back to article Sony hackers PINCH early version of James Bond Spectre script

An early screenplay of the upcoming James Bond movie Spectre was stolen by hackers who ransacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer system, the film's producers confirmed on Saturday. Eon productions said in a statement on the official 007 website that a script had been leaked, after Sony's network suffered a massive …

  1. Khaptain Silver badge

    No, no and no

    This is not just a World Company X got hacked scenario, there is something much more offputting about this....

    Unlike the LOTR where we know the story in advance, the Bond films offer something fresh each time and they are usually a pleasure to watch... It really would be senseless to release the script.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No, no and no

      Did you forget the sarcasm tag or are you serious?

      Anyway, at the risk of life imprisonment here's the gist of the script:

      A bit of mild violence at the start to a rousing tune.

      Introduce wealthy bad person to audience.

      Some mild sex but lacking the sexist quips of the early films (and all the books).

      A few quite convincing scenes filmed on a sound stage at Shepperton Studios.

      Wealthy bad person loses, Bond girl may die or get dumped.

      The End.

      Go home.

      Sorry if that's spoiled it for you, but I'll serve time in prison for my sin..

      By the way I'm actually a big fan of Bond movies, I'm in the Sean Connery camp but think DC is doing a decent job, I think it's a shame political correctness has removed some of the character of Bond San, but I guess we have to move with the times.

      PS I wish they'd manage to get DC and RM together to complete the Sony Pictures versions of the Millennium Trilogy.

      1. Cliff

        Re: No, no and no

        By making the characters flexible and move with the times they get a long-living franchise. Look at Dr Who, constant reinvention, and 50 yrs.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: No, no and no

          I do have to agree that time and tide wait for no man.

          But I'm a nostalgic grump who hates change (especially to website layouts, take note El Reg).

          In my opinion, which is obviously more important than anyone else's, I think they've done a good job with keeping the franchise popular, but some of the Bond charisma has been lost along the way.

          1. Ole Juul
            Coat

            Re: No, no and no

            some of the Bond charisma has been lost along the way.

            The bond is broken.

      2. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: No, no and no

        @Keef

        Oh shit you revealed the script....

        Nah, but seriously, every James Bond and every JB film is different, each has its own quirks, exotic locations, cars, weapons, girls, penthouses, squabbles between Bond and M, Q and his inventions etc etc. Yes the algorithm is always pretty much the same but somehow they always seem to improve on the last and keep you thirsting for more. ( Timothy Daltan being the exception, what a let down).

        DC brought the grit back into a series that needed modernisation, personally I think they succeeded. Daniel Craig and Monica Belucci sharing the screen, cmon, who doesn't like that idea........ even if we already know how it ends....almost..

      3. NoneSuch Silver badge

        Re: No, no and no

        They can post it online, but a true fan will simply choose to not download it.

        This Assangian desire to post everything online regardless of its impact is simply ridiculous.

        1. Khaptain Silver badge

          Re: No, no and no

          >They can post it online, but a true fan will simply choose to not download it.

          I don't mind them posting it online, I can then choose not to look or search for it. I worry about the media splashing the story across the Internet/Newspapers/Twitter anywhere public that they feel that they can make a quick buck on...

          Assange, if a French speaing person says his name it sounds like "un singe" which means "A monkey".

      4. P. Lee

        Re: No, no and no

        re: the gist of the script

        You forgot the killing of a pretty girl at the beginning, to show how evil the bad guys are.

    2. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: No, no and no

      "This is not just a World Company X got hacked scenario, there is something much more offputting about this...."

      Really? I think it's fitting and just. Sony have been such utter fuckbags to their own customers for so many years that I think this is a great start to the penance they should be paying. I am amused. I will continue to be amused for some time. I hope the bad guys left behind a Sony rootkit on as many computers as they could find.

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: No, no and no

        "Really? I think it's fitting and just. Sony have been such utter fuckbags to their own customers for so many years that I think this is a great start to the penance they should be paying".

        Talk about cutting of your nose to spite your face... I couldn't give a toss about Sony, that was not my point. What I care about is the futility of releasing the Bond script. Ok, Sony might lose a few dollars, it won't stop them being a bunch off bastards. But it truly does affect the actors, writers, film crew, carpenters, coffeee boys, the audience and fans of Ian Flemings hero...

        No-one gives a shit about Sony but this story is not about them.

