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In the comment section to THIS MAY 16 POST there was a discussion about how well 2021’s No Time to Die did on its theatrical release.
I jumped in. What follows is adapted from the comment I left.
No Time to Die’s worldwide gross:$774.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Studios typically keep half of the gross. The figures vary by market. In China, it’s low as 25%. Still 50% overall is considered an acceptable figure for rough calculations. That means Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (in partnership with United Artists Releasing in the U.S. and Universal internationally) got to keep about $387 million.
No Time to Die’s production budget: In a Dec. 1, 2020 U.K. regulatory filing, said the budget was almost £214 million as of June 30, 2020.
Re: £214 million figure. That was from a Dec. 1, 2020 filing and was the figure as of June 30, 2020. At 2024 exchange rates, that’s about $272 million.
The filing figure was not the final number. But let’s say it is. That leaves NTTD ahead by roughly $115 million.
Then, there’s the question of marketing costs (not included in the production budget).
We don’t really know the marketing costs for NTTD. Typically, a big “tentpole” movie has marketing costs of $100 million or more.
With NTTD, with its multiple release dates (because of COVID-19), it *might* have been more. MGM bought an expensive U.S. commercial for the Super Bowl in February 2020. That year, the average costs of a 30-second spot for the game exceeded $5 million. That ad purchase was based on the spring 2020 release date that got postponed because of COVID. That advertisement alone put a big dent into No Time to Die’s marketing costs.
Still, let’s use the typical $100 million figure for marketing. Then NTTD was profitable in its theatrical run — but not by much. Maybe $15 million. That’s a 4% rate of return on a big investment.
Are these “back of the envelope” calculations? Of course.
But even if everything went the movie’s way, it wasn’t wildly profitable. These rough calculations leave out MGM’s borrowing costs to finance the movie.
Given some recent movie financial disasters (the fifth Indiana Jones movie, and underperforming superhero movies such as The Flash and The Marvels), that’s an accomplishment. But only to a point.
Before No Time to Die, MGM got gobbled up by Amazon. With that deal, MGM recouped its huge costs for the 25th Bond film made by Eon Productions.
The COVID-19 pandemic is long over. But movies — despite repeated comments that certain movies would save cinema — are still hurting.
I’m old enough to remember when some Bond fans said No Time to Die was “saving cinema.” Maybe in the U.K., but not in the U.S. The 25th James Bond film did fine in the U.S., almost $161 million. But it was only No. 007 in the U.S. for calendar 2021. Some protest, “What about COVID?” The first six also dealt with COVID. The No. 1 2021 movie was Spider-Man: No Way Home at almost $805 million (U.S.), $1.1 billion (global).
In 2022, Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise’s sequel to a long-ago hit, was an enormous success, with almost $719 million in the U.S. and almost $1.5 billion worldwide. At a public event, director Steven Spielberg told Cruise, “You saved Hollywood’s ass.” There are various videos of this exchange, including THIS ONE.
In 2023, Cruise’s luck ran out. Mission: Impossible Dead Recocking Part One generated U.S. box office of $172.1 million and a worldwide take of $395.4 million. Nice, but below its previous installment, Mission: Impossible Fallout (more than $220 million, U.S., almost $792 million globally).
Whatever “secret sauce” Cruise had, it didn’t carry over into 2023. The next M:I installment (originally set for 2024) got delayed to 2025. The top global box office movies were Barbie and Oppenheimer.
In 2024? May is supposed to be the start of the “summer” movie season when big blockbusters reach theaters.
In the U.S., for the May 3-5 weekend, the No. 1 film was The Fall Guy at just under $28 million. For the May 10-12 weekend, the top film is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes at an estimated $56.5 million.
Not small numbers, to be sure. But once upon a time (especially before the pandemic), figures came in at $100 million and above.
Despite the heralded saviors of cinema, it hasn’t been saved yet.
Movies are a mess and for many reasons. Netflix upended things with streaming. Studios, including Disney (which spent more than $70 billion to buy 20th Century Fox), Paramount and whoever owns Warner Bros. this week, have been chasing Netflix. Why rush out to a theater when you can see a movie soon on streaming? At least that’s something cinema is having to deal with.
