His name is Bond, James Bond. And, as you know, Pierce Brosnan has the role.
But Brosnan's first outing as 007, titled "Goldeneye," crashed early when pre-production was halted, reportedly stymied by script problems.So, though we haven't had a Bond movie since "Licence to Kill" in 1989, 007 will not be competing in the '95 summer sweepstakes against the usual array of high-profile, big-budget flicks.
But he may be around for Christmas of '95 . . . or maybe summer of '96 . . . as the film is gearing up again, following a rewrite of the script by Michael Franz ("Cliffhanger") and Kevin Wade ("Working Girl").
And when we do see him again, Bond may have some new respect for women, according to the show-biz weekly tabloid Variety. The newspaper reports that Bond's boss M (played throughout the film series by the late Bernard Lee) has been replaced by a woman!
That's right. Respected British stage actress Dame Judi Dench will play the head of Her Majesty's Secret Service, apparently patterned after Stella Rimington, the real-life head of British intelligence.
Does that mean 007's love interests this time around will not be referred to as "the Bond girls"?
- SPEAKING OF potential blockbusters for the summer of '95, would you believe that some of them already have trailers (previews of coming attractions) in theaters?
It's never too soon to start thinking about summer weather, of course, so just to take you out of the freezing temperatures for a few moments, here are some of the epics scheduled to play in air-conditioned theaters when summer finally returns:
- "Batman Forever," with Val Kilmer taking over the cape and cowl, and Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey as villains Harvey Two-Face and the Riddler, respectively.
- Disney's next animated feature, "Pocahontas," with the voice of Mel Gibson.
- "Die Hard: With a Vengeance," with Bruce Willis reprising his New York cop role, this time teamed up with Samuel L. Jackson.
- "Bridges of Madison County," adapting the best seller, with Meryl Streep and Clint East-wood. (Eastwood also directs.)
- The high-tech special-effects epic "Casper" (as in, "The Friendly Ghost").
- "Judge Dredd," the comic book character, with Sylvester Stallone.
- "Free Willy 2," the sequel to the original sleeper about a killer whale.
- "Ace Ventura Goes to Africa," with Jim Carrey reprising his surprise hit role.
- "Under Siege II: Dark Territory," with Steven Seagal, this time doing "Die Hard" on a train.
- Two Eddie Murphy films, his remake of Jerry Lewis' "The Nutty Professor" and "A Vampire in Brooklyn."
- "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie," a self-explanatory film if ever there was one.
- "Mary Reilly," with Julia Roberts in the title role, the maid to "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (portrayed by John Malkovich).
- "Water World," the notoriously overbudget (some estimates say $125 million and counting) underwater epic that stars Kevin Costner as a half man-half fish.
- "Mortal Kombat," another kung fu fantasy-action picture based on a video game.
Why do I feel like I'm being hit by a wave of deja vu?
- THE WALT DISNEY folks have announced that "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" passed the 20 million-copy video sales mark last week, making it the third best-selling video of all time, behind two other Disney titles, "Aladdin" (24 million) and "Beauty and the Beast" (22 million).
There is little doubt in the industry that "Snow White" will climb over those two titles and hit the No. 1 spot by the first of the year.
Meanwhile, Universal/MCA Home Video is laying low about actual sales figures regarding its big late-fall release, "Jurassic Park." Industry insiders estimate that Steven Spielberg's dinosaur epic has sold around 10 million videos, though Universal/MCA originally shipped twice that many.
As for the rest of the top five all-time best sellers, in the No. 4 spot is another Disney title, "101 Dalmatians," which sold 16 million, followed by Spielberg's "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (15 million).
Rounding out the top 10 are "Fantasia" (14.2 million), "Pinocchio" (13.4 million), "Home Alone" (11 million), "Batman" (10.5 million) and "The Little Mermaid" (10 million).
Needless to say, there are more Disney animated feature videos in people's homes than any other kind.
Sort of makes you wonder how many Disney's all-time biggest theatrical moneymaker - "The Lion King" - will sell when it comes roaring to home video on Feb. 28.
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Caroline Goodall, who plays Michael Douglas' wife in "Disclosure," about the film's plot that a man is sexually harassed by his female boss:
"We all know this happens to women in nine out of 10 cases, but by standing the issue on its head, we can look at it objectively and not cloud the issue with emotion. People who get on their high horse and talk about political correctness in regard to this film are missing the point."
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK II: Thirteen-year-old Elijah Wood, who gets billing over Kevin Costner in "The War":
"A lot of people ask me if I think I'm missing my childhood, but I look at other 13-year-olds and I don't think I'm missing anything. I can't play sports because of my schedule, but that's OK. I get to travel and have all this fun with my career now while other kids will have to worry about their careers later. I have no regrets."