money from his producer role. I imagine the money he gets for doing the endorsements for Omega, Heneiken etc more than make up for the lack of backend or percentage of gross

I imagine Bond 25 won't be until 2018 at the earliest since they'll need to find a new director and also Craig will be doing a play next year as well.

Sony knew this when they negotiated the deal to co-fund and distribute Skyfall and Spectre and I imagine other studios who are interested in gaining Bond likely know that as well.

In the leaked Sony e-mails, it was Sony who suggested they cut things to reduce the budget and the producers refused to make any major changes. I think the biggest expense is Craig but he's contracted for one more film, I think not shooting on such a tight schedule would help too

Star Wars has Christmas which will boost its daily BO. Spectre likely will be hit hard by Mockingjay part 2

They already had a female villain with Elektra King in TWINE.

It's a shame Disney will never lend the Marvel characters to a Lego film, would be hilarious to see Lego Batman interact with Lego Iron Man.

Bond would benefit from a longer production window, why they insist on shooting from December/January to June with a October release date is beyond me.

Fiennes is great casting as Alfred, i do wonder how they'll make this fit into the Lego universe and not just make it a Batman film that is Legofied.