EON Productions issues public statement about 'Spectre' leak

James Bond producers have acknowledged that the script for 'Spectre' has been stolen and have issued a public statement in response to the leak with a warning.

The script, which is available in full on several torrent sites was obtained by news publications and analyzed. Bond fans have overwhelmingly supported the production thus-far and vowed not to search or read the script, which is an early version of the full screenplay.

Currently in production, 'Spectre' will be one of the most expensive films ever made following the enormous success of 'Skyfall' back in 2012 that grossed over $1 billion at the box office worldwide.

Email leaks from Sony have shown that the film will be spending over $60 million of its budget in Rome, while other scenes will be shot in the UK and elsewhere.

The script leak comes as a major blow for film producers trying to keep the movie's plot details out of the public domain. With Sony facing a mounting crisis in the production division that at one point faced a potential shutdown because it couldn't process payments, things seem to only deteriorate day by day. Major productions were reportedly 'shielded' from the fallout, but other operations may have been affected by ongoing problems with the computer network.

EON Productions statement on the 'Spectre' script:

"EON PRODUCTIONS, the producers of the James Bond films, learned this morning that an early version of the screenplay for the new Bond film SPECTRE is amongst the material stolen and illegally made public by hackers who infiltrated the Sony Pictures Entertainment computer system. Eon Productions is concerned that third parties who have received the stolen screenplay may seek to publish it or its contents. The screenplay for SPECTRE is the confidential information of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Danjaq, LLC, and is protected by the laws of copyright in the United Kingdom and around the world. It may not (in whole or in part) be published, reproduced, disseminated or otherwise utilised by anyone who obtains a copy of it." - Full summary

Sam Mendes is directing 'Spectre' with Daniel Craig back as Bond, and co-starring Monica Bellucci and Dave Bautista. Ralph Fiennes will be playing the role of M.