The Quiet 60th Anniversary of the James Bond Film Series

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the release of the first James Bond film, Dr. No.

As one might guess--the more in as the James Bond film series is now the property of Amazon--the fact is being publicized.

But it is a quiet thing next to the 50th anniversary celebration, which it seemed was being marked in unmissable ways all year long (for instance, in exhibitions at major film festivals the world over).

All this has been rather less conspicuous this year.

One reason, I imagine, is that a 60th anniversary does not have quite the same cachet as the 50th.

Another is that there is no synergy between such commemorations and a much-hyped film release--of which Skyfall took such great advantage, so successfully (parlaying it into the series' only billion-dollar gross to date).

Had No Time to Die come out as planned (without changes of director and concept, without Daniel Craig's injury during filming, etc.) the movie would likely have come out before the COVID-19 pandemic, and left plenty of time for the next Bond movie to be out in 2022. But the delays happened, making for a new release date right as the pandemic was getting going, and the movie ended up being bumped a year and a half--to late 2021. Especially as EON was unlikely to start shooting the next Bond film without seeing how that went (the more in as the film market was still so uncertain, audience interest was uncertain after six years since the last Bond film, the next movie would entail yet another reboot and new choice of lead, etc.) another Bond film before late 2023 was implausible, so that any prospect of a Bond movie coinciding with the anniversary was ruled out years ago.

Still, I can't help wondering if there hasn't also been a significant decrease of interest, into which the low output of films (only two over a period of at least twelve years--a record low for the franchise--and the lukewarm reception of the last two, would seem to have figured), with one possibility I have acknowledged that the series, if still earning respectably, these days falls well short of the biggest blockbusters. (Again, there was only one billion dollar gross to date, with No Time to Die not even breaking $800 million. Spider-Man: No Way Home made more than twice that much.) So it has been for a long time--but the Bond films these days cost as much as those higher-earning movies (the production budgets for Spectre and No Time to Die were both reportedly in the $250-$300 million range), it is hard to have it any other way and aim for even that much, and the producers have to be thinking about how they could reinforce the series' popularity, especially if they take seriously the suggestion that the Bond movies are getting by on the interest of old loyalists rather than renewing their fan base. Whether they manage to do that, I suspect, will decide what the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the series will look like.