In the upcoming "Casino Royale," the British secret service sends in its best card shark -- James Bond -- to clean out a private banker to the world's terrorists in Texas hold 'em.
Sony Pictures Entertainment is in a high-stakes poker game of its own with the movie. Having pushed about $250 million of its chips onto the table, the studio will release its first Bond film next Friday in the biggest bet yet in the franchise's 44-year history.
Sony is on the hook for 75% of the film's $150-million production cost, a $120-million worldwide marketing campaign and other related expenses. It also had not bankrolled a movie in which it had to acquiesce to producers who enjoy the kind of unprecedented creative control that Bond guardians Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson had. Every major cast member, line of dialogue and ad had to meet their approval.
In "Casino Royale," Broccoli and Wilson, working with Sony, have exercised their license to kill off the polished, more predictable Bond familiar to fans since 1962's "Dr. No."
Instead, the new 007 is an unproven, grittier leading man -- Daniel Craig -- who is not only blond, but in one scene goes so far as to say that he doesn't even care if his martini is shaken or stirred.
Although the movie boasts the action and double-digit body counts that typify past Bond films, its plot relies more on the agent's conflicted character and an emotional love story than on his signature gadgets, elaborate stunts and catchy one-liners.
"The whole goal was to go beyond what is just a great James Bond movie," Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal said. "The goal was to make it a great stand-alone movie with a compelling story, realistic relationships and dialogue."
To date, Bond films have collectively reaped $3.7 billion in worldwide box-office receipts. No single title has broken the $500-million mark that such big franchise films as Sony's "Spider-Man" have.
Sony, Broccoli and Wilson agreed Bond was ready for another makeover after 20 films the Broccoli family produced that featured five suave secret agents, including the iconic Sean Connery who to Bond aficionados always had defined the role. The radical departures are aimed at broadening the audience appeal beyond the older males that are the agent's core fans, hoping to break the bank on previous Bond grosses.