        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

          Re: No, no and no

          Sure it is. Sony have contracts with the people who mop the floors. These people get paid regardless. Some actors who are big enough names might get a % of profits, but - to be frank - that's a gamble anyways, and they have more than enough money regardless.

          No, this pretty much only hurts Sony's brass and its shareholders. People who deserve a switch kick in the crotch (or eleventeen thereof) for their various and sundry crimes.Youa re spouting nothing more than copyright maxiamlist propaganda. Throughly debunked stuff at that.

          Look, if Sony goes under, I do agree a bunch of people will be inconvenienced as they lose their jobs and have to find new ones. That sucks. It really does.

          But Sony is evil. Outright and unrepentantly. Should we tolerate an evil corporation for the sake of jobs? Or should we cheer it's demise and work to ensure that in it's place something better emerges?

          Now, I don't believe for a second this will "kill" Sony. But Sony does need a lesson in humility. Their corporate hubris and the callous nature with which they treat customers are not to be tolerated. Maybe - just maybe - this incident could start them learning the lessons that need be learned.

          I suspect that a willingness to mop floors or fetch coffee for below a living wage will be as valuable to other companies as it is to Sony, and those individual won't be harmed. A great many managers and executives, however, will. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.

          1. Khaptain Silver badge
            Flame

            Re: No, no and no

            Calm down Trevor, this article is about the Bond script, the Sony hacking article was a few days ago...

            1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

              Re: No, no and no

              The bond script is as a result of Sony being hacked. They were hacked because their corporate hubris decided they didn't need proper security, just like it dictates that they treat their customers like shit.

              Thus if badness happens to Sony due to the Bond script being leaked, good. Anything that helps ram home the concept that corporate hubris - especially in Sony-like quantities - is a bad thing is necessary and good. If they treat their own staff so badly that their staff start leaking things, that's cool too. If a meteor from space wipes their corporate headquaters off the map, that's also good. (Though it would be useful if it managed to not kill anyone while accomplishing this act of excellence.)

              Decades of treating their customers like crap has left me without the capability to feel sympathy for Sony. I feel only amusement at every negative thing that befalls them, and a dark anticipation of their hopefully inevitable demise.

              Bad things happening to Sony do not damage my calm. Quite the opposite: the feeling I am experiencing can best be described as me gusta.

              1. Khaptain Silver badge

                Re: No, no and no

                So Sony's sorry situation spirits some schadenfreude.

                1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

                  Re: No, no and no

                  "Some" schadenfreude? No, sir. My schadenfreude is currently being alien cultures because it is a transluminal beacon of unprecedented power. There is no "some" here, Kemosabe. If you could find a way to focus my schadenfreude particle emissions into a coherent stream you could vaporize black holes.

                  1. Khaptain Silver badge
                    Coffee/keyboard

                    Re: No, no and no

                    >If you could find a way to focus my schadenfreude particle emissions into a coherent stream you could vaporize black holes.

                    For years they have been researching a replacement for nuclear power and dirty energies.. Look no further lads, I think we have found the solution...

          2. Bodhi

            Re: No, no and no

            Maybe it's just me, but I find hoping a Global Organisation go bust and tens of thousands of people lose their jobs a little bit off. Actually no, that isn't the word - it makes you a bit of a c**t. Not sure why a dodgy decision taken by one of its subsidiaries (without Sony Head Office's knowledge) 10 years ago should promote such bile - did they turn you down for a job at some stage?

            Must admit I've been a Sony customer since my first Walkman back in 1992, can't say I've ever been treated like sh*t - if anything my dealings with Sony have been pleasant and I've got more than expected - kit replaced outside of warranty, free stuff, money off vouchers, etc.

            1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

              @Bodhi

              "ot sure why a dodgy decision taken by one of its subsidiaries (without Sony Head Office's knowledge) 10 years ago should promote such bile"

              It's far from one decision. It's decades of constantly pushing proprietary formats, horrible customer service from multiple tentacles of the company, funding the RIAA/MPAA, being the primary company opposed to copyright reform amongst those entities, the rootkit fiasco, the Linux on PS3 bit, and on and on and on and on and on and on for 25 years.

              I loved my Walkman. But Sony itself is a whole bunch of horrible little subentities that together form a far more horrible whole.

