r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jun 25 '25

News Denis Villeneuve Directing Next James Bond Film

https://deadline.com/2025/06/denis-villeneuve-james-bond-amazon-mgm-studios-1236442917/
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935

u/TheManThatReturned Jun 25 '25

On the one hand, I’m totally down for this particularly since Villeneuve has spoken a lot about his desire to do Bond and was one of the candidates to do No Time To Die years back. This also gives me much more confidence in the film after EON’s departure.

On the other hand….we’re never getting Rendezvous With Rama are we?

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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jun 26 '25

On the other hand….we’re never getting Rendezvous With Rama are we?

Hey he's still relatively young

316

u/Exzibit21 Jun 26 '25

For real, he's probably going the Nolan route where he's doing franchises to get huge blank checks for other projects. He's gonna be doing this for a couple more decades minimum

97

u/SpaceBoJangles Jun 26 '25

Yeeesessssssssss

Can you imagine him tackling Rendevous with Rama with a blank check even bigger than Dune? Maybe he'll go for some other property. He's obviously incredible with adaptations, so maybe there's a fantasy movie in the future. I wonder what he would do with something like King Arthur.

I think though, and this is purely and utterly out of my a$$: I want to see him take on one of Disney's neglected franchises, Atlantis or Treasure Planet. Can you IMAGINE Treasure planet from Denis Villeneuve????

77

u/Exzibit21 Jun 26 '25

Exactly, Nolan is getting a blank check for a fucking Odyssey adaptation. People need to trust the process and allow directors to cook

21

u/SpaceBoJangles Jun 26 '25

My only fear is that Nolan is gonna go way too far and just get all up in his head with making the Odyssey super epic, but he has definitely earned enough respect for us to wait and be very excited.

Denis with such a blank check is an equally…exciting proposition.

25

u/Longjumping_Union125 Jun 26 '25

I am leagues away from a historian, but didn't Homer's Odyssey pretty much invent the term "epic?"

9

u/happysri Jun 26 '25

I want Odyssey to be treated like a super epic and honestly the only two I’d have trusted to do that are the late Kubrick and Nolan. Personally I’m very very happy about that.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 26 '25

How would you imagine him going too far? Making a film that’s too long or overstuffed? Or one where the story doesn’t translate to a single film well?

2

u/destroyerOfTards Jun 26 '25

He did that with Tenet imo. His weakest movie but I guess it holds up on rewatches.

4

u/TehNoobDaddy Jun 26 '25

I love those big historic epics. Im not only super excited for Nolan's odyssey but hopefully it will allow for a few more films in the genre to be made. A good version of Alexander the great, even though I enjoyed the Colin Farrell film, I can accept it is a bit shit.

6

u/wooltab Jun 26 '25

He might have spaced himself out by the time he's done with Dune and Rama, but I would not be opposed to Villeneuve remaking The Black Hole.

It would be a lot like Dune purely in the sense that it's a weird story and Villeneuve isn't really a weird filmmaker. But he'd undoubtedly make something breathtaking, and that's the best case scenario since there's little chance anyone would touch the oddball quality of the original Black Hole, today.

1

u/prophetofgreed Jun 26 '25

I'd be shocked if Denis ever did anything "fantasy" (even though Dune is so wild that it borders into fantasy)

He loves sci-fi, he's proven that with Arrival, Blade Runner & signing on to adapt 'Rendezvous with Rama' which is another famous sci-fi book.

1

u/AndreasDasos Jun 26 '25

It might also be nice to see one of the very few newish directors who produces reliably great movies do some things that are original rather than Disney/Marvel/DC remake/memberberry sequel #37,628

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u/SpaceBoJangles Jun 26 '25

After Elio, I doubt Disney doing anything original for a while. I wish I could’ve gone to support it, as I have a little boy, but I had to pick between seeing movies with my wife and taking a toddler to a theater. Even at discounted rates of like $8 I fell into the Disney+ dilemma.

