The James Bond character is a movie character that has stayed many years in the cinema and movie, through generations.
My parents watched James Bond, I watched James Bond and my young nephews, nieces and cousins all watched James Bond as presented during their time.
The character is based on a fictional character of an MI6 agent with a code name 007.
The series are the longest continually running movie series, with the latest release in 2021.
The first release of the James bond movie was the 1962 release, Dr. No, which was based on Ian Fleming's original book series.
Since then, the James Bond movie has risen in momentum, with growing engagement and rankings.
Timeline of James Bond movies
As time went on, the actors for the characters have also changed.
Since 1962, we have had 7 characters play the James Bond role:
- Sean Connery (1962–1967, 1971, 1983)
- David Niven (1967)
- George Lazenby (1969)
- Roger Moore (1973–1985)
- Timothy Dalton (1987–1989)
- Pierce Brosnan (1995–2002)
- Daniel Craig (2006–2021)
The James Bond franchise has made a total of about $7 billion, equivalent to about $14 billion dollars, if you account for inflation.
Skyfall (2012) remains the top grossing of the series, making about $1.1 billion.
The movie series often stray away from the original book where it was adapted from. The closest to the original still remains Casino Royale (2006), portrayed by Daniel Craig.
But the action twisted with romance and the charisma with which the actors take on the role have had us glued to the entertaining series for years.
I remember back then as a young boy when we only had cable TV and those big hunchback televisions when we would watch the James bond series every week on a TV channel that showed the series on weekly basis.
Everyone in the family would sit and watch for the whole hour, from 8pm to 9pm, before we boys went to sleep and our parents would watch the network news.
My highlight in the older series still remains Goldfinger (1964), basically because I remember the movie and loved the plot. Some review websites actually rate it as the best in the series.
The latest movie in the series is No Time To Die (2021).
Here, James Bond is portrayed to have retired from active service but is then summoned by an old CIA friend who asks for help rescue a kidnapped scientist. He ends up being caught up in a twist where he has to deal with a villain with dangerous new technology.
The hype about James Bond movies have more or less been consumed by the fast-paced nature of the movie industry today. So many good movies spanning various genres are being released today that compete well with something as golden as the Bond series.
But then, the James Bond movie series holds its place in history, even up till today as a classic of all time.
And it was indeed a TV show/series I really enjoyed watching as a child.
References:
Electric Literature
Wikipedia
The WOW Report