The Sony hack, while devastating for the company, has certainly provided some incredible insight into the wheeling and dealing that happens behind the scenes in Hollywood. The latest “gift” to film and tech fans courtesy of the North Korean hackers are a series of emails that contain the new designs for the Sony Xperia Z4 and the down and dirty details of just how lucrative product placement deals are for the new James Bond movie.
The Sony Xperia Z4 has been slated for either an early summer or fall 2015 release according to earlier emails leaked in the Sony hack. While details were previously scant, the series of emails discussing the James Bond Spectre product placement deal includes some early designs. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that Spectre director Sam Mendes and James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, would apparently be tapped for design input on Sony’s newest smartphone. How’s that for a sweetheart deal? While there are no finalized images of what the Xperia Z4 might look like, there were some concepts included that showed the traditional square design with glass front and back while another depicts a metal frame (ala the Samsung Galaxy S6) and even a brightly colored wearable. Just how reliable is the information in this latest email exchange? Well, considering that the CEO of Sony Picture Entertainment Michael Lynton and Sony’s Executive Vice President of Consumer Marketing, George Leon, were a part of the email exchange it seems that we can consider these latest details to be pretty dang reliable.
This newest leak also reveals Sony’s plans for the Xperia Z4 ad campaign. It seems that Sony wanted to use images associated with Jame Bond but not 007 himself and excluding Daniel Craig from portraying James Bond in the advertisements. As George Leon wrote in one email, “What if we take the Daniel Craig fee and convince Sony just to pay Barbara directly 4MM for a placement fee. NO Daniel this time. We walk from him. The remaining 1MM (or LESS!) of this budget can be used to hire “Q” instead? Her fee would have to include the right for Sony to use the 007 marks including the barrel but no Daniel.” As for the breakdown of what Sony was looking to give those involved with the newest Bond film for featuring the Sony Xperia Z4? Here’s some of the figures mentioned in the leaked emails: $18 Million – Sony’s Advertising Budget for Above-the-Line Advertising, $5 Million – Production Budget/Cost including TV, Print, Digital, etc. and $5 Million – Daniel Craig’s cut for holding the phone in the film.
What do you think about the information revealed in these emails? Are you excited about the Sony Xperia Z4? Does this change your perspective of product placement in movies?