Going back to the start of this article: When the James Bond franchise finally gets around to Bond 26, the entertainment world will be much different. MGM, one of the business partners of Eon Productions, is now owned by Amazon, which has a major streaming service.
Licence to Kill, which came out 35 years ago, is mostly known for a series of “lasts” but also for a first.
–It was the last of five 007 films directed by John Glen, the most prolific director in the series.
–The last of 13 Bond films where Richard Maibaum (1909-1991) participated in the writing.
–It was the last with Albert R. Broccoli getting a producer’s credit (he would only “present” 1995’s GoldenEye).
–It was the last 007 movie with a title sequence designed by Maurice Binder, who would die in 1991.
–And the it was last 007 film where Pan Am was the unofficial airline of the James Bond series (it went out of business before GoldenEye).
It was also the first to falter badly in the U.S. market.
Economy Class
Bond wasn’t on Poverty Row when Licence to Kill began production in 1988. But neither did 007 travel entirely first class.
Under financial pressure from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (which acquired half the franchise after buying United Artists earlier in the decade), Eon Productions moved the home base of the production to Mexico from Pinewood Studios.
Joining Timothy Dalton in his second (and last) outing as Bond was a cast mostly known for appearing on U.S. television, including Anthony Zerbe, Don Stroud, David Hedison (his second appearance as Felix Leiter), Pricilla Barnes, Rafer Johnson, Frank McRae as well as Las Vegas performer Wayne Newton.
Meanwhile, character actor Robert Davi snared the role of the film’s villain, with Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto as competing Bond women.
Wilson’s Role
Michael G. Wilson, Broccoli’s stepson and co-producer, took the role as lead writer because a 1988 Writers Guild strike made Richard Maibaum unavailable. Maibaum’s participation didn’t extend beyond the plotting stage. The teaser trailer billed Wilson as the sole writer (“Screenplay by Michael G. Wilson”) but Maibaum received co-writer billing in the final credits (“Written by Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum”).
Wilson opted for a darker take, up to a point. He included Leiter having a leg chewed off by a shark based on the Live And Let Die novel. A man gets his heart cut out (off-screen). Zerbe’s Milton Krest dies when his head explodes. Looking back today, the mayhem is relatively tame but it was a big deal at the time.
The writer-producer also upped the number of swear words compared with previous 007 entries. But Wilson hedged his bets with jokes, such as Newton’s fake preacher and a scene where Q (Desmond Llewelyn) shows off gadgets to Bond.
Licence would be the first Bond film where “this time it’s personal.” Bond goes rogue to avenge Leiter. Since then, it has frequently been personal for 007. Because of budget restrictions, filming was kept primarily in Florida and Mexico.
The end product didn’t go over well in the U.S. Other studios had given the 16th 007 film a wide berth for its U.S. opening weekend. The only “new” movie that weekend was a re-release of Walt Disney Co.’s Peter Pan.
Nevertheless, Licence finished an anemic No. 4 during the July 14-16 weekend coming in behind Lethal Weapon 2 (in its second weekend), Batman (in its fourth weekend) and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (also fourth weekend).
At the end of the day, Glen and Maibaum were done with Bond, the latter being part of the 007 series since its inception.
Bond 17’s Fembot
Initial pre-production of the next 007 film proceeded without the two series veterans. Wilson wrote a treatment in 1990 for Bond 17 with Alfonse Ruggiero that included a deadly fembot. Scripts with other scribes were then written based on that treatment. Author Mark Edlitz, in a 2020 book, detailed other attempts at writing a third and fourth Dalton movie.
None of the Dalton scripts were ever made.
That’s because Broccoli would enter into a legal fight with MGM that meant Bond wouldn’t return to movie screens until 1995. By the time production resumed, Eon started over, using a story by Michael France as a beginning point for what would become GoldenEye. Maibaum, meanwhile, died in early 1991.
