The 24th James Bond movie, to be directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig, is titled Spectre. The announcement was made in a live broadcast from the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios on Thursday morning, where Christoph Waltz, Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux were also unveiled as new cast members.

BondDaniel Craig will return as James Bond for Spectre

Christoph Waltz will play chief villain Frank Oberhauser, son of the late Hans Oberhauser, a ski instructor who acted as a father figure to Bond. However, the Mail reported that Waltz's character will later be revealed to be classic Bond villain Ernst Blofeld. The title SPECTRE appears to back this up, given it relates to the organisation led by evil genius and supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld that first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball (1961) and in the movie Dr. No (1962).

Former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) will play his henchma, Mr Hinx. 

Earlier this week, The Mirror erroneously reported that Sherlock villain Andrew Scott would play one of the primary villains in Bond, though he will indeed play Whitehall man Denby.

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Following Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, the third Daniel Craig movie is to be shot in Pinewood, Rome, Morocco, Mexico City and the tiny Austrian municipality of Solden, with principal photography to begin on Monday December 9. 

Skyfall is now the world's most successful Bond film ever, as well as being the biggest grossing British movie of all time. It grossed over $1 billion at the box-office and led to a consensus that American Beauty director Mendes had reinvigorated the franchise for a modern day audience.

Bond 24 will also see Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris reprising their roles from Skyfall.

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