Sony has signed a co-financing and distribution agreement with the revamped MGM for the 23’rd James Bond movie.  Sam Mendes (Road to Perdition) is directing the as-yet-unnamed Bond epic, which will debut on November 9th, 2012.  The new Bond film will star Daniel Craig as 007 along with Judi Dench as “M.”  Various rumors have linked both Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem to the new Bond film.

The most recent James Bond opus, Quantum of Solace, earned $577 million at the box office worldwide.  The long-running James Bond franchise has spawned all sorts of tie-in merchandise including comics, toys, games, and trading cards.  A new set of Bond trading cards, The James Bond 007 Mission Logs is due out on May 18th from Rittenhouse Archives.  The new 66-card set includes 3 cards for each of the 22 Bond films, many with never-before-published photos.  Each box contains 2 autograph cards and one prop relic card.  Autographs include Daniel Craig and (for the first time) Pierce Brosnan.