Warhead 2000 A.D.

Genre: Action/Adventure.

Studio: Sony Pictures.
Production Company: Unknown.

Project Phase: Development Hell.

Who's In It: Unknown.
Who's Making It: Kevin McClory (Producer).

Premise: Unknown.

Release Date: Unknown.

Comments: With the recent success of Pierce Brosnan as the new 007, the Bond franchise has been revived. As pre-production work continues on Brosnan's next film outing, former Bond producer Kevin McClory wants to develop and release another James Bond film - but with a different actor portraying 007.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

October 9, 1996... Kevin McClory, the producer of Thunderball and Never Say Never Again wants to make another Bond picture titled "Warhead 2000 A.D." As with NSNA, this film would fall outside the auspices of the Broccoli/EON productions (true Bond fans consider NSNA non-canon material.) McClory says he's close to signing his Bond: and, Reuters speculates, it could be none other than Timothy Dalton! [Scoop provided by 'mkingsl'.]

October 9, 1996... In a Daily Variety feature, McClory said that a lead has been picked but not signed yet. Details on the nature of the plot are being kept secret to keep "the competition" in the dark. McClory also stated that his Bond team had an excellent story and a "ruthless" enemy. Further information should become avaliable in two to three weeks.

How exactly can there be two James Bond franchises? Good question. It seems that McClory and Jack Wittingham took Ian Fleming to court back in 1963 over the story content in Fleming's Thunderball novel, which the former pair argued was based upon material the three had collborated on. McClory and Wittingham won the case.

This allowed McClory to do a re-make of the Thunderball material in 1983 with Never Say Never Again. But does McClory have the right to make a completely new storyline with Fleming's character? The producers of the Brosnan franchise declined to comment about the McClory news; time will tell if court papers will be served. [Scoop filed by 'imho'; orignally appeared in Daily Variety.]

October 10, 1996... "The rights to Bond belong to United Artists via the late Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, but there is a loophole big enough to drive an Aston-Martin through," says producer Kevin McClory when asked as to how he plans to start up a second Bond franchise of films. The New York Post reports that McClory, when he developed the original storyline for Thunderball (called "Latitude 78 West" at the time), a clause was hidden in the contracts which stated that McClory could remake Thunderball within a ten-year time. Thunderball was released in 1965, and McClory had to start development of the film by 1975 - which he did. Eventually McClory aquired the backing from Warner Brothers, and the result was 1983's Never Say Never Again.

Does McClory have another 'ace', a hidden clause or loophole associated with the Bond character? It certainly seems that way. [Scoop reported by 'rpouria'.]

October 22, 1996... A better understanding of what McClory may be up to starts to emerge, with the James Bond aficionados with the widest knowledge base. Apparently this is not the first time Kevin McClory has announced production on a 'renegade' Bond film. He's done it three or four times before, but the only project to see the light of day was Never Say Never Again. Other project announcements for alternate Bond films have come both before and after NSNA but these never came about. In the words of this scoop reporter, "With [McClory's] track record, his announcement for 'Warhead 2000 A.D.' should be taken with a grain of salt. Incidentally, it is generally accepted on alt.fan.james-bond that 'Warhead 2000 A.D.' is supposed to be a *second* remake of Thunderball." [Scoop filed by 'ss1'.]

October 28, 1996... Numerous letter writers report that none other than Sean Connery may be the 'new' Bond for the picture. [Scoops submitted by 'Gazza', 'SDL' and anonymously.] October 29, 1996... Tying into the above scoop, additional information concerning the possible storyline for Warhead 2000 surfaces. Sean Connery was rumored to have helped develop another similar storyline from the Thunderball premise back when he was attached to the renegade 80s Bond project; instead, Never Say Never Again was made as a result of arising legal problems with the concept. The original concept for the NSNA project involved a group of robotic 'sharks' armed with torpedos and directed at public structures, such as the Statue of Liberty. The sharks were controlled by one of those nefarious pure-evil, billionaire bad-boy corporations or a SMERSH-like counterpart. The scooper doesn't mention the rumors surrounding Connery being attached to the McClory project - but the announced name of the project seems to indicate a possible link... [Scoop provided by Brent Lynch, 00-in-training.]

December 7, 1997... After a bit of posturing (Sony claimed the show was proceeding into pre-production), MGM announced December 3 that it has acquired right to the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again from Taliafilm Inc., the only Bond film it did not directly own. Never was originally distributed by WarnerBros. under a licensing deal with Bond creator Ian Fleming. What that means is that Kevin McClory's Bond project could be legally tied up now and forever. [Served with a martini by 'The Gline'.]

December 17, 1997... Sony announced thier wishlist for this film: Sean Connery as James Bond (more fun at the health spa!), and Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich as the pic's director/producers. Connery did the last Thunderball redux to get back at Brocolli, but his anti-MGM ways may have gone astray. Word is Devlin and Emmerich are still pissed off at MGM over the studio's handling of their 1995 Stargate marketing campaign. [Submitted by 'Trek30yrs'.]