Former studio executive Jeff Kleeman in a 2024 interview with the SpyHards podcast said the MGM leadership wasn’t enthusiastic about retaining Timothy Dalton while Eon wanted to continue with the actor. In the give-and-take that followed, Dalton stepped aside and GoldenEye would star Pierce Brosnan.
Today, some fans like to blame MGM’s marketing campaign or other major summer 1989 movies such as Batman or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for the 1989 box office results. But Licence came out weeks after either of those blockbusters.
And, it needs to be repeated, Bond couldn’t best Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, which also came out weeks earlier.
In the end, the U.S. audience didn’t care for Licence compared with other offerings. The movie’s total U.S. box office of $34.7 million didn’t match Batman’s U.S. opening weekend of $40.5 million. Licence’s U.S. box office was almost a third less than its 007 predecessor, The Living Daylights.
Licence to Kill did much better in other markets. Still, Licence’s worldwide ticket sales represented an 18% decline from The Living Daylights.
Blood Is Thicker Than Water
As stated before, some 007 fans blame a lackluster U.S. advertising campaign. However, Michael G. Wilson said in 2015 that Eon officials “really run the marketing ourselves” and studios involved merely “execute it.” Did that apply to Licence to Kill? Or was Licence somehow an exception?
For Dalton, Glen, Maibaum and even Broccoli (he yielded the producer’s duties on GoldenEye because of ill health), it was the end of the road.
Michael G. Wilson, despite his enormous impact on Licence to Kill, remained in place. Blood (even adopted blood), after all, is thicker than water — or even box office receipts.
The Sun, the U.K. tabloid, which has floated various possibilities for actors to play James Bond, caused a stir this week when the tabloid claimed Aaron Taylor-Johnson had been offered the part.
But there are reasons to be cautious.
Director? The original story in The Sun made no mention of a director. Some previous Bond films (Peter Hunt with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, John Glen with The Living Daylights, Martin Campbell with GoldenEye and Casino Royale) were onboard before a Bond actor was cast.
There has been no confirmed director for Bond 26.
Script? The very first Eon Productions 007 script was Richard Maibaum’s 1961 draft of Thunderball before Eon changed gears to Dr. No (because of Thunderball legal issues). That draft was written *before* Sean Connery was cast as Bond. Maibaum’s description of Bond was taken directly from Ian Fleming.
The Sun’s story this week says a script is being written, suggesting there isn’t an actual script at this point.
Dynamics of making a Bond movie: The SpyHards podcast had a recent interview with Jeff Kleeman, a studio executive who worked on the first three Pierce Brosnan Bond movies. He said, from the studio perspective, you had to pursue lining up a Bond actor, a script *and* a director. Without getting all three lined up, it’s hard to get a Bond movie made.
Dynamics (Part II): Eon Productions can’t get a Bond movie made without the studio (now the Amazon-owned MGM). Amazon-owned MGM can’t make a Bond movie without Eon. It’s an unusual dynamic that doesn’t apply to most movie franchises.
The Sun has been all over the place since mid-2022: The Sun has a shaky reputation and its Bond “reporting” from 2022 to the present isn’t something to crow about.
This week, we got another “no news update” from Eon Productions concerning Bond 26. Naturally, the blog has questions.
Why does the press BADGER Eon about the future?
If you don’t ask, you’ll get nothing. From the press perspective, you might as well ask even if there’s little chance new information will come out.
Why is that?
Because, once in a while, you get actual information. Somebody breaks down and provides an answer beyond the usual dreck. Not asking ensures nothing comes out.
On the other hand, the media should probably broaden the questions they ask. Does Eon have a succession plan? How are things going with Amazon (which acquired MGM, Bond’s home studio)? Does Eon really want to make future James Bond movies?
But how often has Eon boss Barbara Broccoli been asked about Bond 26?
In 2021 (the same year No Time to Die came out depicting Bond’s demise): Once
In 2022: Seven (mostly during interviews)
In 2023: Three
In 2024: Two
That’s less than 15 times. That’s not very often considering how Eon controls the Bond film IP, a globally famous character.
