Director Danny Boyle exits latest James Bond movie, producers say

[August 22, 2018]   LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British director Danny Boyle has exited the latest upcoming James Bond movie due to "creative differences," the producers of the multi-million film franchise said on Tuesday.

"Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig today announced that due to creative differences Danny Boyle has decided to no longer direct Bond 25," said a statement on the official 007 Twitter account.

The tweet gave no details of the differences and no information on who would take over from Boyle.

The 25th, so far untitled movie, in the James Bond spy franchise owned by MGM is currently in pre-production and was expected to be released in November 2019.

Boyle, who guided 2008 movie "Slumdog Millionaire" to eight Oscars, was announced in May as the director of the next Bond movie, when producers Broccoli and Wilson described him in a statement as "exceptionally talented."The producers also announced that Craig would play the suave British spy for a fifth time.

Production was due to start in London in December.

The Bond franchise is one of the most valuable in the movie industry. The last movie, 2015's "Spectre," directed by Sam Mendes, made $880 million at the box office worldwide, while "Skyfall" in 2012, also directed by Mendes, grossed more than $1 billion globally.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Nick Zieminski)

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.