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do eon own the rights to video games and continuation novels

thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
edited December 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 12,837
If not, does that mean EA could make a rival bond series based on thier original games??? or could one of the continuation authors adapt his books into films???

Comments

  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    EON controls the rights to both video games and continuation novels (to my knowledge)... since they can't make games on their own, they license out the rights for a certain amount of years to gaming companies, such as EA, Activision....

    so to answer your question... no, EA couldn't on their own, create a rival Bond series or else face serious legal repercussions... their best bet, would be to purchase back rights from EON once Activision's time is up.... and believe me, I just played NFS The Run and Battlefield 3 tonight, both use EA's Frostbite 2 technology - and I would love to see a Bond game created with the same engine.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,894
    I don't believe they hold the rights to the continuation books. So if I understand correctly, a continuation book could be adapted into a game or film, but it wouldn't be able to feature Bond.

    As for EA, I don't think they'd want to make any more Bond games. Even if they were able to.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited December 2011 Posts: 4,399
    MajorDSmythe wrote:
    I don't believe they hold the rights to the continuation books. So if I understand correctly, a continuation book could be adapted into a game or film, but it wouldn't be able to feature Bond.

    they at the very least own the rights to DEVIL MAY CARE and CARTE BLANCHE... that is indeed fact - since it's so recent, that I remember being reported here - because that started up rumors for the title of Bond 23 (at the time)... I thought they gobbled up the rights to the others back when they came out as well.... not confirmed though... will have to do some digging around to find that out.

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Even if EON doesn't outright own the rights, I was on CommanderBond.net a couple months ago, checking out some of their info on the continuation novels, and EON's definitely used things from the continuation novels.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    Agent007391 wrote:
    Even if EON doesn't outright own the rights, I was on CommanderBond.net a couple months ago, checking out some of their info on the continuation novels, and EON's definitely used things from the continuation novels.

    curious - what have they used?

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Here's from the page for License Renewed:

    Licence Renewed: James Bond gets his first glimpse of villain industrialist Anton Murik at England’s famous Ascot racetrack.
    A View to a Kill (1985): James Bond gets his fist glimpse of villain industrialist Max Zorin at England’s famous Ascot racetrack.

    Licence Renewed: Bond poses as a weekend party guest at Murik’s large country estate in Scotland.
    A View to a Kill (1985): Bond poses as a weekend party guest at Zorin’s large country estate in France.

    Licence Renewed: Bond’s SAAB ejects tear gas from its vents when surrounded by henchmen.
    Tomorrow Never Dies (1997): Bond’s BMW ejects tear gas from its vents when surrounded by henchmen.

    Licence Renewed: Bond fights henchman Caber in the cargo hold of C-130 over Spain in the book’s climax.
    The Living Daylights (1987): Bond fights henchman Necros in the cargo hold of C-130 over Afghanistan in the film’s climax.

    There are examples of this kind of stuff throughout the Gardner section.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    so it seems, while EON - doesn't come right out an admit that they do borrow stuff from the continuation novels - they do anyway lol..

    Isn't there a connection between the Benson novel "Zero Minus Ten" and Tomorrow Never Dies as well?.. I believe it's plot is a bit to do with someone trying to start up a war between China and Britain.. it was published in April of '97 though - meaning that for probably well over a year before, it was being written, right around that same time as probably the script for TND was being written... coincidence you think?
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    While there's no real connection between the two: The Facts of Death, Benson's second novel, was originally called The World is Not Enough, but the title was rejected because it didn't sound "Bondian" enough (says CommanderBond.net), and then TWINE came out a year later.

    I'm not sure about the connection between TND and Zero Minus Ten, though. Maybe, maybe not. If so, if I were Benson, I'd have been mad that IFP made me write the same book twice.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    HASEROT wrote:
    Agent007391 wrote:
    Even if EON doesn't outright own the rights, I was on CommanderBond.net a couple months ago, checking out some of their info on the continuation novels, and EON's definitely used things from the continuation novels.

    curious - what have they used?

    I think the torture sequence from TWINE is from one of the continuation books
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I know there's something similar to it in one of the continuation novels. Something basically along the lines of a villainous woman uses a torture device from her homeland to torture Bond, and in TWINE that ended up being Elektra with the neck-breaking chair, but I don't remember what novel had a similar scene.
  • AlexanderWaverlyAlexanderWaverly
    Posts: 2,115
    As I understand it, Eon has right of first refusal on continuation novels. If anyone shows the slightest interest, they can purchase the rights. Because everybody knows that, nobody makes a move on the continuation novels. Thus, Eon doesn't own the rights, but they, de facto prevent anybody else from buying the rights.
  • doubleonothingdoubleonothing Los Angeles Moderator
    Posts: 864
    Ian Fleming Publications owns the rights to James Bond as a literary character. EON owns the rights to Bond as a film character. EON cannot make a film of the continuation novels without buying the rights to do so and no video games can be made of these stories without similar rights and licensing.
    EON can licence out the character of Bond for video games and they can either do a tie-in with an existing film or do an original story, but not a literary continuation story.
    The two are considered quite separate entities for legal purposes, hence why Carte Blanche has Deaver's own interpretation of the character but GoldenEye 007 has Craig's likeness.
    It is quite unlikely that a continuation novel will be made into a film or a video game.
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