James Bond: Licence Renewed

James Bond: License Renewed is an upcoming computer-animated spy film produced by MGM Animation Studios and Eon Productions based on the novel of the same name by John Gardner. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli serve as executive producers for the computer-animated James Bond film, with David Bowers and Cary Joji Fukunaga directing.

The film will be released in the United States on October 27, 2023, by MGM Studios.

Premise
In Dublin Airport, a man goes to the men's restroom and puts on his disguise. He then leaves to catch his flight from Dublin to London. Meanwhile, the Head of MI6, M, reminds British secret agent James Bond that the "00" section has been abolished; however, M retains Bond as a troubleshooter (pun intended), telling him, "You'll always be 007 to me". Bond is assigned to investigate Dr. Anton Murik, a brilliant nuclear physicist who is thought to have been having meetings with a terrorist named Franco. Franco is identified and tracked by MI5 to a village in Scotland called Murcaldy. Since Murcaldy is outside of MI5's jurisdiction, the Director-General of MI5, Richard Duggan, requests that M send Bond to surveil Murik. Relying on information that MI5 did not have, M orders Bond to instead infiltrate Murik's castle and gain his confidence.

Bond makes contact with Murik at Ascot Racecourse, where he feigns a coincidental meeting, mentioning to Murik that he is a mercenary looking for work. Later, Bond joins Murik in Scotland at Murik's behest and is hired to kill Franco, for reasons at the time unknown. Franco in turn has been tasked by Murik to kill his young ward, Lavender Peacock, because she is the true heir to the Murik fortune, which could only be proved by secret documents Murik keeps hidden in a safe within his castle.

Murik plans to hijack six nuclear power plants around the world simultaneously with the aid of bands of terrorists supplied by Franco. To ensure that Murik can never be associated with this deal, he attempts to use Bond to assassinate Franco. Ultimately, terrorists do take over six nuclear power plants but are prevented from starting a meltdown when they are given an abort code by Bond, who they believe to be Murik. Murik is eventually defeated by Bond and Lavender before his demands can be met.

Cast

 * Henry Cavill as James Bond, a British MI6 agent, codename 007.
 * Christian Bale as Anton Murik, a nuclear physicist, entrepreneur, and Scottish landowner.
 * Karen Gillan as Lavender Peacock, the legal ward of Anton Murik and later a Scottish peer and heiress to the estates of Murcaldy.
 * Rosario Dawson as Sarah-Mellon Bond, James Bond's wife.
 * Rowan Atkinson as Q, the head of Q Division.
 * Ralph Fiennes as M, the head of the British Secret Service.

Development
In April 2020, MGM Animation Studios head of animation Melissa Hester announced an animated feature film based on the James Bond series. Hester noted that she was a long-time fan of the James Bond movies. Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli were brought on board to executive produce the film through Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions. On October 7, 2021, a day before No Time to Die was released in the United States, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scheduled the film for 2023. On February 20, 2022, it was announced that David Bowers and Cary Joji Fukunaga will direct the now-titled James Bond: Licence Renewed.

More coming soon!

Casting
On June 1, 2022, Henry Cavill was cast as the voice of the main titular character, James Bond. In September 2022, a statement from MGM Animation Studios revealed that Tiffany Haddish was originally cast as the voice of an unnamed Bond girl, but was quickly dropped out over her sexual abuse allegations. In an exclusive interview in SlashFilm, Rosario Dawson was announced as the voice of the new "Bond girl", now named Sarah-Mellon Bond, replacing Haddish.

Animation
This will be the first MGM Animation Studios film to have its animation provided by DNEG, with DNEG Animation co-producing the film. Additionally, MGM Animation Canada is also set to provide additional animation services for this movie.

Release
The film was set to be released on October 27, 2023, by MGM Studios. It was originally set to be released on October 20, 2023 (taking over the slot of Dune: Part Two), before moving up a week later to October 27. The film will be released in the United Kingdom on October 20, 2023, by Universal Pictures.