The Roger Moore Bond was awful. And to think he was in the running as the original Bond *shiver*
"Bond 23" delayed indefinitely
- Thread starter JacksonArcher
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The Roger Moore Bond was awful. And to think he was in the running as the original Bond *shiver*
I STILL have to see those movies....
I have to agree. Honestly, if QoS wasn't a bond movie, would anyone have paid attention? When it comes down to it, the Craig bonds are closer to Fleming wanted, but the question is whether that translates to those buying the tickets.
Cavill does look the part. Clive owen would make a good bond, but he's getting a little old.
Both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace have been extremely successful financially speaking.
Casino Royale earned nearly $170 million domestically, on a budget of $150 million, while it earned nearly $430 million overseas, making a worldwide total of nearly $600 million... the second highest grossing James Bond film of all time, not taking inflation into account.
Quantum of Solace earned almost the identical figure domestically (to be specific: Royale grossed $167 million, and Solace grossed $168 million) and on a budget of $200 million earned nearly $420 million overseas, so slightly less than Royale, but not by much, making a collective $586 million worldwide... making it the highest ranking James Bond film domestically speaking, again, not taking inflation into account.
So clearly, the Craig Bonds have been successful and audiences (the ones buying the tickets) have been receptive to them.
Money makers AS Bond movies wasn't the question.
If it was Casino Royale starring the exploits of super spy Timothy Jones would anyone have lined up, would the media have printed all types of articles stirring the publics interest, that was the question.
Clearly being a BOND film gave them the boost, if they were not BOND films there is a significant chance they would've tanked.
No one knew about Jason Bourne and those movies were financially very successful.
Two Words: Matt Damon
Daniel Craig didn't have the name recognition of Damon prior to Bond. If he were just super spy Tim Jones his name alone wouldn't have drawn people like Damon would get 'x' butts into seats.
Matt Damon wasn't really a star commodity before The Bourne Identity. I mean, pre-Bourne there was a lot of hesitation whether or not Damon could turn Identity into a viable summer blockbuster. It had a production budget of $60 million, and made $121 million domestically, so it was definitely a profitable film, but as you can tell based on the low production budget (which got ramped up for Supremacy and Ultimatum) that expectations were low for Identity. Prior to that, Damon had done some strong films, but he hadn't really proved his action star cred yet... the Bourne films did that for him.
This has nothing to do with Bond and everything to do with MGM's financial crisis.
Already happening on radio, btw: Toby Stephens (the villain in Die Another Day) has played Bond twice for BBC Radio Four, with David Suchet as Dr No, and Ian McKellen as Goldfinger.
I wonder if they'll put a wig on the next guy to explain that Craig's Bond regenerated 
Superman Returns was a success for the WB
Is this the part where the grosses for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen are mentioned?
Superman Returns was a success for the WB
Adjusted for inflation, Casino Royale did moderately well, Quantum of Solace earned less than Casino Royale and all of the Brosnan and Connery films:
The Bond films, by adjusted box office (domestic only):
- Thunderball
- Goldfinger
- You Only Live Twice
- From Russia With Love
- Die Another Day
- Tomorrow Never Dies
- Diamonds Are Forever
- Moonraker
- Casino Royale
- The World Is Not Enough
- Goldeneye
- Dr. No
- Quantum of Solace
- Octopussy
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Live and Let Die
- For Your Eyes Only
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- The Living Daylights
- A View To A Kill
- The Man With the Golden Gun
- License To Kill
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^ To be fair...things are different today. Back then (especially the popular ones listed at the top), a movie would be in theaters for months, followed by re-releases and re-releases, thereby adding much more to their revenue. They had legs.
Nowadays, a film has an opening weekend to make its money, stays for maybe a month or two, and we move on to the next, newest thing.
Nowadays, a film has an opening weekend to make its money, stays for maybe a month or two, and we move on to the next, newest thing.
^ Even excluding the older pictures, the two most recent movies weren't especially successful. All of Brosnan's films outperformed Quantum of Solace, and Die Another Day and Tomorrow Never Dies both earned more than Casino Royale.
Only those relatively modern pictures:
Only those relatively modern pictures:
- Die Another Day - $210 million
- Tomorrow Never Dies - $209 million
- Casino Royale - $194 million
- The World Is Not Enough - $191 million
- Goldeneye - $187 million
- Quantum of Solace - $178 million
(1) Looking at a handy reference book, Thunderball was re-released three times: in 1968, 1970, and 1972. Goldfinger was re-released three times as well: in 1966, 1969, and 1972.
(2) Looking at those adjusted numbers for the modern Bond films, the grosses don't strike me as being that far apart. All of those films have been of similar financial success.
(2) Looking at those adjusted numbers for the modern Bond films, the grosses don't strike me as being that far apart. All of those films have been of similar financial success.
I used Box Office Mojo's adjustments, which take into account the dates and partial grosses of various re-releases.
I'd argue that the difference between Tomorrow Never Dies (the second Brosnan film) and Quantum of Solace (the second of the current series) - roughly $30 million, which equates to about 18% of the gross of Quantum of Solace - is somewhat significant.
More to the point, though, the numbers were intended to show that the recent approach to the Bond movies has not been more successful than the more upbeat, romantic/adventurous approach which preceded it.
Not more successful commercially, but just about as successful. And, critically, Casino Royale was certainly the most acclaimed Bond film in decades. Qauntum of Solace was less successful in both arenas, though it was still a financial success and it was just as liked as any Brosnan film with the exception of Goldeneye, according to Metacritic.
EDIT: I'm not quite sure how Box Office Mojo takes into account re-releases when they adjust for inflation. Looking at the numbers, compared to the book I'm referencing (George Lucas' Blockbusting, which before you knock it, is a terrific reference book) I'm not sure what they're doing.
Bond has been adapted for radio? I never knew that and I LOVE radio shows (got a CD collection of them almost as large as my DVD/VHS collection). Are these availale on CD, or for download somewhere?