Latest Bond Film Set to Cost Over $300 Million

By Alex Ritman

Emails released during a recent hack on Sony Pictures have revealed that the upcoming 24th James Bond film Spectre could cost more than $300 million and that MGM Studios have been looking to trim costs. Sony will be distributing the film.

According to documents seen by CNN, MGM president Jonathan Glickman sent an internal memo in November stating that the budget for the film “sits in the mid $300Ms,” significantly higher than that of Skyfall, estimated to have cost $210 million before tax breaks.

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"We recognize that this movie needs to build on the past few films - and there are expectations we must meet for the audience. Still, we must find further cuts. This is not about ‘nickel and diming’ the production." Glickman adds.

The article outlines several suggestions mentioned by Glickman to help lower expenditure, including shooting a nighttime scene in London instead of Rome, using few carriages for a fight scene on a train, scrapping rain in the finale to cut effects cost and maximizing a financial incentive in Mexico by showing “the more modern aspects” of the country.

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The emails also purport to show responses from Eon’s Barbara Broccoli, who refuses to cut down on the number of train carriages and says she “cannot find the cemetery or villa in the U.K.”

Sony suffered a large hack Nov. 24, which has resulted in the release of a slew of private emails, sensitive information about 47,000 current and former employees and financial data.

Spectre began shooting in London’s Pinewood Studios on Monday.