text: Intermediate 
  James Bond films are one of the worlds longest running and most successful film series, with 23 movies and more than $6bn earned at box offices around the world. But James Bond shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, Bond is more popular than ever, after the record-breaking performance of Skyfall, which became the biggest ever film at the UK box office in 2012, earning a total of $1.1bn.
  For this reason, there was a lot of interest surrounding the announcement of a few more details about the 24th Bond film  especially its official title, Spectre. The number one question is: can Spectre repeat Skyfalls success?
  Charles Gant, film editor for Heat magazine, says it is heading in the right direction. Skyfall was a brilliant strategic move, he says. It was simultaneously modern and retro. It appealed to fans of Daniel Craig and it also engaged the older, more nostalgic Bond fans, who may have lost interest over the previous few films. With the new title, he adds, it is certain to be a success.
  It seems that Eon Productions, the company originally founded in 1961 to make Dr No and that is behind all the official Bonds, is doing all it can to ensure another success  they are installing the key creative talent behind Skyfall on Spectre. Daniel Craig will play Bond at least until film 25 and the same writers have produced the script.
  But its getting Sam Mendes as director again that gives Bond fans the most hope. A director mainly known for character studies such as American Beauty and Revolutionary Road, Mendes has taken the Bond series to new heights. Gant says: Mendes managed to engage with both the modern and the traditional Bond audience, and he also attracted top actors like Ralph Fiennes. Actors like Fiennes will only agree to be in a film if they like the director.
  Though the Bond series was not in trouble before Mendess arrival  and Craigs  there was a certain amount of staleness towards the end of Pierce Brosnans time as Bond. The series had survived the drying up of original Bond stories to adapt, and the movies were no longer anything like the Ian Fleming originals, but they were lacking dynamism.
  This cycle, however, was nothing new: the history of the Bond series has been one of ebb and flow, revolving most obviously around the lead actor: first, Sean Connery; then, successively, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Brosnan and, now, Craig. Each new Bond has been a response to the state of the series, and some have been more successful than others.
  Lazenby only lasted a single film and Daltons two efforts, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, were during a period in the late 80s when the 007 movie was eclipsed by more aggressive, slick Hollywood action movies. According to Gant, the period of Roger Moores last films, and the Dalton period, didnt really excite audiences. Brosnan was more successful commercially, but Craig has taken Bond to new levels. On the other hand, the early Bonds were incredibly commercial films, sexy and exciting, and there was very little like them.
  Skyfall made more money than all the other Bond films. However, the performance of some of the 1960s films was almost as brilliant by comparison. If you adjust the figures for inflation, the 1965 release, Thunderball, is only just below Skyfall, while Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice both did better than the other Craig films (and the 70s Bonds, The Spy Who Loved Me and Live and Let Die, did better, too). By this calculation, Licence to Kill is the worst-performing of all Bonds, with Moores final film, A View to a Kill, the second least successful.
  Nevertheless, the Bond brand has remained very powerful over the years and Eon has had to fight off attempts by rival companies to capitalize on the popularity of the series. Through a quirk of rights ownership, adaptations of Casino Royale (in 1967) and Thunderball (as Never Say Never Again, in 1983) were released in competition with Eon productions. After legal disputes that continued for many years, Eon now has full control of both books.
  Martin Campbell was another experienced British director and he was able to plan one of the most elaborate stunts in Bond history. In the famous opening scene of Goldeneye (released in 1995), Bond freefalls into a pilotless light aeroplane. This scene really helped modernize the series and increase its popularity. Moreover, a whole new generation was reached through a hugely successful Goldeneye video-game spin-off, which made a significant contribution to perceptions that the Bond film was no longer stale and old-fashioned.