James Bond in film "Die Another Day" was written and performed by Madonna, who also had a cameo appearance in the film as a fencing instructor. "Die Another Day" had a budget of $142 million and earned $431.9 million at the box office. In 1999 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer obtained the rights to the 1967 film "Casino Royale" from Sony Pictures Entertainment for $10 million in the out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit. The case was brought by MGM after Sony had announced a deal with Kevin McClory to produce a third version of the "Thunderball" novel, for which McClory held the film rights. McClory had previously acted
Die Another Day MGM had originally considered developing a spin-off film based on Michelle Yeoh's character, Wai Lin, in 1997's "Tomorrow Never Dies". However, despite much speculation of an imminent movie, on 26 October 2003, "Variety" reported that MGM had completely pulled the plug on this project, to the dismay of Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions, who were reported to be "clearly furious" about the decision. MGM was keen to instead move on with the next film, "Casino Royale", which went on to feature several recycled ideas originally penned for the cancelled spin-off. Die Another Day Die Another Day