Back on March 25th of this year (132 days ago from writing), I started up on one of the most ambitious missions of my movie-watching life. I decided to watch every single James Bond film, in order. It started off as ambitious because there are 25 films (including two more that aren’t considered canon) to get through, which is a lot. But it turned into even more of an adventure when in May of this year, the films dropped off the face of the streaming world. Every Bond film was available to stream on Netflix, which was what piqued my interest in this little challenge to begin with; but then they vanished. I could have, of course, rented them all on Amazon Prime and called it a day, but it doesn’t really feel like Bezos needs any more of my money especially when Amazon already owns the entire franchise and are choosing to put the films behind a paywall. So I did what any 90s baby would do in my situation, and I slowly started renting them all from my local library system – shout out CEFLS! It is always a treat to support local libraries and revel in the fact that you can still rent DVDs from them, but this also made it a much longer process of requesting the movies, waiting a week for them to arrive at my library, finding time to watch it, and then starting the process over again.
For whatever reason in how my brain works, it felt like I couldn’t come back to this website or clear the blockage to write about any other movies until my own personal Odyssey was completed through this legendary franchise. Do I wish my brain worked differently and that I didn’t just take nearly seven months off from writing about movies for one franchise? Of course, but here we are. This isn’t the first time I’ve saddled myself with such a challenge either – back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, I decided to watch through every Marvel movie in canonical order, which consisted of 22 movies at the time. A few years back, as some of you may remember, I also decided it was a great idea to work through every single movie that Matt Damon had a role in (save for some cameo spots) which consisted of a measly 47 movies. I really don’t know what it is about my brain, but I just can’t help myself from watching everything within a series or franchise and then ranking them for nobody’s pleasure except my own. So once again, here we are.
I don’t pretend to be some sort of expert or critic when it comes to movies, I’m just a guy who likes watching them. I didn’t take any film classes in college or have a camera when I was super young to make my own videos. I didn’t even start to love movies until after I graduated from college, and I probably have the pandemic to thank for that. I realized they provided such a great escape into a different world and were such a beautiful and intriguing way for people to express themselves and create with their love language and it really spoke to me. But I digress. Nobody is here to hear me wax poetic about films as an art or love language…you want to see me put James Bond movies in the order of how much I like them! Right? Guys?
I guess we should get some background info out of the way here too. The franchise started off in 1962 with Sean Connery taking the reins of the titular character in Dr. No. Connery would stay on for the first five films, quit the role, then come back for more money in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, and then quit again (until once again coming back for another fat check in 1983’s Never Say Never Again, which wasn’t produced by Eon and is thus not considered canon). George Lazenby would have a quick cup of tea as our fabled hero in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service before Connery’s aforementioned comeback. After the dust settled, next up was Roger Moore in 1973’s Live and Let Die, and a run of seven straight movies for Moore. In 1987, Timothy Dalton beat out Pierce Brosnan for the role in The Living Daylights and stuck around for Licence to Kill in 1989 before Brosnan would eventually be given the role in 1995 for Goldeneye. From there I believe we are all familiar as Brosnan appeared in three more films before Daniel Craig finally took over in 2006 with Casino Royale, which then brings us to present day. The Broccoli family no longer owns/produces James Bond anymore after having sold it to Amazon (boo) who are currently working on casting the next Bond, for which we know that Denis Villeneuve will be the director (yay).
Connery is often seen as the godfather of the role, having been tasked with bringing the character to life from the pages of Ian Fleming, and getting people interested in the franchise as a whole. He brought a suave charisma to the role and nobody can go more than five minutes of talking about his portrayal without impersonating his infamous Scottish accent. George Lazenby was such an interesting follow up as he had never acted before and was only known as a model. I actually quite enjoyed his portrayal and wish we had gotten more from him, but his agent convinced him to quit right before the premiere of his film because the films would be seen as “archaic” in the 1970s. The Roger Moore era was defined by its campiness and dedication to pushing the envelope with its storytelling. Moore took us to space, showed us he is a world class downhill skier, and fought a man with metal teeth who bites people to death (lol) multiple times, before befriending him. Timothy Dalton ushered in a much more serious and dour feel to the franchise, which was much needed in my opinion. The Moore era was fun (kind of) but got too ridiculous and over the top at the end (including one movie where Moore was older than the Bond girl’s mother, gross) that it felt necessary to have a fresh start and wipe the slate clean. After Dalton we moved into the 90s where Brosnan felt like the perfect actor to usher in the tech era of Bond movies. There were so many computers and touch screens and beep boops and lasers in these movies that it would be impossible to think they came from any other decade. We then finally arrive at the Craig era, which is my (and many other people’s) favorite era for James Bond. We got a lot more serious without becoming melodramatic, the quippiness was back but without the cringe that the Moore era gave us, the tech was high without it being a plot device or a MacGuffin like in the Brosnan movies and Daniel Craig really seemed to understand his role in playing the part of James Bond. Modern technological advances also worked in their favor quite a bit.
Before we move on I do want to do a quick By the Numbers for the entire franchise, just to put the enormity of it all into perspective. P.S. all of the numbers for the rest of this post will be adjusted for inflation in 2024.
