Bond Series: James Bond Films

James Bond, a character created by novelist Ian Fleming in 1953, is a British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007.

He has been portrayed on film in 27 productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

All but two films were made by Eon Productions, which now holds the adaptation rights to all of Fleming’s Bond novels.

In 1961, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman purchased the filming rights to Fleming’s novels. They founded Eon Productions and, with financial backing by United Artists, produced Dr. No, directed by Terence Young and featuring Connery as Bond.

Following its release in 1962, Broccoli and Saltzman created the holding company Danjaq to ensure future productions in the James Bond film series.

The series currently has 25 films, with the most recent, No Time to Die, released in October 2021.

With combined gross of over $7 billion to date, it is the sixth-highest-grossing film series. Accounting for inflation, it has earned over $14 billion at current prices.

Oscar Awards: 5

The films have won five Oscar Awards thus far

Sound Effects (now Sound Editing) in Goldfinger (at the 37th Awards);

John Stears for Visual Effects in Thunderball (at the 38th Awards)

Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers for Sound Editing; Adele and Paul Epworth for Original Song in Skyfall (at the 85th Awards)

Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes for Original Song in Spectre (at the 88th Awards).

Several tunes have been nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar, including Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die.” Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better,” and Sheena Easton’s “For Your Eyes Only.”

In 1982, Albert R. Broccoli received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

When Broccoli and Saltzman bought the rights to existing and future Fleming titles, the deal did not include Casino Royale, which had been sold to producer Gregory Ratoff for TV version in 1954. After Ratoff’s death, the rights passed to Charles K. Feldman, who produced the Bond spoof Casino Royale in 1967.

A legal case ensured that the film rights to the novel Thunderball were held by Kevin McClory as he, Fleming and scriptwriter Jack Whittingham had written a film script on which the novel was based.[1] Although Eon Productions and McClory joined forces to produce Thunderball, McClory still retained the rights to the story and adapted Thunderball into 1983’s Never Say Never Again.

Distribution rights to both films are currently held by MGM, which releases Eon’s regular series.

Eon Films:

Dr. No (1962)

From Russia with Love (1963)

Goldfinger (1964)

Thunderball (1965)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Live and Let Die (1973)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)