In case you guys did not know, the original Ian Fleming 007 novels are now public domain. It’s a little complicated and not all countries apply, but yes you can get these novels for free now.
My question is, would this apply to new movies based strictly on these novels? A faithful adaptation of Moonraker or Spy Who Loved Me, for instance?
Nah. It gets real complicated with licensing and it pretty much comes down to who can afford the best army of lawyers.
shareChina should come up with a James Bond movie... A China financed James Bond movie with an English white male heterosexual protagonist saving America from corrupted Russia with the help of a Chinese kungfu fighting sidekick that can kick Bond's ass at any time but just doesn't want to because he's simply benevolent like that.
And Bond would use gadgets from Q that when he pried open they were actually Huawei tech made in China.
In the final scene, the Chinese sidekick will sacrifice himself to save Bond then in the after credit scene Bond visits his grave and say a short thank you speech in perfect Mandarin.
How did that happen? I thought they had to reach 95 years to enter.
shareNot for all countries. For instance, Fleming 007 is still copyrighted in USA....but not Canada. So, would a Canadian film be perfectly legal? Just food for thought.
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Yup. You can make all the Bond movies you want in Canada. But you couldn't distribute the film in the USA or the UK, so you're screwed.
Unless you cast a Chinese guy as Bond and try to make the big bucks over in China.
Probably not right now, obviously.
I would double check that. Standard is 56 years after the author's death (which is August of this year so the copyrights are not yet expired) unless the estate is still using the property for new purposes. Since they use the concepts and characters to make the new movies that would apply. For instance, Quantum of Solace was the title from 1959 story. Since they used it as the title of the movie in 2008, the copyright would be renewed as of that date and it would no longer be public domain.
shareIt’s 50 years in many countries, already expired since Fleming died around 1964. Google can verify.
So by theory, a movie is possible, if unlikely. I would be intrigued to see a Bond film set in the true 1950s, as per the novels. I’m no lawyer but I cannot see how it is possible to block film production on literature already in public domain.
While I'm not sure about the legal status of the Bond IP, it is worth questioning who really has the right to make a 'real' Bond film. At this point both the original creator (Fleming) and the original film producer (Cubby Broccoli) are long since dead. Why are Barbara Broccoli's and Michael G. Wilson's Bond films more 'official' than anyone else's? They are essentially creating fan fiction, but they have some arbitrary legal 'right' to do so. If they were doing a good job then I wouldn't question their rights to the Bond IP, but given that they have not made a good film in decades, it's time to start asking who really has the right to make a Bond film. Maybe it's time for someone else to try.
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Depends on the country, doesn't it?
Anyway, at least in the US many of Edgar Rice Burroughs novels are public domain now, but his estate has tried to keep control of the characters and settings by trademarking them. According to what I read, it's pretty questionable whether something that's public domain like that can be trademarked, but people have come to agreements to pay the estate to do stories based off Burrough's work instead of getting into an expensive legal battle.
Like Tandyman said, it actually gets pretty complicated and can come down to who can afford the best lawyers.