The financial crisis at MGM (nobody wants to buy the bankrupt institution) has struck at the studio’s most lucrative cash cow. The producers of the next Bond film have had to suspend development while the accountants try to find some way of balancing the books.

Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, veteran Bond impresarios, issued a joint statement. “Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM, and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on Bond 23 indefinitely,” they wrote.

Several significant players had associated themselves with the project. Peter Morgan, writer of The Queenand The Damned United, was in charge of the script, and Sam Mendes, director of American Beauty, was said to be in line for megaphone duties.