James Bond 23 officially dead?

And MGM's financial woes continue to have disastrous side effects. They're already on the verge of losing Ian McKellan from The Hobbit, and that follows up the loss of director Guillermo Del Toro. Now rumors are that Bond 23, which was to be helmed by Sam Mendes, has gone from indefinite hiatus to flat out cancelled.

Or has it?

Read the AICN article that tosses this rumor out, and you'll see that reads like something I could've just crapped out on my old computer myself. It's not sourced, and the vast majority of the article is given to ranting about what could've been and MGM's numerous mistakes.

UK tabloid site, The Mirror, is the chief source of the rumor, stating that a number of people inside the production have confirmed that the film has been canned. However, EON, the actual production company says otherwise...

“We do not know when development will resume and cannot comment further at this stage.”

That's the same thing we were told back in April. Maybe it's just me, but I'll take their official word that things are still up in the air than some random dude's statements to the contrary. While the situation is obviously dire for MGM, the chances of this being the end of James Bond are slim. Bond 23 might take a slightly different form, and it definitely won't be in theaters anytime soon, but I personally think rumors of its demise are premature.