December 23, 1997... "Just a few comments about your December 17th update. First, I just don't see Sony luring Connery back one more time as 007. His career of late has been doing quite well (with films like The Rock and the upcoming Avengers film). What incentive could Connery have to do a remake of a remake (besides a puddle of cash, of course)? Also, while a Devlin-Emmerich Bond film is an intriguing idea, they'd be limited to the basic Thunderball/Never Say Never Again plot, with little room for original storytelling (Not that that Devlin-Emmerich are known for their originality -- Sorry couldn't resist!) Would they be willing to make the film with that kind of restraint on what they can do? But their involvement raises an interesting conflict: David Arnold is their main man when it comes to scoring their films (ID4, Stargate, Godzilla). David Arnold is getting raves for his John Barry-style score to Tomorrow Never Dies. With all the fanfare over his TND score (with many Bond fans claiming Arnold is the true succesor to John Barry), its likely MGM/EON will want him back for future Bond films. Where does that leave Arnold in standing with Devlin-Emmerich if they go on to work n Warhead?" [Though to ponder delivered by 'TrekHunter'.]

And a quote from none other than Pierce Brosnan on Sony's planned entry into the Bond market:

""Bring 'em on, I say. Bring on George Clooney as Bond or Woody Harrelson or Woody Allen or Woody Woodpecker, I don't care. I'm doing the legitimate James Bond."

[Thanks again to 'TrekHunter'.]

December 29, 1997... Another reader comments on the hoopla and speculation surrounding McClory's film. Their message also helps get up caught up-to-date on all the latest December posturings with the project, and it sounds like the scooper did their homework...

"Sony Pictures Entertainment and John Calley have embarked on a very dangerous course of action by making legally specious claims of ownership over the Bond character, and one has to guess that this is some personal vendetta of Calley's, aimed at damaging the current administration at MGM/UA, his former employer. Considering Calley's reputation for sagacity, it's rather perplexing.

"On November 17, 1997, MGM/UA and Danjaq, Inc (the entity that produces the Bond films) filed a massive lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, naming Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures Industries, John Calley, Kevin McClory, and others as defendants. The lawsuit seeks declaratory relief, and $25 mil. in damages (a number that could increase) and alleges copyright infringement, trademark dilution, enducing breach of contract, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, and misappropriation of trade secrets. MGM/UA has retained arguably the best intellectual property litigator in the country to argue their case in court, Pierce O'Donnell, who has sued and beaten just about every studio in court, at one time or another. Pierce O'Donnell has had some menacing words for Sony management, as they have persisted with claims that they not only have rights to remake Thunderball/NSNA, but also original material! MGM/UA also alleges that McClory's rights to remake Thunderball have since expired, and will move to bar him from the Bond business permanently.

"McClory has tried unsuccessfully for years to finance Warhead. Every studio in town turned him down, at least once, until now. The fear was that Danjaq, which has a reputation for being extremely litigious, would sue everyone in sight, and Sony and McClory have found out that Danjaq is true to their reputation. No talent is going to attach themselves to this project for fear of being targeted in a lawsuit, and even if they were willing to take that chance, the matter wouldn't be resolved in court for many years, meaning they'd have to sit and wait. Connery might be dead by the time this is resolved. The last time McClory and Danjaq fought, it took nearly a decade in the courts before it was finally adjudicated.

"There is all this talk about Connery coming back to spite MGM/UA, and my only response to that is, that's why he did NSNA! Once wasn't enough? Wasn't Connery humiliated the first time when Octopussy beat NSNA at the box office? Does he really want to go toe to toe with Brosnan who is on a hot streak? Is he going to be playing Bond as an infirm senior citizen in a wheelchair? As for Emmerich and Devlin, it's a real stretch to assume that because MGM/UA didn't give them an extra $1mil in ad support for their hit film Stargate, that they'd be hellbent to pay MGM/UA back, and face the prospect of a legal conflict of biblical proportions. Who says McClory, who just won't let this thing die, wouldn't want to make the film his way, why would he go to all this trouble so two hacks like Devlin and Emmerich could get all the glory? In short, this film will not be made." [Submitted anonymously.]

January 14, 1998... The rumor that Sean Connery may return for McClory's Warhead 2000 picture has now earned its fifteen minutes of fame. Once the swanky Bond site www.ianfleming.org listed it on their site, People, Variety and Mr. Showbiz picked up the rumor, first started on here by 'Trek30yrs' back in mid-December.

The scooper who tracked the progression of the Connery rumor had this to say about the hubbub: "BTW, it makes no sense for Connery to return. He has said repeatedly how much he hates the character of Bond, and although he appreciates what the original series has done for his career, he's still sore about not getting what he onsiders his fair share of the revenue generated." That may be true, but return he did for 1983's Never Say Never Again. But even we don't know the validity of this latest Connery rumor...until... [Big thanks to 'nuvs' for keeping his gun eye open for us.]

...Variety asked the man himself. He told them flat out he wasn't interested. [Reported by Joe Hanna, 'nuvs' and 'Trek30yrs' for helping to start/stop this whole ride.]



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