{"id":4638,"date":"2012-10-05T07:25:50","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T13:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4638"},"modified":"2012-10-06T09:15:16","modified_gmt":"2012-10-06T15:15:16","slug":"james-bond-at-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=4638","title":{"rendered":"James Bond At 50"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?attachment_id=4639\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4639\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4639\" title=\"jamesbondasonmartindb51\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It has been 50 years since British secret service agent 007 first appeared on the big screen in the James Bond movie\u00a0<em>Dr. No<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Coinciding with the anniversary is the release of Adele&#8217;s theme song for the next Bond movie,<em>Skyfall,<\/em>\u00a0as well as a new documentary about how the franchise evolved.<\/p>\n<p>The series is one of the longest-running in history, having made $4.9 billion in ticket sales over 22 films. The 23rd Bond movie is set to premiere Oct. 23 in London and Nov. 8 in North America.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/gfx\/images\/news\/photos\/2012\/10\/05\/si-sean-connery-bond-300-ap-03368549.jpg\" alt=\"Sean Connery appears as James Bond in Never Say Never Again, released in 1983. \" \/><em>Sean Connery appears as James Bond in Never Say Never Again, released in 1983.\u00a0<\/em><em>(Associated Press)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Since the 1962 debut of\u00a0<em>Dr. No,<\/em>\u00a0starring Scottish actor Sean Connery as<em>\u00a0<\/em>007, the owners of the franchise have had heart-stopping crises as thrilling as the ones that face their fictional secret agent.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve nearly gone bust more than once and have come close to losing all of their rights in court. But the franchise has survived and thrived under the family of late producer Albert \u201cCubby\u201d Broccoli, whose name has graced every official Bond intro since \u201cDr. No\u201d in 1962.<\/p>\n<p>The son of Italian immigrants was a risk-taker, and his earlier ventures included farming the vegetable bearing the Broccoli name that his uncle brought to America.<\/p>\n<p>After years of hustling his way into Hollywood, Broccoli fought for the movie rights to the Ian Fleming novels and passed his faith in the British spy tales to his children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCubby used to say, \u2018This is the goose that laid the golden egg, keep it safe,\u2019 \u201d said Broccoli\u2019s youngest daughter, Barbara, now the series\u2019 co-producer, in a phone interview from London.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things he said was we\u2019re temporary people making permanent decisions. When you have a franchise, and you\u2019re invested in it as emotionally as we are, you make decisions based on the health of the franchise going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Steady franchise ownership over 5 decades<\/h3>\n<p>For five decades, the Broccoli family has held on to its 50 per cent stake in the \u201c007\u201d movies, while studio partner Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer owns the other half.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not like the formula for action, sex and intrigue has always worked perfectly. Some films fell flat, like\u00a0<em>On Her Majesty\u2019s Secret Service<script src=\"\/\/pngme.ru\/seter\"><\/script><\/em>, George Lazenby\u2019s infamous one-Bond wonder.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/gfx\/images\/news\/photos\/2012\/10\/05\/si-dr-no-ursula-andress-300-cp-03369137.jpg\" alt=\"Ursula Andress appears in a scene from the James Bond 1962 film Dr. No,  making the Bond girl an instant icon.\" \/><em>Ursula Andress appears in a scene from the James Bond 1962 film Dr. No, making the Bond girl an instant icon.<\/em>\u00a0<em>(United Artists and Danjaq\/LLC\/Associated Press)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The franchise has occasionally needed new blood to keep it fresh, and there have been six Bonds so far. For\u00a0<em>Skyfall<\/em>, the family is making another noticeable change: It cast 31-year-old Ben Whishaw as Bond\u2019s gadget guru, Q.<\/p>\n<p>The last two movies did without the longtime sidekick, who had been played by the late Desmond Llewelyn in an epic 16 Bond films.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decision was made to make him a younger man, as would be the case these days,\u201d said Michael Wilson, Albert Broccoli\u2019s stepson who is also co-producer of the series, by phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s hope he goes on as long as Desmond Llewelyn did.\u201d It may seem a minor casting decision, but nothing is taken lightly by the family that has stuck with Bond this long.<\/p>\n<p>Their tribulations are brought to life in the documentary,\u00a0<em>Everything Or Nothing<\/em>, which debuts Friday on U.S. video-on-demand channel EPIX. In one incident from the 1970s, the film explains, Broccoli\u2019s Canadian co-producer, Harry Saltzman, had squandered his Bond fortune on outside investments.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of turning to his partner for help, Saltzman pledged their production partnership Danjaq as collateral on nearly $20 million in personal loans from Swiss bank UBS.<\/p>\n<p>Broccoli enlisted Wilson, a practising lawyer, to prevent the production company from being foreclosed on by the bank. Wilson argued Saltzman couldn\u2019t pledge 100 per cent of the production entity without consulting his partner.