Editorial: 007 will be shaken, not stirred

Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko in a scene from Quantum of Solace. Photo / Supplied

James Bond has fought off some pretty dastardly foes in his time. But Her Majesty's most legendary secret agent may yet be brought down by a once-mighty lion whose roar has been reduced to a meow.

The 23rd instalment of his dashing adventures has been put on indefinite hold because Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Hollywood studio that owns the rights to the Bond franchise - not to mention a half-interest in the Hobbit name - looks like going bust.

MGM, whose roaring lion logo opened such iconic films as Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, is staggering under the weight of mountainous debt, despite the profits generated by the 22 Bond films, and its bankers are forcing a sale.

It seems an ignominious end for a man who has saved the world so frequently from sadistic SPECTRE goons or megalomaniac industrialists.

The movie - a sequel to the 2008 hit Quantum of Solace - was scheduled for a 2012 release, which would have marked the 50th anniversary of Bond's first outing in Dr No.

Bond fans should not despair. The box-office performance of the Bond films - in particular the last two outings with Daniel Craig - means that 007 is almost certain to see another day.

It is unimaginable that no one will want to pick up a licence to print money in films about a man with a licence to kill.

If all else fails, though, perhaps he could sit down for a quiet game of five-card stud with some well-heeled Russian mafioso.

We may be sure he couldn't lose - that's not in the script. But life without 007 really would be the end of the world.