James Bond Rights Up for Auction

The owner of the exclusive rights to novelist Ian Fleming’s James Bond character is putting the super-spy on the auction block after a long run of movie hits that has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, it was reported today.

Variety, the entertainment weekly, said the decision was made by veteran film producer Albert Broccoli because revenues from the “007” films have been slipping. The latest film, “License to Kill,” released last year, cost $30 million to make and has grossed only $16 million in domestic theatrical rentals so far.

Variety described the 81-year-old Broccoli’s decision to “protect and modernize” his franchise on James Bond as a “bloodless coup” within the MGM/UA empire, which has made all but one of the 17 James Bond productions.