Sony puling a rush-job on Quantam of Solace (a.k.a. Bond 22).

I pulled some distressing news from IMDB today. Seeing as how they have built up a lot of good will with the last James Bond film, Sony apparently plans to flush all of that down the toilet with a rush-job sequel.

Here's the report:

Five sound stages are currently being employed at Britain's Pinewood Studios to film the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, with a cast and crew of more than 500, the Associated Press reported Monday. They are currently filming 10-12 hours a day, six days a week, in order to stay on a production schedule that will enable the film to be released on schedule on November 7, the wire service observed. "We have a crew that's all worked together, all know each other," producer Michael G. Wilson told A.P. "It's a good atmosphere."

If director Marc Forster somehow manages to pull even a semi-decent film out of this hat, then he must be an immortal with the powers for forty wizards. The only problem with this is that Forster directed The Kite Runner, so we know this isn't the case.

It's never a good thing when a studio has a release date before they even have a script. Especially if the release date in question is less than a year away. It didn't work for David Fincher's Alien 3, and I am pretty sure it's enough to keep a hero like James Bond down, too. Millions of people are going to see a James Bond film regardless of when it's going to come out. You might as well just give the filmmakers the time they need so that the end result will be a movie good enough to ensure the same number of people want to see the next one. But maybe the studios figure that since audiences gobbled up a decade's worth of mostly sub-par James Bond films starring Pierce Brosnan, that it won't matter in the end.