Inspired by the novels of Ian Fleming, a series of British spy films were released in the 60s are still being produced. They are the James Bond movies. They are about the fictional M16 agent by name James Bond, his code name being 007. This is one of the longest running film series in the history of cinema with an ongoing production from 1962 to 2008, with a short hiatus between 1989 and 1995. It was EON Productions that produced 22 films in association with Pinewood Studios and the films have grossed more than $10 billion in box office. There were also two other independent productions and an American television adaptation of the first novel of Ian Fleming.
One Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman co-produced the EON James Bond films till 1975 and in 1975, Broccoli became the sole producer. Broccoli’s daughter, Barbara and his stepson, Michael G. Wilson started co-producing the films since 1995.
Till now, six actors have donned the role of James Bond in the EON series. Broccoli’s family through EON and United Artists co-owned James Bond film series since the middle of the 1970’s though distribution was done by various other companies like MGM, MGM/UA Entertainment Company, UA solely and Columbia Pictures (Sony Pictures Entertainment now owns MGM and is the parent company of Columbia Pictures).
1980s saw the end of the common creative team that had been working on the Bond films since the beginning in 1962, including Albert Broccoli as producer. Broccoli died soon after Brosnon’s film was released. He had produced or co-produced 16 Bond films. For 14 Bond films, title sequences were designed by Maurice Binder, Richard Maibaum had scripted or co-scripted 13 films, John Barry had scored for 11 and Ken Adam had designed sets for 7. Terence Young directed 3, Guy Hamilton, 4, Lewis Gilbert, 3 and John Glenn, 5 Bond films, while “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” was directed by Lazenby.
Martin Campbell directed Golden Eye and Casino Royale. Neal Purvis wrote screenplays for 4 films during the period from 1995 and 2008, collaborating with Robert Wade. During this period, five films were scored by David Arnold.
Except Marc Foster, who is a German-Swiss, all other directors of Bond films were either from Britain or from a Commonwealth country. In the late 1970’s, Steven Spielberg attempted to win direction of a Bond film, but due to commercial reasons, the attempt did not bear fruits.
The early Bond films were made on the story-lines of Fleming but later films bore only the titles of Fleming’s novels or short stories but character names, locales or locations were borrowed from Fleming.
Original titles of Fleming were used for the last Dalton film and all four Brosnan films, leaving only four Fleming titles unused. License to Kill and The World Is Not Enough are phrases from Ian Fleming novels. Golden Eye was the name of Fleming’s estate in Jamaica and an operation he was part of, during World War II. The only film titles that have no link to Fleming are Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and Never Say Never Again. The 22nd Bond film released in 2008 was titled Quantum of Solace.
Writers have already been hired in 2009 for the 23rd Bond film and it is due to release in 2011. Daniel Craig is returning as James Bond. Peter Morgan is co-writing the film with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. This 23rd film may borrow the name from Fleming’s unused 4 titles, Risico, The Hildebrand Rarity, The Property of a Lady and 007 in New York. Craig and Barbara Broccoli expressed hopes that they would be having great fun in producing this 23rd Bond film.