              I don't people to lose their jobs. But I really don't want Sony to continue on either. It would be great if you could just carve out the top 10% of the company and replace it's leadership entirely, but there's no mechanism in our society to do that. The best we can hope for is that it collapses and that a better company (or companies) fill the void.

              1. Bodhi

                Re: @Bodhi

                The rootkit fiasco I will give you, however as mentioned, when Sony Japan heard what BMG had been up to I gather they were just as pissed off as you, prompting the very public U-Turn on it. Not 100% sure I can blame them for trying to protect their business at a time when Torrents were exploding in popularity - in fact I would worry more about a company that DIDN'T take steps - however the path BMG chose sucked balls, and they were rightly admonished for that. But that was 10 years ago, and time moves on. Judging by the list of affected titles, I'd say that for buying some of the CD's in question you deserve everything you get :)

                The Other OS thing is a complete non-issue imo - the only time I ever hear it mentioned is on these boards, and the number of people using that feature was infinitesimally small. iirc it was also a fairly terrible Linux box, with no GFX acceleration and only one core of the Cell available. However, I lay the blame for that one firmly at Mr Hotz's door for trying to crack the PS3 in the first place - again I'd be more worried if Sony didn't try and close the door.

                As an aside - given how long it took to crack the PS3, maybe the team who designed the PS3 should have done Sony's IT security as well? Not like they could have done a worse job now is it...

                The proprietary thing never bothered me TOO much, as technically they were often better solutions, but thankfully for all concerned they have moved away from this model now - only proprietary tech I can think of now is the PS Vita memory card, for everything else they use industry standards (microSD, microUSB, DLNA, etc etc). I've got a 2014 Bravia at home, and the other manufacturer's kit it won't play nicely with is Apple, however that's a whole other discussion about proprietary standards.

                Like them or loathe them, they still make some bloody good kit (TV's, Consoles, Mobile Devices, the high end audio equipment, cameras and sensors, etc etc), and they are one of the few remaining electronics companies that still know what innovation means (even if for every great idea they have 3 silly ones - Tablet P I'm looking in your direction here), and it would be a shame to lose them because some angry geeks (the hackers, not you) have sand in their vaginas about something.

                1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

                  Re: @Bodhi

                  "The Other OS thing is a complete non-issue imo"

                  So "it doesn't affect me, thus it's not a real issue"? Cute.

                  "Like them or loathe them, they still make some bloody good kit "

                  Not really. They make shite. Overpriced shite that doesn't work as advertised anymore and is accompanied by some of hte worst service I've had the misfortune of encountering..

                  Basically your entire viewpoint seems to boil down to "I like a few of the gizmos they make, so it's perfectly okay to handwave away how the utter contempt with which they treat the rest of the world". That's...pretty damned shallow, man.

                  And we haven't even gotten into things like "hollywood accounting" yet.

                  1. Bodhi

                    Re: @Bodhi

                    It doesn't affect me no, or about 99.9% of the other PS3 users out there. Given that PS3 sales didn't exactly fall off a cliff when they removed the feature, I'm guessing it was nowhere near as critical to the PS3's success as you are making it out to be. As I said, it really was a feature aimed at a very small minority, who abused it, and it got removed.

                    And they still make plenty of kit reckoned to be amongst the best you can buy - the high end Xperias seem to be getting rave reviews - even on this website, along with their cameras, a few Bravias and various other bits and bobs they do. You appear to be foaming at the mouth a little bit too much to see that, sadly. All I can tell you is, the current Sony kit I have does exactly what it was advertised to do, if it didn't, it would have gone back.

                    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

                      Re: @Bodhi

                      " I'm guessing it was nowhere near as critical to the PS3's success as you are making it out to be."

                      I said it was "critical to the PS3's success" somewhere? Where? Please point it out. I believe I said it was disrespectful. Demeaning, even.

                      "And they still make plenty of kit reckoned to be amongst the best you can buy "

                      I'll give you that they make decent cameras in the midrange. We'll debate the Xperias and the Bravias quite a bit, I suspect.

                      "All I can tell you is, the current Sony kit I have does exactly what it was advertised to do"

                      And thus, to you, it's okay if they treat everyone like shit. Good show. Carry on, then.

                      1. Bodhi

                        Re: @Bodhi

                        No, I think my point was that they don't treat everyone like shit, as in around 20 years of buying their kit, I haven't been treated like shit yet? Not too hard to understand.

