MGM Studios and Universal Studios are in a legal battle over Universal’s Section 6 movie project. MGM claims the main character, dapper British agent ‘OO,’ with an identical mission and employer as their James Bond character, is a James Bond copycat movie. What do you think? Listed below are the characteristics that both main characters agent ‘OO’ and 007, the main character in James Bond movies, have in common.
- British
- Employed by the queen
- ‘License To Kill
- On a mission to save England
- Storyline based on the Britain’s MI6 spy agency
- Both are clad in tuxedos
If you close your eyes, we are guessing you are picturing one of your favorite Bond actors.
In response to the Universal lawsuit filed by MGM earlier this month, Universal stated, the plaintiff was assured by its legal adversary that the movie about the early days of U.K. intelligence agency MI6 won’t infringe the 007 copyrights. Universal goes further to say the Section 6 project is still going through revision and they have yet to green-light the movie. MGM, unsatisfied with this response and understandably concerned as the filming of Bond 24 is scheduled to begin in October, attempted to get a court order to view the screenplay and ensure that Universal is not infringing on their James Bond copyrights. The judge denied the motion.
James Bond may be British, but the character and movies appeal to moviegoers of all races, nationalities, sexes and ages. Each time the franchise puts out a new film, theaters all over the world are filled with fans eager to take in the action packed adventures of 007 and check out the latest James Bond beauty. In October 2012, the James Bond franchise celebrated their 50 year anniversary. Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond movie, began to hit the theaters in same month as well, grossing $87.8 million in U.S ticket sales alone on opening day. That’s a lot of ticket sales! Wait! There is more…
“Adding in $2.2 million from Thursday night previews at IMAX and other large-format theaters, ‘Skyfall”…took in $90 million domestically, according to studio estimates opening week Sunday. That lifts the worldwide total for “Skyfall” to $518.6 million since it began rolling out overseas in late October. Internationally, the 23rd Bond flick added $89 million this weekend to raise its overseas revenue to $428.6 million’ (Source: www.foxnews.com)
Can you blame anyone if they want to ‘copy a formula that is obviously working well? On the other hand, Universal has stated that the Section 6 project is a work in progress. Who knows ? Maybe MGM jumped jumped the gun? In any case, a court date has yet to be set. The verdict is still out on this one.