By the Numbers
- Total number of films: 251
- Total box office: $20.3 billion2
- Total number of directors: 123
- Total Academy Award nominations: 184
- Total Academy Award wins: 6
- Goldfinger – Best Sound Editing
- Thunderball – Best Special Visual Effects
- Skyfall – Best Sound Editing, Best Original Song
- Spectre – Best Original Song
- No Time to Die – Best Original Song
- Total number of kills: 300-6005
- Most expensive car: Aston Martin One-77 (from Skyfall) was originally priced between $1.4-$2 million6
- Highest grossing film: $1.5 billion (Skyfall)
- Lowest grossing film: $403 million (Licence to Kill)
- Highest Rated on Rotten Tomatoes: 99% (Goldfinger)
- Lowest Rated on Rotten Tomatoes: 36% (A View to a Kill)
Alright that is enough yapping from me now, enjoy my definitive ranking of every single James Bond film and please, hit me up in the comments. I want to start a fight here. I want to argue. My list is correct, and yours is wrong. Okay enjoy.
25. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
- Directed by Guy Hamilton
- Starring Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray
- Budget: $55.7 million
- Box office: $710.8 million
24. Thunderball (1965)
- Directed by Terence Young
- Starring Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi
- Budget: $67.3 million
- Box office: $1.36 billion
23. You Only Live Twice (1967)
- Directed by Lewis Gilbert
- Starring Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Donald Pleasance
- Budget: $96.2 million
- Box office: $825.9 million
22. The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
- Directed by Guy Hamilton
- Starring Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland
- Budget: $44.5 million
- Box office: $536.5 million
21. A View to a Kill (1985)
- Directed by John Glen
- Starring Roger Moore, Grace Jones, Christopher Walken
- Budget: $87.5 million
- Box office: $442 million
20. Octopussy (1983)
- Directed by John Glen
- Starring Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan
- Budget: $86.6 million
- Box office: 600.4 million
19. Die Another Day (2002)
- Directed by Lee Tamahori
- Starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike
- Budget: $247.7 million
- Box office: $747.5 million
18. Dr. No (1962)
- Directed by Terence Young
- Starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman
- Budget: $11.2 million
- Box office: $720.9 million
17. From Russia With Love (1963)
- Directed by Terence Young
- Starring Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Robert Shaw
- Budget: $20.2 million
- Box office: $873.5 million
16. Quantum of Solace (2008)
- Directed by Marc Forster
- Starring Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric
- Budget: $291.4 million
- Box office: $825.9 million
15. Live and Let Die (1973)
- Directed by Guy Hamilton
- Starring Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour
- Budget: $49.5 million
- Box office: $739.4 million
14. Moonraker (1979)
- Directed by Lewis Gilbert
- Starring Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale
- Budget: $147 million
- Box office: $859.3 million
13. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
- Directed by John Glen
- Starring Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Chaim Topol
- Budget: $96.7 million
- Box office: $721.8 million
12. The World Is Not Enough (1999)
- Directed by Michael Apted
- Starring Pierce Brosnan, Denise Richards, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle
- Budget: $254.3 million
- Box office: $705.9 million
11. Licence to Kill (1989)
- Directed by John Glen
- Starring Timothy Dalton, Carey Lowell, Robert Davi
- Budget: $91.1 million
- Box office: $403 million
10. Spectre (2015)
- Directed by Sam Mendes
- Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux
- Budget: $328.5 million
- Box office: $1.10 billion
9. The Living Daylights (1987)
- Directed by John Glen
- Starring Timothy Dalton, Maryam d’Abo, Joe Don Baker, Jeroen Krabbé
- Budget: $110.5 million
- Box office: $503.6 million
8. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
- Directed by Peter R. Hunt
- Starring George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas
- Budget: $59.9 million
- Box office: $468.2 million
7. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
- Directed by Lewis Gilbert
- Starring Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curt Jurgens
- Budget: $72.4 million
- Box office: $856.1 million
6. No Time to Die (2021)
- Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
- Starring Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch
- Budget: $318 million
- Box office: $892.8 million
5. GoldenEye (1995)
- Directed by Martin Campbell
- Starring Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen
- Budget: $123.5 million
- Box office: $832.8 million
4. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
- Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
- Starring Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Pryce, Teri Hatcher
- Budget: $215.1 million
- Box office: $744 million
3. Goldfinger (1964)
- Directed by Guy Hamilton
- Starring Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe
- Budget: $29.9 million
- Box office: $1.31 billion
2. Casino Royale (2006)
- Directed by Martin Campbell
- Starring Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green
- Budget: $240.9 million
- Box office: $947 million
1. Skyfall (2012)
- Directed by Sam Mendes
- Starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes
- Budget: $240 million
- Box office: $1.51 billion
- There are 25 canonical James Bond films that were produced by Eon Productions. There was a Casino Royale spoof that came out in 1967, and the aforementioned Never Say Never Again starring Sean Connery which released in 1983. ↩︎
- This number does not include the two non-Eon produced films. Adjusted for inflation, this number makes it the fifth-highest earning film series of all time behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man, Star Wars, and Harry Potter. ↩︎
- Terence Young, Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert, Peter R. Hunt, John Glen, Martin Campbell, Roger Spottiswoode, Michael Apted, Lee Tamahori, Marc Forster, Sam Mendes, Cary Joji Fukunaga ↩︎
- It was too hard and there isn’t enough data to figure out how many total nominations across all awards shows the series received, so we’re sticking with the Oscars here. ↩︎
- This one is tough to calculate because people count them differently, but the accepted numbers are anywhere from 300 to 600, with 600 being the most used number. ↩︎
- Only 77 units were ever made, making this one of the most exclusive cars ever produced! ↩︎