                        I understand you hold some sort of grudge against Sony. Maybe they turned you down for a job, or had a large HD-DVD collection, or you like your Xbox a little bit too much. Whatever, you are well within your rights to do so. Just as I am well within my rights to point out that not everyone shares your view.

                        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

                          Re: @Bodhi

                          But you have been treated like shit, even if you refuse to recognize it. One example: they have sunk billions into trying to turn copyright into the "forever gift", denying future generations the right to build on the mythos of today. They have tried to subvert several standards processes numerous times, ultimately driving up time to market and cost for what are today common products. They have played patent hardball quite a lot, also driving up the cost of everyday products.

                          Finally, they have sat on proprietary technologies attempting to create a monopoly by refusing to participate in standards processes (or license that technology) resulting in A) aborted product lines as those product saw an initial surge, then death as they didn't interoperate and B) less suited technologies becoming the standard.

                          These are all things that have affected you, and are Sony treating you like shit, even if you neither believe it nor care.

                          It is incorrect to say Sony hasn't treated you like shit. They have. What is correct to say is that you don't care that Sony treats you like shit. Thus, apparently, nobody else should.

  2. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    Maybe the hackers can get somebody decent to do a rewrite, then sneakilly put it back overwriting the original without the producers knowing. Then maybe, only maybe mind you, Spectre would be the first good Bond film rather than just another formulaic, predictable sequel in this interminable mediocre fest.

    Now don't get me wrong if it sells and makes millions then good luck to 'em. And yes I suppose many of the films have been reasonable light entertainment, but please let's not pretend they are at all significant or anything other than pile 'em high sell 'em cheap mass market fodder.

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    The name?

    Online. James Online.

  4. thomas k.

    In regard to LotR

    Knowing that story in advance only made us more disappointed at what was changed and/or left out

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Meh

    Wonder am I the only one who won't be watching any more Bond movies? I used to enjoy them as a kid, but now that I know these agencies are involved in mass surveillance, rendition, torture, etc, I just see these movies as idiotic, flag waving propaganda. The last one I saw nearly made me vomit and I ended up cheering on the 'baddie'.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Meh

      Actual events just show how outdated are Bond stories in today world. Writers should have kept him in the '60s, in a simpler and less sophisticated world. But they know there are a lot of "kids" out there ready to waste their money on such stupid movies...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ah, PUSSY!

    If Blofeld makes a return, can i suggest that the role of the cat is played by 'Grumpy Cat'.

    One look at his little grumpy face on the big screen would be worth the price of admission alone.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ah, PUSSY!

      Perhaps we can combine Blofeld with Oddjob from Goldfinger?

      Trouble is, what to call him?

      Any ideas, lads......

  7. Mark Eaton-Park

    @Trevor_Pott

    Pot/Kettle? http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/containing/1608521

    I agree Sony were very naughty with their rootkit but then again those in the know just didnt buy any effected content, again with the other OS and every other attack on their customers.

    I understand if you are feeling defensive for the ignorant but the fact remains that the best way to influence a company is by not buying any of their kit and suggesting others do not either. If you hope to enlighten the ignorant then this really isn't the correct forum, anyone who posts here should already know about Sony and not dealt with them in decades.

    The real issue here is not Sony's products but the employees who suffered because economic pressures forced them to work for these gimps and are going to be paying for years to come. $1000 means nothing when your whole life has become public domain, I too would advise against buying a Sony product but this hack&deseminate has produced far too much collateral damage when the real target will still walk away unscathed.

    If Sony want IP forever then what of their employees, I say $1000/year for life is not enough

    "Please ensure the airlock comes to a complete close before pushing the blinking red button. Don't worry, that hissing sound you hear is nothing but your own credibility as an object assessor of technologies hissing away like a two decade-long grudge." I couldn't say it better myself Trev

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: @Trevor_Pott

      "Not buying their stuff" doesn't affect Sony's behavior at all. They simply blame "pirates" or any other convenient group then set about attempting to have laws changed such that they get paid regardless. (See "blank media levies" in many countries.)

      To Sony, if you aren't buying their stuff you're committing a crime, and they'll do everything except actually provide what people want at a price they are willing to pay with support that is useful in order to get your money. Sorry, but the odd product that isn't mediocre isn't enough to offset the rest of their actions as a company.

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