Bond director Mendes stirs franchise – ‘Spectre’ could trigger $80 mln in US debut

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NEW YORK, Nov 1, (RTRS): Here’s a theory: If not for Sam Mendes, Universal never would’ve entrusted an indie greenhorn like Colin Trevorrow to direct “Jurassic World,” nor would George Lucas have dreamed of handing the reins of his “Star Wars” franchise to the likes of Rian Johnson (“Brick”).

This story first appeared in the Oct 27, 2015 issue of Variety. Subscribe today.

While hardly your typical indie director by origin, British-born Mendes, who is receiving the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing, was a bold choice to tackle “Skyfall,” the 23rd film in the Eon-produced James Bond franchise — and one of the few to be overseen by a helmer selected on the strength of his dramatic directing chops — resulting in $1.1 billion worldwide box office, the Bond series’ highest-grossing film.

The tendency with such franchise assignments — from Bond to “Star Wars” to the “Jurassic Park” series — has long been to pick journeymen helmers, favoring those lacking an authorial imprimatur who excel at the technical side of things: specifically, experience working with huge crews, while juggling both action and effects — guys like Roger Spottiswoode (who’d edited two Sam Peckinpah pics) and John Glen (promoted from second-unit duty).

Mendes is hardly the first director to be given such an opportunity. (Chris Nolan demonstrated such an aptitude on “Batman Begins,” even if that film’s fight sequences reveal the limits of his action-blocking abilities.) But to borrow a Bond-ism: Nobody does it better.

Beginning in theater, where Mendes developed his skills directing actors (reimagining such classics as “Cabaret” and “The Glass Menagerie”) and a necessary appreciation for the written word (onstage, the “book” serves as blueprint, and no one dreams of launching a production without a rock-solid script in place first). With such legit experience under his belt, he made the switch to the big screen with 1999’s “American Beauty,” a debut that demonstrated his mastery of both disciplines, pairing an Oscar-recognized cast with a killer screenplay by Alan Ball.

Gambles

Debuting at the Toronto film festival before going on to win five Academy Awards, “American Beauty” effectively crowned a decade every bit as important to the evolution of Hollywood as the hallowed 1970s — that post-”Easy Riders” stretch in which studios took wild gambles on a new generation of relatively unproven directors. The ’90s showed a similar panic among the majors, as blockbuster formulas stumbled and execs turned to an emerging class of fest-blessed indie darlings to reinvigorate their mainstream fare.

It was thus, following the emergence of such auteurs as Kevin Smith, the Coen brothers and the two Andersons (anything-but-brothers P.T. and Wes), that someone in Mendes’ position found it possible to leverage a suburban midlife-crisis drama such as “American Beauty” into such ambitious projects as Jake Gyllenhaal starrer “Jarhead” and the luxuriantly dark graphic-novel adaptation “Road to Perdition.”

Logistically speaking, those two movies may have hinted at Mendes’ potential to handle something as ambitious as a 007 mega-blockbuster, and yet the helmer next veered the other way, delivering two intimate couple-oriented dramas, “Revolutionary Road” and “Away We Go.” No question “Skyfall” was a leap from “Away We Go,” albeit one Mendes was more than equipped to handle, combining the best-ever Bond script with dramatic opportunities the series had never before afforded either Craig (who got to explore Bond’s emotionally damaged backstory) or onscreen boss Judi Dench, with meaty roles for Javier Bardem and Albert Finney as well. Meanwhile, when it came to action, Mendes knew where to trust his team, leaving on second-unit and action collaborators to elevate the stakes he was establishing on the character side.

“Spectre,” which will be released Nov 6 in the US, should prove an interesting test, considering that last December’s Sony hack coincided with the start of production. When the film’s script leaked, the production was forced to adjust late in the game. But like his nimble onscreen hero, Mendes thinks fast on his feet, and the world will soon see how well he adapted to such a terrorist threat.

Also:

LOS ANGELES: If “Spectre” is indeed Daniel Craig’s swan song as James Bond, then the man who injected a dangerous swagger into the long-running spy series is going out at the top of his game.

The film is on pace to make $80 million when it debuts in the US next weekend in roughly 3,500 theaters, according to industry tracking. And that’s just a fraction of the riches that that distributor Sony and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will be raking in. A massive global launch is being planned that will see “Spectre” kick off in more than 60 foreign markets, including much of Latin America, Asia, and Europe. It opens in China the following week.

The film has already been shattering records in the UK, picking up $24.5 million in its first two days, and scoring the biggest Tuesday and Wednesday results in history.

“It’s phenomenal,”said Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution chief. “That’s ground zero for Bond, and the results are stunning.”

On the stateside front, Sony is being more conservative, with sources saying the studio would be happy with an opening in the mid-$60 million range. That would trail the $88.4 million debut of the previous entry in the series, 2012’s “Skyfall,” but that picture had its opening weekend largely to itself, with no other major wide releases. In contrast, “Spectre” goes head to head with Fox’s “The Peanuts Movie,” which is tracking to do $40 million or more. The competition could cut into “Spectre’s” opening haul.

“Skyfall” set a high bar for “Spectre.” It was the highest-grossing 007 film in history, nearly doubling “Casino Royale’s” $599 million worldwide haul, and the first in franchise history to cross $1 billion. But some analysts think the latest Bond could end up with a similar bounty, noting that markets like China, where “Skyfall” did nearly $60 million, have added more screens and grown in strength in the ensuing three years.

“There’s been a lot of global growth since “Skyfall’ came out that it should end up doing something similar,” said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “Domestically, we’ll see. Thanksgiving is very strong.”

Indeed, the coming weeks bring the Rocky series spin-off “Creed,” “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2,” and Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur.” And the Christmas holiday brings “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” However, reviews for “Spectre” have been solid and Sony thinks the picture will show some endurance. At a cost of $250 million, no expense was shared in making the picture, and the producers decided not to muck around with a winning formula, bringing back “Skyfall” director Sam Mendes for another stint behind the camera.

“We see this playing for a long, long time,” said Bruer. “All the Bond films played through the holidays.”

“People will love this film,” he added. “It brings the Daniel Craig Bond films together in a very satisfying, poignant fashion.”

The future of Bond remains murkier. Sony is closing out its distribution pact for the franchise, and it’s not clear if MGM will sign up for another round or will find a different studio partner. Warner Bros. is believed to be making an aggressive play for the series.

Then there’s Craig’s tenure as the super-spy. In an interview with TimeOut, the actor has implied he’s done with the role, saying he would rather slash his wrists than do another sequel. That’s led to heated debate about who should pick up Bond’s Walther PPK.

Ultimately, the attention is good for the series, whether or not Craig stays on board, analysts say.

“People like having a new Bond every four or five films,” said Eric Handler, an analyst with MKM Partners. “It allows you to see James Bond in a new manner and it keeps the franchise fresh and alive.”

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