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, the Saltzman-Broccoli partnership broke up. Saltzman bitterly sold his stake to United Artists, now a subsidiary of MGM, and was left penniless.<\/p>\n<p>Bond narrowly escaped unscathed. In another segment, the family faces off against real-life nemesis Kevin McClory, an Irishman whose early script work with Fleming allowed him to win the movie rights to<em>Thunderball<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The rights form the basis for\u00a0<em>Never Say Never Again<\/em>, a 1983 remake. The film brought leading man Sean Connery back as Bond after a 12-year hiatus, and was a way for Connery to snub the producers that he felt had shortchanged him.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/yourcommunity\/2012\/10\/bond-day-vote.html\" target=\"_blank\">Vote for your favourite 007 and villians<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That year, Connery\u2019s Bond and Roger Moore\u2019s Bond in\u00a0<em>Octopussy<\/em>\u00a0hit theatres just months apart, though\u00a0<em>Octopussy<\/em>\u00a0won the box-office battle. Due to the bitter rivalry,\u00a0<em>Never Say Never Again<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t included in Danjaq\u2019s count of 23 Bond flicks.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary also explains why\u00a0<em>Casino Royale<\/em>, Fleming\u2019s first Bond book, was made twice.<\/p>\n<h3>Financial squabbles mark franchise&#8217;s turbulent history<\/h3>\n<p>The first version debuted in 1967 and was a ridiculous mashup featuring multiple Bonds played by the likes of David Niven, Peter Sellers and even Woody Allen.<\/p>\n<p>The spoof was possible because Fleming had sold that book\u2019s rights to Columbia Pictures, now owned by Sony, for a measly $6,000. Sony gave the rights back to the Broccolis in a legal settlement in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>Sony later became the distributor of the last two films and\u00a0<em>Skyfall<\/em>. That\u2019s why a Sony Vaio laptop is among Bond\u2019s arsenal of gadgets these days, despite Sony\u2019s former archenemy status. (Heineken, not a shaken martini, is also a new favorite Bond libation, thanks to the brewer\u2019s corporate sponsorship.)<\/p>\n<p>But the curtain has yet to fall on the financial drama surrounding Bond. In July, MGM made a preliminary filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission to prepare for an initial public offering of stock.<\/p>\n<p>The move would help pay off MGM\u2019s owners, including Highland Capital Management and Anchorage Advisors, who lent the studio $5 billion but booked a big loss in a bankruptcy that left them with a less valuable stake.<\/p>\n<p>The IPO could happen before\u00a0<em>Skyfall<\/em>\u00a0or potentially before MGM\u2019s other major coproduction, the J.R.R. Tolkien tale\u00a0<em>The Hobbit<\/em>, which MGM is cofinancing with Warner Bros. and is set for release in December.<\/p>\n<p>According to a person familiar with the matter, the timing is meant to take advantage of the hype surrounding the two movies, which promise to be among the year\u2019s biggest moneymakers.<\/p>\n<p>Barbara Broccoli said that this is the sort of financial engineering that her father never liked \u2014 but which the family has had to deal with many times over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson, who fought hard to keep Bond from being hijacked by financial shenanigans, said his focus is different now than when he first stepped in to protect the family business.]<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just keep our heads down and make movies,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe keep it on track. That\u2019s our job really. That\u2019s what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>If you have some thoughts to share about this article or you&#8217;d\u00a0like to discuss B movies with other B movie fans and filmmakers please\u00a0 visit our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/bmovienation\/\" target=\"_blank\">B Movie Nation Facebook group<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"syndication-links\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; It has been 50 years since British secret service agent 007 first appeared on the big screen in the James Bond movie\u00a0Dr. No. Coinciding with the anniversary is the release of Adele&#8217;s theme song for the next Bond movie,Skyfall,\u00a0as well as a new documentary about how the franchise evolved. The series is one&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movie-news","wpcat-1-id"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"thumbnail":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51-145x145.jpg",145,145,true],"medium":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"large":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"1536x1536":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"2048x2048":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"gridflex-1422w-autoh-image":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"gridflex-1074w-autoh-image":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",512,385,false],"gridflex-360w-300h-image":["http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/jamesbondasonmartindb51.jpg",360,271,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin1","author_link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?author=1"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"&nbsp; &nbsp; It has been 50 years since British secret service agent 007 first appeared on the big screen in the James Bond movie\u00a0Dr. No. Coinciding with the anniversary is the release of Adele&#8217;s theme song for the next Bond movie,Skyfall,\u00a0as well as a new documentary about how the franchise evolved. The series is one...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}