What’s more, those questions show that Bond continues to generate global interest. If Eon didn’t make Bond movies, its non-Bond films such as Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Nancy, and The Rhythm Section would be almost forgotten.
Amazon purchased Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, James Bond’s home studio, in 2021.
At the time, the Amazon purchase was seen as financial stability for Bond.
Now? We’ll see. Here’s an excerpt from the THR story.
Mike Hopkins, the executive who leads the division, announced the reduction in an email Wednesday morning, writing that “several hundred roles” would be eliminated.
“Our industry continues to evolve quickly and it’s important that we prioritize our investments for the long-term success of our business, while relentlessly focusing on what we know matters most to our customers,” he wrote. “Throughout the past year, we’ve looked at nearly every aspect of our business with an eye towards improving our ability to deliver even more breakthrough movies, TV shows, and live sports in a personalized, easy to use entertainment experience for our global customers. As a result, we’ve identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.”
From 1981 (when MGM bought United Artists, the studio that first brought Bond films to theaters) through 2021 (when Amazon bought MGM), Bond films were a big mess financially.
The Amazon deal was supposed to make things more stable.
Director Matthew Vaughn appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast where he talked about losing out on directing James Bond. He also discussed his upcoming Argylle spy movie.
BOND/CASINO ROYALE: Vaughn says he was contacted by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer and was told he was getting the job of directing Casino Royale. “You’ve got the gig, don’t tell anyone,” the director quotes an MGM executive as saying.
According to this version, the MGM executive told Vaughn he was then to meet with Eon Productions “and they will tell you.” Vaughn said he went to that meeting and “I wasn’t offered it.” Vaughn says he contacted MGM and the reply he got was, “Ahh, we spoke too soon.”
The 2006 film was released by Sony through its Columbia Pictures brand.
“My skill set was making movies for a small amount of money,” Vaughn added. “I learned later that budget and schedule is totally irrelevant to these guys…It comes in at some ridiculous number and that’s that.”
The director said it was unlikely he’d ever be asked to direct a Bond movie by Eon.
“They’re not keen on me,” Vaughn said of Eon.
ARGYLLE: The spy movie is scheduled for release in February 2024. It concerns an author (Dallas Bryce Howard) who has written a series of Argylle spy novels, with Henry Cavill as the embodiment of the lead character.
The author finds herself being hunted by real spies because her stories have a way of happening in real life.
Vaughn has said Argylle is based on an unpublished novel. The director said next February’s movie is based on the fourth novel of the as-yet unpublished series. A trailer debuted late in September. Vaughn says on the podcast the trailer only uses footage from the first 28 minutes of the movie.
The YouTube version of the podcast is below. The Argylle comments begin at the 8:46 mark. The Bond comments start at the 23:01 mark.
A former image for the official James Bond feed on X, formerly Twitter
What follows is a post from 2010. Despite the passage of time, this article remains relevant today.
Since originally published, the Bond films have achieved Academy Award wins, including three for Best Song. But the Eon series received none for acting, directing or writing.
Prior to the release of 2021’s No Time to Die, on an official podcast, Eon boss Barbara Broccoli said her production company’s 25th James Bond film was a “cinematic masterpiece.”
Prior to No Time to Die’s production, auteur director Danny Boyle signed on to direct from a script by his writer John Hodge. But Hodge and Boyle bowed out and things started over with director Cary Fukunaga.
Right now, Bond 26 faces an uncertain future. Christopher Nolan, another auteur director (but a Bond fan who has been influenced by 007 films), is the subject of speculation.
Regardless, there is a question whether Barbara Broccoli, 63, still desires critical acclaim for her Bond movies.
Here is the original 2010 post:
The Peter Morgan situation (fiasco?), where Eon Productions’ flirtation with a “prestige” writer didn’t pan out, got us to thinking about the state of the James Bond movie franchise. As Lt. Columbo on more than one occasion said, “little things” bothered him about a case. So it is with our concerns about the state of the James Bond movie franchise.
