QOS Falls Behind DAD at US Box Office

[Roger Devereau]

Pierce Brosnan's Box Office figures are rather interesting:

(Worldwide figures adjusted for 2006 and nicked from the Klast website)

Goldeneye $463
Tomorrow Never Dies $421
The World Is Not Enough $437
Die Another Day $484

Brosnan had a drop off from GoldenEye with Tomorrow Never Dies. But the take was increased with his next movie, and Die Another Day made more than GoldenEye, which meant Brosnan was more popular than ever with his last film. One wonders how a fifth Brosnan swansong Bond would have done. Brosnan made Bond popular and Daniel Craig benefited from this with Casino Royale.

It remains to be seen if Daniel Craig can remain popular throughout his tenure. We will find out if he comes back for the 23rd Eon movie.

I agree. Brosnan - along with the production team of course - left the Bond series in a heathy state as your figures show. Casino Royale reaped the benefit. Audiences were into Bond. They had to wait four years for another Bond movie. This gap along with new markets such as China, one of the biggest promotional campaigns ever for a foreign film in India, rising cinema attendence figures, masses of extra screens, a new Bond to provide curiosity and a big promotional campaign from Sony resulted in Casino Royale which did as well as Die Another Day.

Quantum of Solace was commerically disappointing, which will have implications on the franchise, possibly a dose of prudence with the expenditure. The style of the movies was criticized and this may result in a drop off for the next.

[crusading_saint]

Die Another Day made more than GoldenEye, which meant Brosnan was more popular than ever with his last film

That Klast website is very, very wrong. See the chart I linked to earlier - GE was the highest attended Bond movie, with DAD second, TWINE third, and TND last.

[James]

... and a big promotional campaign from Sony...

The Craig films have certainly been helped by Sony's money. It was hard to escape QOS/Craig in the press, magazines or on television in the period just prior to its release.

[stockslivevan]

I agree. Brosnan - along with the production team of course - left the Bond series in a heathy state as your figures show. Casino Royale reaped the benefit. Audiences were into Bond. They had to wait four years for another Bond movie. This gap along with new markets such as China, one of the biggest promotional campaigns ever for a foreign film in India, rising cinema attendence figures, masses of extra screens, a new Bond to provide curiosity and a big promotional campaign from Sony resulted in Casino Royale which did as well as Die Another Day.

Yeah, it's just not possible that CR's success was part of its own. It's all curiosity factor.

[Kristatos]

That Klast website is very, very wrong. See the chart I linked to earlier - GE was the highest attended Bond movie, with DAD second, TWINE third, and TND last.

How do you know the Klast site is wrong and the chart you posted is correct?

[Gary Seven]

This statement from an LA Times article probably sums Quantum of Solace up:

Sony also had a James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace," a series it shares with MGM. The picture surely proved the staying power of the franchise, since it nearly equaled the global box office of the preceding Bond film, despite being one of the worst Bond movies ever.

(http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big ... ort-1.html)

[crusading_saint]

How do you know the Klast site is wrong and the chart you posted is correct?

1: The chart I posted is the studio's own data, taken from Exhibitor Relations, Inc.
2: The attendance figures are corroborated elsewhere on the web - google it and they'll come right up - there are multiple sources out there.
3: Every inflation adjusted total posted everywhere else, this site included - and not just by myself - states the inflation adjusted grosses order as the one I posted - GE first, DAD second, etc.
4: The Klast site is using the weirdest method of adjusting for inflation I have ever seen - they take the initial gross, then multiply it by the using the American Institute for Economic Research Cost of Living calculator (!), i.e, they are multiplying the grosses by how much the average cost of living has gone up, not by ticket prices or anything. They even admit that right on the page! That's not the right way to do it.

I mean, if you want to use those figures, be my guest, but using the calculator myself, it claims that adjusted for inflation, DAD only grossed $517m at 2008 prices...making Craig look even better

[HeavenBoy]

You're overlooking the change in exchange rates. Since 2002, the value of the dollar against foreign currencies has fallen considerably. Even with inflation, CR and QOS would look like they had bigger foreign grosses because when you convert them into dollars, there would be more dollars per currency unit than there would have been with DAD seven years ago.

The implications of a falling American gross go beyond box office profits. DAD sold more units of its DVD than CR, and the same will likely be true with QOS. There was much more tie-in advertising and merchandising with the Brosnan films in America, and it seems odd that we've seen no action or collector figures inspired by Craig's films.

