James Bond movies, ranked, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig – CNET [CNET]

We’re talking Bond movies, James Bond movies

Mayday, mayday …

A View to a Kill, co-starring Grace Jones as Bond baddie (and eventual ally) May Day, is Roger Moore’s seventh and final 007 movie. “The James Bond series has had its bummers, but nothing before in the class of this one,” Pauline Kael wrote for The New Yorker. 

25. The Man with the Golden Gun

Off target

The Man with the Golden Gun, featuring Christopher Lee as the Bond villain Scaramanga, grossed $97.6 million worldwide, the weakest box-office performance by any of the Roger Moore 007 films.   

Snake eyes

1967’s Casino Royale, featuring David Niven, grossed a franchise-worst $41.7 million worldwide. 

On the bright side

Aside from its reviews, For Your Eyes Only is a success of the Roger Moore era: It earned an Oscar nomination for its Sheena Easton-crooned title song; and it grossed $195.3 million worldwide — the second-best box office showing for a Moore installment.  

20 (tie). The Spy Who Loved Me

Something to sink your teeth into

The Spy Who Loved Me, featuring the first of two franchise appearances by Richard Kiel as the villainous Jaws, grossed $185.4 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest box office hits of its release year.    

20 (tie). Live and Let Die

Spellbound

At the box office, Live and Let Die, co-starring Geoffrey Holder as the voodoo-practicing henchman Baron Samedi, and featuring the hit title song by Paul McCartney’s Wings, was a big step up from the previous Sean Connery film, Diamonds Are Forever. It grossed $161.8 million worldwide.  

Going out on top

Co-starring then-reigning Oscar winner Halle Berry as Bond girl Jinx Johnson, and featuring the hit title track by Madonna, Die Another Day grossed more money than any other Pierce Brosnan 007 film: $431.9 million worldwide. 

18. The World Is Not Enough

Hanging in there

The World Is Not Enough, co-starring Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, grossed a solid $361.7 million at the worldwide box office. 

16 (tie). Licence to Kill

End of the road

Licence to Kill, featuring Carey Lowell as Bond girl Pam Bouvier, grossed $156.2 million worldwide — a big drop at the box office compared with the Dalton’s previous 007 film.

16 (tie). Quantum of Solace

Good news, bad news

On one hand, Quantum of Solace, co-starring Mathieu Amalric as Bond villain Dominic Greene, is the fourth-biggest-grossing James Bond movie of all time, with $591.7 million in worldwide ticket sales. On the other hand, the film is the lowest-grossing James Bond film starring Daniel Craig.  

Not quite a gem

Diamonds Are Forever co-stars Jill St. John as Bond girl Tiffany Case. Among the Sean Connery 007 installments, the movie grossed a middling $116 million worldwide. 

Big hit

Spectre, co-starring Christoph Waltz as a new take on the old reliable Bond villain Blofeld, grossed a whopping $879.6 million worldwide, the second-biggest take for the franchise.

13 (tie). The Living Daylights

On the upswing

The Living Daylights outgrossed its predecessor, Roger Moore’s A View to a Kill, by nearly $40 million, for a worldwide box office total of $191.2 million. 

11 (tie). On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

The happy couple

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service broke new ground with a James Bond wedding, featuring Diana Rigg as 007’s ill-fated bride, Tracy di Vincenzo. At the box office, though, the film fell flat with an $82 million worldwide gross. 

11 (tie). You Only Live Twice

Throw the movie a frickin’ bone here!

For a Sean Connery James Bond movie, You Only Live Twice grossed a so-so $111.6 million worldwide. The film is nonetheless influential: Its cat-petting iteration of Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasence) inspired the Austin Powers franchise’s Dr. Evil.   

Bond woman

Octopussy, co-starring Maud Adams in her second franchise outing (after The Man with the Golden Gun), as the titular character, grossed a solid $187.5 million worldwide. 

On the beach

Thunderball, featuring Martine Beswick, another two-time Bond girl (she also appears in From Russia with Love), is the top-grossing Sean Connery 007 movie of the 1960s and 1970s: It took in $141.2 million in worldwide ticket sales. 

Bull’s-eye

GoldenEye, featuring Famke Janssen as Bond girl Xenia Zaragevna Onatopp, grossed a then-huge $356.4 million worldwide. Pent-up demand may have helped: The 1995 film was the first James Bond movie since Timothy Dalton’s License to Kill, released six years prior. 

To infinity and beyond

Moonraker, co-starring Lois Chiles as astronaut Holly Goodhead (yes, really), is the ninth-biggest-grossing James Bond movie of all time, with $210.3 million in worldwide ticket sales. 

Legend

Dr. No, featuring Ursula Andress as original Bond girl Honey Ryder (yes, really), was one of 1963’s Top 10 box-office hits. It grossed $59.6 million worldwide.

Lotte villainy

From Russia with Love, featuring Lotte Lenya as Bond baddie Rosa Klebb, grossed $78.9 million worldwide, a take that represented significant growth over Dr. No, and firmly established 007 as a franchise to watch.