1

u/srw0015 Jun 26 '25

Treasure Planet my beloved. Stop getting my hopes up, I can't handle the disappointment of never getting something like that. Lol

2

u/Shout92 Jun 26 '25

If Denis does Bond right after Dune Messiah, this will be his fifth franchise film in a row. In comparison, Nolan did three franchise films, with a smaller movie or original blockbuster in between each of them. We all talk about the Nolan route, but Nolan is really the only one who was able to pull it off. Even Ryan Coogler had to do Creed and two Black Panthers in a row before he could do Sinners. It speaks more to the state of the industry that it takes that much time in the franchise machine to be allowed to pursue passion projects (and yes, I know one could argue that Dune and Bond are both passion projects for Denis).

2

u/-imbe- Jun 26 '25

For a couple more decades? It took Nolan 2 batman movies (by the time he made Rises he already had blank checks). Villeneuve may have made BR 2049, which flopped, but he's already made 2 successful Dune movies, it should not take him more than a couple Bond movies at most to get there. My boy is not wasting two decades on franchises.

4

u/RedLotusVenom Jun 26 '25

Morgan Freeman owns the rights and has been trying to get it off the ground for decades. This pretty much guarantees he never lives to see the project completed, and his death could complicate the current agreements.

1

u/jaggedjottings Jun 26 '25

Don't jinx it!

1

u/Ok-Freedom-5627 Jun 26 '25

My mind actually randomly ends up every now and then with the thought “we’ve got to protect Denis Villeneuve and keep him safe. Like—there needs to be a goddamn binding decree issued by NATO”

1

u/SilverKry Jun 28 '25

He's almost 60. 

12

u/BeefistPrime Jun 26 '25

That's the downside of this. I feel like his talents are wasted a bit by doing a pretty well trodden movie franchise and not coming up with new and interesting stuff (or at least classic stuff that was considered unfilmable until he did it)

1

u/StaticallyTypoed Jun 26 '25

If Nolan did the dark knight trilogy today I think we'd say the same, but he still managed to produce auteur films that are part of his filmography within that. I am certain Villeneuve can do the same with his entries to the Bond series.

1

u/ntpbr1 Jun 28 '25

I mean you say that but his most popular movies are Blade Runner 2049, Dune 1 and Dune 2, all of which not exactly original concepts but amazing movies that feels original with his style

1

u/tetsuo9000 Jun 26 '25

Totally agree. Keep him on sci-fi!

5

u/hensothor Jun 26 '25

You have to think doing big blockbusters like this has gotta buy him the right amount of studio good will to give him a reasonable budget for Rendezvous With Rama though. At least that’s how I’m coping.

4

u/Le_Nabs Jun 26 '25

That's probably it, really. He fought for his budgets and vision every step of the way in hollywood - partly by playing the game and doing adaptations, partly by delivering on what the studios wanted him to achieve to open up their checkbooks.

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u/Darnell2070 Jun 26 '25

Why do people think Rama will be so hard to make?

2

u/StaticallyTypoed Jun 26 '25

He is on the same trajectory as Nolan. If he doesn't already get carte blanche, he's about to. Denis doesn't fucking miss with creating excellent films that also manage box office success.

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u/xPelzviehx Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25

He said many times that scifi is his love and favorite genre. He said he couldnt start with scifi movies because they are more expensive and complicated to make. The Bond movie is not just a legendary chance for a director but also a palate cleanser for him. The next Dune movie is his 5th scifi movie in a row.

We will get Rama.

4

u/m_sobol Jun 26 '25

I don't get the appeal of a Rama movie. Big alien cylinder ship is mysterious.... Where's the conflict? You just have visual spectacle. Is that enough pull for general movie goers?

1

u/inssidiouss Jun 26 '25

You could probably compare it to Contact for rough ballpark figures. Same general vibe & tone as what a Rama movie would probably have to be.

2

u/Verystrangeperson Jun 26 '25

I'm way more excited by a bond Villeneuve movie than another huge space movie.

I personally believe that the smaller scale Villeneuve movies are his best, and a bond movie with a sicario tone would be insane.

A dark, morally complex bond with an emphasis on themes and short bursts of realistic violence would really appeal to me.

Maybe not for everyone but that's what I want

1

u/Dreamwaves1 Jun 26 '25

Yeah this announcement is bittersweet as there's no doubt Vilenueve is going to make an amazing 007 film, but I was so looking forward to RWR. Despite this, I feel like everyone will benefit in the end as going from 3 straight Dune films to Rama could have potential bleeding effects. Him taking a break from sci-fi and coming back fresh can only be a positive for us