If Disney bought the Bond franchise would a film of John Gardner's Never Send Flowers be any closer?

Silhouette Man

So, we all know that Disney's name has cropped up over the last two years or more in relation to their being an interested party in buying the James Bond franchise from Eon or at least in buying the distribution rights to the next Bond film or series of films. Obviously Disney have done a good job with growing the Star Wars franchise, so presumably they could do the same with the James Bond franchise. It might even result in a much-needed shot in the arm for the Bond films.

Many fans would likely be against the idea but to the John Gardner fan it opens up an interesting situation: if Disney did at some point buy the Bond franchise or the distribution rights would a film version of Gardner's Never Send Flowers (1993) be any closer in coming about?

As many literary Bond fans will know Never Send Flowers features the villain David Dragonpol's castle Schloss Drache which is described as looking like the castle at Disneyland and it of course features a climactic fight scene at Euro Disney in Paris (nowadays it's called Disneyland Resort, Paris of course). There would of course be the inherent problem in the story for a modern audience as the assassination target in the original 1993 novel was Princess Diana and her two sons. Presumably this could be changed to another VIP target easily enough (a politician, rock star etc.) According to Raymond Benson in his 'Gardner’s World' piece in 007 Magazine the original intention was to have a famous rock star as the target of the assassination in the Disney resort.

What do we think? Would Disney be interested in adapting such a Bond novel into a film, given its obvious links to their amusement park properties around the globe and the potential for large-scale "product placement"? To my mind, it would seem an open goal that they would be rather silly to avoid exploiting.

So, dare I ask, what do we think of such an idea?

Barbel

I think it's very, very unlikely. Even if Disney end up owning Bond, there's no guarantee they'd film the continuation novels- I'd say they're much more likely to cokk up, er, cook up original stories. Or at least "original" stories, if you see what I mean.

Silhouette Man

Barbel wrote:

I think it's very, very unlikely. Even if Disney end up owning Bond, there's no guarantee they'd film the continuation novels- I'd say they're much more likely to cokk up, er, cook up original stories. Or at least "original" stories, if you see what I mean.

Sadly (as the Lord Defender of NSF on the interweb) I have to agree with you Barbel that it is very unlikely to ever happen. It's destined to be forever filed under "pipe dream" for me I guess.

Sir Miles

Disney would only buy the cinematic Bond NOT the literary Bond so, thankfully, there’d be no chance of NSF being filmed {[]

Napoleon Plural

Michael G Wilson was v disparaging about the Gardner novels, in particular when Bond says that he went to Disney land and expected to hate it but thought it was okay actually, saying and I quote 'I just didn't see what we could do with that kind of dialogue' to appreciative laughs at a London Bond event around the time of GE.

superado

Given the present climate of terrorism in famous public sites in equally famous cities of the world (Nice, Paris, London, etc.), I doubt Disney would allow any of their parks to be featured in a movie plot that involves shootouts and the usual movie violence and action sequences, even though if I remember correctly, how relatively benign the NSF Disney sequence was (deserted, right?)

caractacus potts

I'm sure once Disney buys Bond, Bond and his supporting cast will be integrated into the one big MickeyMouseMarvelStarWars universe, and there will be limitless potential for exciting new crossovers

The Domino Effect

caractacus potts wrote:

I'm sure once Disney buys Bond, Bond and his supporting cast will be integrated into the one big MickeyMouseMarvelStarWars universe, and there will be limitless potential for exciting new crossovers

Could the "Mickey Mouse" line in Spectre have been a subtle message to us all of what was to come? (I'll get my tin foil hat now).

caractacus potts

actually if Bond crossed over with The Incredibles (also part of the all-encompassing Disney mega-verse) that could be good, because at least The Incredibles has John Barry style music and Ken Adam style set design, both of which the current Bond films are in need of

Barbel

The Domino Effect wrote:

caractacus potts wrote:

I'm sure once Disney buys Bond, Bond and his supporting cast will be integrated into the one big MickeyMouseMarvelStarWars universe, and there will be limitless potential for exciting new crossovers

Could the "Mickey Mouse" line in Spectre have been a subtle message to us all of what was to come? (I'll get my tin foil hat now).

Na, that would be quite goofy... (Please get mine, too)

Peppermill

Silhouette Man wrote:

Barbel wrote:

I think it's very, very unlikely. Even if Disney end up owning Bond, there's no guarantee they'd film the continuation novels- I'd say they're much more likely to cokk up, er, cook up original stories. Or at least "original" stories, if you see what I mean.

Sadly (as the Lord Defender of NSF on the interweb) I have to agree with you Barbel that it is very unlikely to ever happen. It's destined to be forever filed under "pipe dream" for me I guess.

Yes, I think it will remain a Fantasia forever.

caractacus potts

folks might want to watch the last Spider-Man film, as a taste of what could happen when universes merge. Spider-Man suddenly becomes Iron Man's kid sidekick, even though Spider-Man was always the more established iconic character until Robert Downey came along.
So Bond might suddenly become Nick Fury's sidekick, and Q orders his gadgets from Stark labs. Too bad Han Solo is dead, because that could have been a good team-up.

on the positive side, there'll be some great merchandising. I've been amazed by all the Star Wars related ads from completely unrelated industries, including car ads and internet service providers! Like, how much does a car cost? tens of thousands of dollars, but someones going to make a decision because the ad used the Star Wars logo? I even saw a gingerbread Millennium Falcon in my grocery store this morning, and it appeared to be an official product
so what will we get for Bond? lunchboxes, bedsheets and pyjamas, what else? that BondWorld themepark we've all been dreaming about will definitely be a step closer

Silhouette Man

Peppermill wrote:

Silhouette Man wrote:

Barbel wrote:

I think it's very, very unlikely. Even if Disney end up owning Bond, there's no guarantee they'd film the continuation novels- I'd say they're much more likely to cokk up, er, cook up original stories. Or at least "original" stories, if you see what I mean.

Sadly (as the Lord Defender of NSF on the interweb) I have to agree with you Barbel that it is very unlikely to ever happen. It's destined to be forever filed under "pipe dream" for me I guess.

Yes, I think it will remain a Fantasia forever.

Don't be so sure. I might become a scriptwriter and adapt NSF. Everyone's worst nightmare!

caractacus potts

Disney may not have any more spare change left to buy the Bond franchise after buying 20th Century Fox and all its movie franchises today
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/what-the-disney-fox-merger-means-for-the-future-of-movies/article37324802/