The Bond films could be much bigger with real Hollywood producers in charge and an actor with better looks, and more charisma than one-note Craig. The Bond films need to bring back more of the style and sexist charm that we saw in the earlier films. Overall, the films have lost something since Albert Broccoli passed away. We are missing Ken Adam, Maurice Binder, Richard Maibaum and most of all John Barry. They need a world class team like this to make Bond films great films again.

[The Sweeney]

You're overlooking the change in exchange rates. Since 2002, the value of the dollar against foreign currencies has fallen considerably. Even with inflation, CR and QOS would look like they had bigger foreign grosses because when you convert them into dollars, there would be more dollars per currency unit than there would have been with DAD seven years ago.

You could say the same about the English pound right now. Also, QoS has been released in the biggest recession the world has known since the 1920's. Maybe we could factor that in too when looking at the BO success of QoS.

[crusading_saint]

You're overlooking the change in exchange rates. Since 2002, the value of the dollar against foreign currencies has fallen considerably. Even with inflation, CR and QOS would look like they had bigger foreign grosses because when you convert them into dollars, there would be more dollars per currency unit than there would have been with DAD seven years ago.

That is irrelevant - we're looking at worldwide admissions - i.e. tickets sold. That's where the (accurate) inflation adjusted figures come from, not that Klast nonsense. To use an example, DAD sold 78.6m tickets. CR sold 90.2m. Hence, it grossed more when adjusted - it didn't 'appear' to have grossed more - it DID gross more. It sold more tickets - and the exchange rate has nothing to do with that.

[crusading_saint]

You could say the same about the English pound right now.

On the plus side, it makes ordering from Amazon.co.uk a whole lot more affordable

[The Sweeney]

You're overlooking the change in exchange rates. Since 2002, the value of the dollar against foreign currencies has fallen considerably. Even with inflation, CR and QOS would look like they had bigger foreign grosses because when you convert them into dollars, there would be more dollars per currency unit than there would have been with DAD seven years ago.

That is irrelevant - we're looking at worldwide admissions - i.e. tickets sold. That's where the (accurate) inflation adjusted figures come from, not that Klast nonsense. To use an example, DAD sold 78.6m tickets. CR sold 90.2m. Hence, it grossed more when adjusted - it didn't 'appear' to have grossed more - it DID gross more. It sold more tickets - and the exchange rate has nothing to do with that.

I think you're shattering HeavenBoy's dreams here.....

[stockslivevan]

It should be noted that Klast has leaned toward anti-Craig. Note that all of the related articles in Craig's or CR's page are mostly negative (Happy Feet trumps Bond and the like) and there's no links regarding CR's overall critical and commercial success, nothing posted after November 27th. Conviniently the box office chart has CR's numbers incomplete, standing at $399.1 worldwide. QOS's numbers aren't even posted. I suppose Brosnan has something to do with it.

Here's a very biased article about Brosnan with all kinds of BS.
http://www.klast.net/bond/pb_road.html

[Roger Devereau]

It should be noted that Klast has leaned toward anti-Craig. Note that all of the related articles in Craig's or CR's page are mostly negative (Happy Feet trumps Bond and the like) and there's no links regarding CR's overall critical and commercial success, nothing posted after November 27th. Conviniently the box office chart has CR's numbers incomplete, standing at $399.1 worldwide. QOS's numbers aren't even posted. I suppose Brosnan has something to do with it.

Here's a very biased article about Brosnan with all kinds of BS.
http://www.klast.net/bond/pb_road.html

Kimberly Last's James Bond website was one of the first on the internet. It has lots of useful factual information. She is a Pierce Brosnan-old series fan and didn't like the changes to James Bond in Casino Royale. Like many, myself included, she became bored with Bond after the re-boot. As a result she stopped updating her site properly and had a few digs at Daniel Craig. If having an opinion is bullshitting then so be it.

[Kristatos]

Here's a very biased article about Brosnan with all kinds of BS.
http://www.klast.net/bond/pb_road.html

Where's the bias? It seemed pretty factual to me. And since it was written in 1996, it can hardly be accused of Craig-bashing.

[stockslivevan]

Here's a very biased article about Brosnan with all kinds of BS.
http://www.klast.net/bond/pb_road.html

Where's the bias? It seemed pretty factual to me. And since it was written in 1996, it can hardly be accused of Craig-bashing.

I never accused that article of Craig bashing, heck the site doesn't really directly bash Craig but merely uses titles from article. I'm just saying it's very pro-Brozza, what with the putting down with Dalton as if he stole the role away from Brozza.