Peter Morgan wrote Frost/Nixon and other movies that had the label of being a Very Important Film. So, in 2009, when Eon announced that Morgan would be part of a writing team to script Bond 23, it got a lot of attention, especially among Bond fans. Months after ending his 007 writing efforts, Morgan gave an interview where he indicated he really didn’t care that much for the Bond concept.
In a way, that seems to represent the approach of Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli after the death of Albert R. Broccoli, Eon’s co-founder, in 1996. There have been hints of this for awhile.
Michael Apted got hired to direct 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, even though he had basically no experience directing action films.
But the stepson and daughter of Cubby Broccoli really hit paydirt on the respect scale with 2006’s Casino Royale, which arguably got the best reviews of a 007 film in decades. Part of the reason was co-screenwriter Paul Haggis, known as a writer and director of Very Important Movies, despite the fact he also created the schlocky TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.
That’s a heady thing to ignore. So the duo hired Marc Forster, also known as a director of Very Important Movies, such as Monster’s Ball, to direct Quantum of Solace, with Haggis returning as the lead writer, getting first billing ahead of Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.
The result: a $230 million-budgeted movie that was hard to follow in many places and seemed twice the length of its 106-minute running time, the shortest of the 22-film Eon/Bond series.
For an encore, the Wilson-Broccoli duo hired Peter Morgan to write Bond 23. Now the delay in Bond 23, understandably, is blamed on financial problems at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., 007’s home studio which also controls half of the Bond franchise with Eon.
But even if MGM’s finances hadn’t tanked, there’s some reason to doubt the current Eon regime was up to getting out a Bond film in a reasonable amount of time. In April, when Eon said it was suspending the development of Bond 23 because of MGM’s financial ills, it said the film was originally scheduled for a “2011/2012” release. That would have been three or four YEARS after Quantum of Solace.
What’s more, Morgan revealed in an interview that after months of work in 2009, he had gotten no further than a “treatment” (essentially a detailed outline) and never had gotten around to actually writing a script.
Aside from Morgan himself plus the grateful city of Vienna (where Morgan lives), it’s hard to see who else benefitted from the decision to hire Morgan in the first place.
Morgan made his reputation on films that were lathered in politics. Bond films, while having a few references to the time they were made, tended to be as “timeless” as possible.
Eon’s co-founders, Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, de-emphasized the Cold War roots of Ian Fleming novels such as Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, which formed the basis of the first three films of the series. The Russians were the ultimate villains of all three novels; in the first two films the independent SPECTRE took the place of the Soviets while in Goldfinger, the title character was acting independently with the backing of the Chinese.
Bond 23 has been delayed primarily because of MGM’s financial ills, make no mistake. But even if MGM’s finances were fixed tomorrow, Eon would still have a lot of work to do to get a shootable script ready.
The Broccoli-Saltzman team was able to do four films in four years and, after that, adhere to producing a film every other year (more or less). It’s unimaginable to envision the current Wilson-Broccoli regime sticking to such a schedule.
They seem too busy worrying about their press clippings. The irony: Cubby Broccoli, a supposed hack, in 1982 received the Irving Thalberg Award, one of the most prestigious awards Hollywood gives to one of its own. Does anyone really think either Michael Wilson or Barbara Broccoli will receive that award anytime soon?
Back in 2010, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Under such a filing, a company produces a reorganization plan with the intent of continuing operations while debts are reduced.
At the time, one key element of MGM’s plan was reviving the James Bond film series. At the time, the last Bond film was 2008’s Quantum of Solace and the series was in hiatus.
An excerpt from a 2010 Bloomberg story:
New James Bond films may be released every second year starting in November 2012, MGM said. It aims to own 50 percent of Bond 23, due out that year, with an equal partner paying all of the production costs, it said. Later Bond movies would be wholly owned and funded by MGM, the company said.
Bond 23 would turn out to be Skyfall and it was co-financed by MGM and Sony. MGM kept 75 percent of the profits and Sony 25 percent. Eventually, MGM and Sony cut a two-picture deal, with Sony distributing Bond 23 and 24.
