James Bond Franchise Will Hold Onto Daniel Craig

According to a report at MI6, a James Bond fansite, lead actor Daniel Craig has inked a deal to appear in at least two more James Bond films before he bids the franchise adieu. The site claims that Craig's original Bond contract was for five films, meaning that the soon-to-be-released third film, Skyfall, is only the midpoint in his career as Agent 007. Craig took on the role with Casino Royale, a soft reboot of the franchise and the 21st Bond film overall. Skyfall will be the 23rd and MI6 claims that the 24th is likely to be released in late 2014. The site also says that the co-financing deal MGM has built with Sony Pictures over the last three movies will continue into at least the next two movies. MGM, which has been having money problems, hasn't been developing new properties the last few years. Instead, they've been falling back on their established intellectual properties to generate funds. Remakes to films like Valley Girl, RoboCop and Red Dawn as well as a planned sequel to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure have made big headlines, but MGM also co-financed Sony's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Their first film since emerging from bankruptcy, last year's Zookeeper, made its money back but didn't exactly set the world on fire, with a domestic take that barely topped its $80 million budget and a worldwide gross of around $170 million.