BY LEE PFEIFFER
Eon Productions has stated on the company's web site and Facebook page that they have not granted rights for a James Bond musical production. Earlier, Merry Saltzman, one of the daughters of the late 007 producer Harry Saltzman, announced that she was staging a musical production based on the Bond films. In response to the Eon statement, Saltzman indicated that she has not sought rights from Eon nor does she believe she needs them since her stage production would fall into the category of a parody. Eon has been very protective of the Bond brand over the decades and it remains to be seen how this will be resolved. The situation does open some old wounds that many thought were long closed. Harry Saltzman teamed with fellow producer Albert R. Broccoli to form Eon Productions and produce the James Bond films. It was an uneasy relationship from day one but the two partners rode the wave of the series' phenomenal success. However, a series of bad financial investments led Harry to sell his 50% share of the franchise in the early 1970s. Instead of offering his share to Broccoli, he chose to sell it to United Artists, thus making the studio Broccoli's new partner in the franchise. This led to many problems for Broccoli as studio management changed in the 1980s and left him at odds with the new regime. In protest, Broccoli did not make a Bond film from the release of "Licence to Kill" 1989 until the revival of the series with "GoldenEye" in 1995. Despite hard feelings that ran for many years, Broccoli and Saltzman did have a reconciliation of sorts in 1981 when Broccoli invited Saltzman to the London premiere of "For Your Eyes Only". They kept in touch occasionally until Saltzman's death in 1994.
Since Broccoli's death in 1996, Eon has been run by Broccoli's daughter Barbara and her step-brother Michael G. Wilson. The pair has succeeded in reinventing the franchise, first with the casting of Pierce Brosnan as Bond and more recently with Daniel Craig in the role. The latest Bond film, "Skyfall" was released in 2012 and is the top-grossing British film in history. As of this writing, Merry Saltzman has indicated she intends to continue development of the Bond musical. It remains to be seen whether her plans will ultimately bear any fruit.
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