After four films in service of queen and country, it seems that Craig, Daniel Craig will no longer play Bond, James Bond. According to The Daily Mail, the 48-year-old actor has turned down a monstrous, two-film deal to reprise his role as the super spy and intends to hang up his tux for good.
OK, so maybe this isn’t a huge surprise after Craig suggested that a particularly grisly form of suicide might be preferable to returning as Bond, but he has offered contradictory statements on his interest in continuing with the franchise, and actions speak louder than words. The offer he turned down would reportedly have netted him 68 million pounds, which, in terms of buying power, translates to about $100 million. Gotta love that exchange rate.
As if that weren’t confirmation enough, a film industry source told The Daily Mail “Daniel is done — pure and simple — he told top brass at MGM after Spectre. They threw huge amounts of money at him, but it just wasn’t what he wanted.” He went on to add that Craig “had told people after shooting that this would be his final outing, but the film company still felt he could come around after Spectre if he was offered a money deal.”
While the body of this 007 is scarcely even cold yet, folks have wasted no time in shifting their focus to speculating on Craig’s potential successors. At this point, however, it seems like a one-horse race, as bookies have already stopped taking bets on Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers, Midnight in Paris).
That news will surely disappoint those who’ve been clamoring for Idris Elba to take over the role, but Hiddleston is a very popular young actor, who has the looks and charm to pull off the role. While the character took on a grittier, more aggressive persona under Craig’s stewardship, if Hiddleston is indeed the next Bond, you can expect him to play up the spy’s slick and suave side.
If you’re wondering what Craig might do next, it looks like the only project officially on his slate is an upcoming TV series called Purity, but you can be sure his schedule will fill up fairly quickly now that the James Bond franchise is off his plate.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.