I agree it's not cool that they dicked on Brosnan's contract, but I don't think money saving was the motive. However good a Bond Brosnan was, the films (with the exception of Goldeneye, IMO) were lame. That's not Brosnan's fault, but he was associated with a series of crap Bond films and when the series needed an overhaul (which it badly did), a new Bond was needed. I wish they'd waited 10 years or so though and then triumphantly returned.