James Bond (Franchise)

The James Bond film series is a British series of spy films based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond, “007”, who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. It is one of the longest continually-running film series in history, having been in on-going production from 1962 to the present (with a six-year hiatus between 1989 and 1995). In that time Eon Productions has produced 24 films, most of them at Pinewood Studios. With a combined gross of over $7 billion to date, the films produced by Eon constitute the fourth-highest-grossing film series. Six actors have portrayed 007 in the Eon series, the latest being Daniel Craig.

Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced most of the Eon films until 1975, when Broccoli became the sole producer. The single exception during this period was Thunderball, on which Broccoli and Saltzman became executive producers while Kevin McClory produced. From 1984 Broccoli was joined by his stepson Michael G. Wilson as producer and in 1995 Broccoli stepped aside from Eon and was replaced by his daughter Barbara, who has co-produced with Wilson since. Broccoli’s (and until 1975, Saltzman’s) family company, Danjaq, has held ownership of the series through Eon, and maintained co-ownership with United Artists since the mid-1970s. The Eon series has seen continuity both in the main actors and in the production crews, with directors, writers, composers, production designers, and others employed through a number of films.

From the release of Dr. No (1962) to For Your Eyes Only (1981), the films were distributed solely by United Artists. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer absorbed United Artists in 1981, MGM/UA Entertainment Co. was formed and distributed the films until 1995. MGM solely distributed three films from 1997 to 2002 after United Artists was retired as a mainstream studio. From 2006 to present, MGM and Columbia Pictures have co-distributed the film series, following the 2004 acquisition of MGM by a consortium led by Columbia’s parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment. In November 2010, MGM filed for bankruptcy. Following its emergence from insolvency, Columbia became co-production partner of the series with Eon. Sony’s distribution rights to the franchise expired in 2015 with the release of Spectre. In 2017, MGM and Eon offered a one-film contract.

Independently of the Eon series, there have been three additional productions with the character of James Bond: a 1954 American television adaptation, Casino Royale, produced by CBS; a 1967 spoof, Casino Royale, produced by Charles K. Feldman; and a 1983 remake of Thunderball entitled Never Say Never Again, produced by Jack Schwartzman, who had obtained the rights to the film from McClory.

Title	Year	Bond actor	Director	Box office (millions)[14]	Budget (millions)[14]	Ref(s)
Actual $	Adjusted 2005 $	Actual $	Adjusted 2005 $
Dr. No	1962	Sean Connery	Terence Young	59.5	448.8	1.1	7.0
From Russia with Love	1963	Sean Connery	Terence Young	78.9	543.8	2.0	12.6
Goldfinger	1964	Sean Connery	Guy Hamilton	124.9	820.4	3.0	18.6
Thunderball	1965	Sean Connery	Terence Young	141.2	848.1	6.8	41.9
You Only Live Twice	1967	Sean Connery	Lewis Gilbert	111.6	514.2	10.3	59.9
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service	1969	George Lazenby	Peter R. Hunt	64.6	291.5	7.0	37.3
Diamonds Are Forever	1971	Sean Connery	Guy Hamilton	116.0	442.5	7.2	34.7
Live and Let Die	1973	Roger Moore	Guy Hamilton	126.4	460.3	7.0	30.8
The Man with the Golden Gun	1974	Roger Moore	Guy Hamilton	97.6	334.0	7.0	27.7
The Spy Who Loved Me	1977	Roger Moore	Lewis Gilbert	185.4	533.0	14.0	45.1
Moonraker	1979	Roger Moore	Lewis Gilbert	210.3	535.0	34.0	91.5
For Your Eyes Only	1981	Roger Moore	John Glen	194.9	449.4	28.0	60.2
Octopussy	1983	Roger Moore	John Glen	183.7	373.8	27.5	53.9
A View to a Kill	1985	Roger Moore	John Glen	152.4	275.2	30.0	54.5
The Living Daylights	1987	Timothy Dalton	John Glen	191.2	313.5	40.0	68.8
Licence to Kill	1989	Timothy Dalton	John Glen	156.2	250.9	36.0	56.7
GoldenEye	1995	Pierce Brosnan	Martin Campbell	352.0	518.5	60.0	76.9
Tomorrow Never Dies	1997	Pierce Brosnan	Roger Spottiswoode	333.0	463.2	110.0	133.9
The World Is Not Enough	1999	Pierce Brosnan	Michael Apted	361.8	439.5	135.0	158.3
Die Another Day	2002	Pierce Brosnan	Lee Tamahori	432.0	465.4	142.0	154.2
Casino Royale	2006	Daniel Craig	Martin Campbell	594.2	581.5	150.0	145.3
Quantum of Solace	2008	Daniel Craig	Marc Forster	586.1	514.2	200.0	181.4
Skyfall	2012	Daniel Craig	Sam Mendes	1108.6	943.5	150.0–200.0	127.7–170.2
Spectre	2015	Daniel Craig	Sam Mendes	880.7	725.5	245.0–250.0[b]	201.8–205.9
No Time to Die	2021	Daniel Craig	Cary Joji Fukunaga	119.1	89.9	250.0–301.0	188.7–226.4
Total of Eon-produced films	6,948.2	12,085.6	1,452.9–1,507.9	2,069.4–2,154.5

Unofficial Films

Title Year James Bond

Casino Royale – TV episode
1954 Barry Nelson Casino Royale – Film spoof
1967 David Niven Never Say Never Again 1983 Sean Connery

Bond Villains

Bond Books