Everybody seems to hate the title of the new James Bond film - so will they keep it?

James Bond fans are shaken, stirred and really quite cranky about the working title of the next instalment in the long-running spy series.

James Bond fans are in uproar over the provisional title for the 25th movie in the series: Shatterhand.

The title was revealed in the industry publication Production Weekly, which also claimed that filming will begin on April 6, ahead of an April 2020 release.

The movie will be Daniel Craig’s fifth and final appearance as 007. Recent regulars Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Ben Wishaw (Q) and Ralph Fiennes (M) are also expected to reprise their roles.

Shatterhand would mark the third film in a row in which producers have opted for a grabby one-word title, after 2012’s Skyfall and 2015’s Spectre.

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Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre. That was a pretty good title; maybe they should just call the film “Spectre II”? Picture: Jonathan Olley/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions via AP.

The 2020 release date will also mark the end of one of the longest running hiatuses between Bond films, beaten only by the six year-wait between 1989’s The Living Daylights (Timothy Dalton’s last appearance) and 1995’s GoldenEye (Pierce Brosnan’s first).

Fans steeped in Bond lore were quick to point out that Shatterhand was an alias used by 007’s longtime nemesis, Ernst Blofeld, in the novel You Only Live Twice.

But most fans have been quick to slam the new title on social media.

Shatterhand- he’s the man, the man with the hand that shatters- he’s not really much of an adversary thinking about it. This will be a short film. But the bit where his hand shatters is awesome.

— Richard K Herring (@Herring1967) February 22, 2019

Why is everyone reacting like #Shatterhand is the worst name for a Bond film ever when this is the same series that gave us a film called Octopussy

— Buster of Mirrors (@RainiacDaManiac) February 22, 2019

Sitting in a quiet library trying to look adult and studious while literally crying with suppressed laughter over Shatterhand.

— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) February 22, 2019

Yeah that’s a... that’s a bad title #Shatterhand

— Planetary Union Officer Kirke (@kirkenovak) February 22, 2019

Originally published as Everybody seems to hate the title of the new James Bond film - so will they keep it?