Stop to think about this. If MGM’s plan had come to be, Bond 23 (Skyfall) would be out in 2012, Bond 24 (SPECTRE) in 2014, Bond 25 in 2016, Bond 26 in 2018, Bond 27 in 2020, and Bond 28 in 2022. We’d be anticipating a Bond 29 for 2024.
Evidently, MGM’s bankruptcy filing overlooked (to be kind) how MGM didn’t have complete control over the Bond franchise. Danjaq LLC and its Eon Productions unit control the rights to Bond while MGM provides the financing.
Regardless, MGM’s reorganization plan got approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court and the studio exited bankruptcy.
In 2012, a Sony executive named Rory Bruer said Bond 24 would be out in 2014. Eon boss Barbara Broccoli and star Daniel Craig cut him off at the knees in an interview with Collider.
“He was getting a little overexcited,” Broccoli told Collider. “We’re just actually focusing on this movie. One hopes that in the future we’ll be announcing other films, but no one’s officially announced it.”
“No one’s announced anything,” Craig chimed in. “He got a little ahead of himself.”
Bond 24/SPECTRE, indeed, would not be out until 2015.
MGM management soon backed off the pledge to make a Bond film every other year. By 2016, company management said Bond films would come out on a three- to four-year cycle.”
At this point, having a Bond movie every four years seems like a dream.
The James Bond film franchise has been on the sidelines since the fall of 2021 when No Time to Die was released.
2022, for Eon Productions, was a year of celebration about Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond plus the 60th anniversary of the franchise itself.
For 2023, there are issues related to the franchise and the overall movie industry.
Does Danjaq/Eon have a succession plan? Danjaq (the parent company) and Eon (which makes the movies) are a family business. A famous family business, to be sure. But a family business, nevertheless.
Family businesses can be hard to keep together as the third generation of a family takes over.
In the second generation of Danjaq/Eon, Michael G. Wilson is 81. Barbara Broccoli is 63. Outside the family, nobody knows about a succession plan. The conventional fan wisdom is that Gregg Wilson, Michael’s son, will continue to take on more responsibility while Barbara Broccoli continues.
Danjaq/Eon’s relationship with a new studio regime: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Danjaq’s long-time studio partner, was acquired by Amazon in 2021. When that happened, Eon’s Wilson and Broccoli said they wanted Amazon to keep MGM film executives Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy.
That didn’t happen. The two executives departed MGM in 2022 and landed at Warner Bros.
That raises the question of how well Danjaq/Eon is getting along with the Amazon-owned MGM. Nobody really knows, it’s not something either side is talking about.
Industry changes, rising budgets: No Time to Die had a production budget in the $300 million range (perhaps much more), not including marketing expenses. That makes it harder to turn a profit during a movie’s theatrical run.
In 2023, other films are running into the same math. Variety today published a story about the financial difficulties facing Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One. Both had big, $300 million (or more) budgets. Each is coming up short in their theatrical runs.
Meanwhile, cheaper movies such as Barbie (which has passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office) and Oppenheimer appear to be solidly profitable during their theatrical run before getting to pay-per-view and home video. Barbie’s budget was about $145 million, according to Variety, with Oppenheimer weighing in at about $100 million.
The Bond franchise has found itself in the blockbuster competition. But when the film Bond began 61 years ago, things were more modest. By the time You Only Live Twice (1967) came out, the budget for Ken Adam’s massive volcano set alone matched Dr. No’s $1 million production budget.
Since then, the series has expanded its scope, occasionally dialing things back before going big again. The last two entries, SPECTRE and No Time to Die, have been extremely expensive, even adjusting for inflation.
Of course, the industry itself is experiencing changes with streaming and other issues.
Where do you go from here? Danjaq/Eon is confronting many questions all at the same time. Craig is gone. A successor, presumably, will depend on who comes in as director. Do you stay with the uber-serious Craig tone? Or do you lighten up a bit?
In the summer of 2023, there are more questions than answers.
The Spy Command 