Super spy James Bond is the latest to become entangled in the Sony hacking scandal.
The producers of “Spectre,” the 007 movie that is scheduled for release on Nov. 15 next year, have acknowledged that an early version of the screenplay was among the documents stolen in the massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. The film franchise, in which Daniel Craig is the current Bond, is a box-office gold mine and the last nine films have taken in more than $4.1 billion worldwide.
Eon Productions, the U.K. arm of Danjaq, the U.S. company which owns the rights to the Bond films with MGM, said Saturday that they had discovered the leak and were concerned that whoever had the script might try to sell it.
The company will “take all necessary steps to protect their rights against the persons who stole the screenplay, and against anyone who makes infringing uses of it or attempts to take commercial advantage of confidential property it knows to be stolen,” it said in a statement.
Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace or #GOP have been releasing documents since the Nov. 24 attack. Personal info on A-list stars, executives’ emails and salaries, business plans and employees’ info like social security numbers and medical records have turned up in the data dumps.
The group is demanding that the studio halt its release of the “The Interview,” which lampoons North Korea.
The Seth Rogen–James Franco comedy premiered Thursday at The Theatre at Ace Hotel Downtown L.A., but the press was prohibited from asking questions.
