London: A draft of the screenplay of a new James Bond film is the latest victim of a massive hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, its producers said in a statement on their website on Sunday.
The news came less than two weeks after details of the new Bond movie “Spectre”, starring Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz, were unveiled.
Eon Productions confirmed “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.
Hollywood giant Sony has been hit by a string of embarrassing leaks following a huge hack, which some have blamed on North Korea, which is miffed at a forthcoming movie “The Interview”, which lampoons its leader, Kim Jong-Un.
“Spectre” is due to hit screens worldwide on November 6 next year. The Bond franchise is one of the most lucrative for Sony Pictures and the last instalment, “Skyfall,” brought in $1.1 billion worldwide, more than any other Bond film.
There have been unconfirmed reports that following the theft of the script, the studio had stopped production on the film.
Hackers launched an attack on Sony’s entertainment arm on November 24, disabling the computer network and stealing and leaking a trove of sensitive information in the most severe cyber attack on a company on US soil. The identity of the hackers has yet to be determined and the matter is being investigated by the FBI.
One of the hacked Sony emails made public by the hackers revealed its producer, Scott Rudin, describing actor Angelina Jolie as a “minimally talented spoiled brat;” besides there were racially insensitive exchanges about US President Barack Obama.
