How about on HIS majesty's secret service as the title of bond 26?
John from Cork
Posts: 129MI6 Agent
in Bond 26
Not a bad title for a debut/reset of an new Bond
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Yes, it is. If they do that I'll eat my PPK.
Perfect, they could then also recycle the same music for the 4th time instead of coming up with anything on their own!
"- That is something to be afraid of."
Uninventive to the extreme. "For special services" is far better.
A bit on the nose as a title...and too soon, methinks. How about borrowing the following continuation titles as ideas:
Nobody Lives Forever
Devil May Care
Blood Fever
By Royal Command
"The spectre of defeat..."
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Her/his is far to gender binary for 2022! 🤷
"Hirs (or Zir) majesty's Secret Service" sounds much more contemporary. 😁
No way they are going to rehash a Fleming title like that, but I'm sure they'll make some sort of passing reference to the new King.
For King and Country
Sorry, can't stand it :D
I don't even like that either tbh, it just makes me think of the postal service
Now that, I like!
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
Please no.
"24 Hour Tracked Delivery of Death"
Judging by some of the decisions they've presided on over the last few years, nothing would surprise me anymore.
That's true.
The small print: "Death within 24 hours not guaranteed due to current postal strikes. Your death may take longer to arrive. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause."
I'm not sure King Charles would like it. "Not in *my* name!" kind of thing.
And yes, that title could cue yet another mushy movie... grief and tears and ho-hum...
Besides, it would give George Lazenby a pretext to do another series of live appearances reminiscing about the old days... how to win friends and influence people...
I think George is a bit Walter Mitty, and why does he always say that he's never seen a Bond film since OHMSS when there's photos of him at loads of Bond Premieres from the Brosnan and Craig era ?
Sounds like a great idea. I'm sure the marketing people would love it. It may depend on if King Charles III coronation gets as big a worldwide audience as Her Majesty's funeral.
They've announced that King Charles III's coronation is on June 3 next year.
According to this other story about MGM, Bond26 will really get going next year with directors and actors chosen and the script written.
It just seems to me that NOT announcing that Bond26 is called On His Majesty's Secret Service on June 3 2023 is a MASSIVE missed marketing opportunity.
Considering the belief that Bond's appearance with the Queen in the Olympics' opening ceremony boosted Skyfall's ticket sales, an association with the Royal Family and the new King can't be a bad PR move.
It could be a fun gimmick, but I don't think it's a practical idea. Giving a new movie a title that's almost exactly like an older entry (two letters is the only difference) "may" lead to confusion.
People from Britain can speak with more authority on this, but I suspect the queen and the royal family were more popular in the 60's than they are now. Perhaps especially Charles III is unlikely to be as popular in only a few years as his mother was. As mentioned above I prefer "For special services" as a title.
this last film got enough flack for recycling the music from OHMSS. I'm sure recycling the title would be greeted with even more cynicism.
lets see them come up with a genuinely new title, one without the words Die or Kill. SkyFall was allnew yet sounded right, so they can do it if they try.
Two points of view, broadly speaking, that I see on this site are:
So, I think it's highly likely they would have that title. How many times have we seen titles with die or kill in? Kill has only been in one but die, a few, so I don't think they have learnt any lessons.
And often films get different names in other languages, so OHMSS may not be called that in many markets. I noticed that in France NTTD's title translates as Death Can Wait.
As you say they brought back the OMHSS theme for NTTD. What flack was this? I didn't see any flack. I thought people thought it was a great addition to the soundtrack.
As for the Royal Family's popularity, 11 million Americans tuned into watch the funeral and audience analysts think that it was the most watched event on TV ever. A very practical marketing idea is leveraging that huge audience with a relevant title.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/09/28/fact-check-bbc-reported-28-million-uk-watched-queens-funeral/8103892001/
People kind of hate Charles, though. Give or take a photo opp, they're probably going to veer away from/ignore the royal associations for a few years.
A repeated word is one thing; calling the next film On His Majesty's Secret Service is about as likely as calling it Diamonds Aren't Forever or The World Is Now Enough.
The Spy Who Liked Me? Tomorrow Never Lies.... oh, wait a minute...
Some people may hate Charles. His approval ratings in the UK are over 70% and climbing, however. That aside, it's always about the role - The Queen, The King - more than the individual.
Just imagine if they retired any word (or variant thereof) that has been used in a title three or more times: no more "live" or "die" and only one more "kill". Use it wisely, Mr Bond.
the record setting lineups and media attention for the Queens death were because people liked the Queen, even if they didnt like the institution. Charles has never had the same respect, and I don't think he's going to inherit the respect along with the throne. As proof, within days of the Queen's death, there were Commonwealth nations declaring now is the moment to end ties with the monarchy (not Canada though, I predict we'll remain Loyal Monarchists long after Britain becomes a republic)
the other issue is the suggested title is a blatant marketing scam: if you give the new film an almost identical title to a long established classic, you know there going to be people trying to watch the good film and they get tricked into watching the inferior 21st century film instead. I would suspect lack of confidence in the new product if the filmmakers pulled a stunt like that.
related: when somebody writes OHMSS (as most of us do) what will we mean? how will we differentiate? think of the poor acronyms!
Talking for the sake of it, you never quite know where you are with the Royal family, they are two really big scandals away from being a national liability. Some of the stuff they're associated with is truly toxic over the decades. That includes the late Her Majesty - some nasty foreign policy slyness in the 1950s might be blamed on her being a young woman in her mid-20s easily led by State operators, I'm referring I think to Kenya and Bahrain. Name me one massive State scandal of the last 50 years she's ever stepped into to stop - you can't, and she was Head of State. The family's long-standing connection with freemasonry is not everyone's cup of tea but does seem to get hushed up as a matter of routine, King Charles is pictured I understand a handkerchief with a masonic design in the days after the Queen's death. Harry may or many not spill the beans on all of this but generally it's down to the State to see whether it tolerates the roundheads or the cavaliers. But the films can't be tied to something like that, esp as many overseas territories are ambivalent at best about the monarchy.
The whole thing could make the Bond films seem more anachronistic than necessary - and you don't get a song out of the title, of course.
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This sounds a good title, Barbel 😜
Oh, very good 😁😁😁.
I wonder if they'll change the dynamic among the MI6 regulars in some way? I'd like to see Bill Tanner be more like he is in the books. Bond's best friend in the service. Perhaps someone Bond befriended during officers' training, but while Tanner was more drawn to the administrative side of things they still get along and play golf or race cars together in their spare time.
I would also like to see Moneypenny's role getting updated. I still want to see the playful, flirty interplay. But I want M to make the decisions and give the orders, but Miss Moneypenny can be in charge of the briefings.
While I can easily ser Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Caitriona Balfe playing this type of Moneypenny, I have no idea who I want to see as Tanner. I don't think anyone had made suggestions for Tanner in this thread yet.
In addition to Bond I think there are two characters who shouldn't change genders. That's Moneypenny and Tanner. Bill Tanner is 007's best friend in the service. I'm not saying Bond is incapable of having female friends, but that role is filled by Moneypenny. While Bond and Moneypenny had a flirty friendship, Bond and Tanner have a hobby-based friendship. At least that's how I see it. What do you think?