Sony gives MGM a piece of 'Dragon Tattoo' in Bond 23 deal

In an update to the earlier story, Deadline reports that the new MGM brass, Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum managed to leverage the James Bond #23 film for a piece of Sony's in-the-works big movie based on the Stieg Larsson bestseller, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which has already been shooting in Sweden under director David Fincher and starring Rooney Mara. Daniel Craid plays the leading man in both franchises.

Deadline has learned that Sony Pictures bosses Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton agreed to give MGM a co-financing deal for the big title and possibly other films already shooting, too, to help the reconstituted studio generate quick cash flow.

This allows MGM to have revenue which it hasn't had in a long time, so the books look better, and more funds for production could be forthcoming. (That's exactly how Birnbaum and Barber built their Spyglass Entertainment in the first place: by investing in films it didn't make, like the recently rebooted Star Trek.)

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