This Week In Bond (June 28th, 2022)

Any higher and my ears will pop

Are we entering into a Roger resurgence?

If box-office takings of the recent UK cinema re-releases are anything to go by - we certainly are. Last week, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ recorded the highest per-screen average of any of the films to date, even beating ‘Goldfinger.’ [We published a breakdown of the box-office yesterday].

During the Daniel Craig era of the last 15 years, EON has focussed attention on the more serious Bond’s of the back catalog, namely Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby. Whilst this fresh attentiveness to the two often over-looked 007 actors by the general public was a great boost to their standings, it did run the risk of the Bond series being seen as tonally one-note.

With a global pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a cost-of-living crisis at everyone’s doorstep, perhaps people are looking for a bit of good old-fashioned escapist entertainment these days? And with Roger’s era, nobody did it better.

Last weekend, ITV broadcast ‘Live And Let Die’ in prime time on the main channel, and in a landscape of collapsing TV ratings, it pulled in an impressive 1.2 million viewers. The 1973 film beat live sports events such as the Formula 1 race and Royal Ascot coverage. Such was the success for the channel that ITV followed up this Saturday with ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ at 8pm - a slot usually reserved for high profile shows like ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’

All of this appetite could be a sign to EON that the next era of James Bond could be wildly successful if it looked a lot like this:

News

Most of us have only just finished Anthony Horowitz’s fantastic third novel ‘With A Mind To Kill,’ but we can’t stop thinking about what Kim Sherwood is going to bring with her trilogy that starts with ‘Double or Nothing.’ IFP released the final cover artwork today which breaks with recent tradition deploying a bright white cover that’s heavy on gold. It will really pop on bookshelves in September. Looking closely, it appears that IFP has decided on ‘Double O’ as the name of the new series. You can check out the synopsis here.

James Bond producing duo Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson had their investiture at Buckingham Palace today where they were awarded their Commander of the Order of the British Empire medals. Prince William was on hand to perform the royal duties at Buckingham Palace.

Broccoli said they "were still on the hunt" with regards to the next James Bond actor. When asked if they had a favourite Bond film, Wilson said: “We like all of them. We always find something great in every film, especially, you know, the different actors who’ve done magnificent films." But then he said the quiet part out loud and added: “I think, in our hearts, we believe that at least one of their films is outstanding, if not several.”

Listen

They may promise you the moon. We deliver! The UK is now in the middle of the Moore-era as ‘Moonraker’ blasted off on the big screen this weekend - which coincidentally also marked the same day as the film premiered back in 1979. We gathered Calvin Dyson, Joe Darlington, and Bill Koenig to discuss 007’s out-of-this-world adventure. Which are the most interesting ingredients of the Bond cocktail that the panel deemed particularly important - good or bad - for this record-breaking film?

Watch

One of the trivia tidbits discussed in this week’s podcast was the unique ‘Moonraker’ teaser trailer created by exhibitor Pearl & Dean for UK cinema audiences back in 1978. People were caught a bit off guard as the trailer was disguised and wedged in the middle of the regular commercials rather than the usual ‘forthcoming attractions’ block. It is one of the most unique bits of big-screen Bond promotion in the series.

MI6 Archives

Winter 2002: ‘Die Another Day’ was about to come out and Empire magazine published an interview with Pierce Brosnan in their December issue. Although nobody had seen the film yet, talk was of what the next one would be.

[EON] would be more than happy for him to stay. At the time he mentioned a fifth, and then it might be time to take stock. "There is a lot of truth in that," he laughs. "I think if you can maintain physical stamina, emotional stamina, it would be good to do another one. I would like to do another one, sure. Connery did six. Six would be a number and then never come back..."

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Issue #65 of MI6 Confidential is back from the printers and we’re preparing to ship it out to subscribers in early July. If you haven’t already renewed or set up a new subscription for 2022, now would be a great time as we’ll ship out our current issue #64 along with the new #65, and then two more issues later in the year. Deluxe subscribers will also receive our 120-page special publication that we can reveal has been written by two Bond authors. Click here to join in!

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