JAMES BOND - SPECTRE - Card #019 - Hinx / Dave Bautista - Rittenhouse 2016 For Sale

JAMESBOND - SPECTRE - Individual Trading Card from the Base Setissued by Rittenhouse Archives in 2016.

Spectreis the 24th instalment in the James Bondfilm series produced by Eon Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer andColumbia Pictures. It is Daniel Craig\'s fourth performance as JamesBond, and the second film in the series directed by Sam Mendesfollowing Skyfall,with a screenplay written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade andJez Butterworth.

DaveBautista was cast as Mr. Hinx after producers sought an actor with abackground in contact sports. The character only has one line in theentire film, \"Shit\". Sam Mendes thought the silent naturewould drive Bautista away, but the life-long Bond fan expressedinterest in reviving the quiet henchmen archetype of characters suchas Jaws. Bautista inspired his performance mostly on Oddjob fromGoldfinger,and said not talking created an acting challenge, “trying to findthis way where I am actually going to have speak without speaking.\"After casting Bérénice Lim Marlohe, a relative newcomer, asSévérine in Skyfall,Mendes consciously sought out a more experienced actor for the roleof Madeleine Swann, ultimately casting Léa Seydoux in the role.Monica Bellucci joined the cast as Lucia Sciarra, becoming, at theage of fifty, the oldest actress to be cast as a Bond girl. In aseparate interview with Danish website Euroman, Jesper Christensenrevealed he would be reprising his role as Mr. White from CasinoRoyale and Quantumof Solace. Christensen\'s character wasreportedly killed off in a scene intended to be used as an epilogueto Quantum of Solace,before it was removed from the final cut of the film, enabling hisreturn in Spectre.Thestory sees Bond pitted against the global criminal organisationSpectre and their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Bond attempts tothwart Blofeld\'s plan to launch a global surveillance network, anddiscovers Spectre and Blofeld were behind the events of the previousthree films. The film marks Spectre and Blofeld\'s first appearance inan Eon Productions film since 1971\'s DiamondsAre Forever with Christoph Waltzplaying the organisation\'s leader. Several recurring JamesBond characters, including M, Q and EveMoneypenny return, with the new additions of Léa Seydoux as Dr.Madeleine Swann, Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx, Andrew Scott as MaxDenbigh and Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra.

Inaddition to the principal cast, Alessandro Cremona was cast as MarcoSciarra, Stephanie Sigman was cast as Estrella, and Detlef Bothe wascast as a villain for scenes shot in Austria. In February 2015 overfifteen hundred extras were hired for the pre-title sequence set inMexico, though they were duplicated in the film, giving the effect ofaround ten thousand extras.

Filming

Mendesrevealed that production would begin on 8 December 2014 at PinewoodStudios, with filming taking seven months. Mendes also confirmedseveral filming locations, including London, Mexico City and Rome.Van Hoytema shot the film on Kodak 35mm film stock, in contrastto Skyfallbeing filmed on digital cameras. Early filming took place at PinewoodStudios, and around London, with scenes variously featuring Craig andHarris at Bond\'s flat, and Craig and Kinnear travelling down theRiver Thames.

Filmingstarted in Austria in December 2014, with production taking in thearea around Sölden—including the Ötztal Glacier Road, Rettenbachglacier and the adjacent ski resort and cable car station—andObertilliach and Lake Altaussee, before concluding in February 2015.Scenes filmed in Austria centred on the Ice Q Restaurant, standing infor the fictional Hoffler Klinik, a private medical clinic in theAustrian Alps. Filming included an action scene featuring a LandRover Defender Bigfoot and a Range Rover Sport. Various airplanemodels were used in filming, from a life-sized plane with detachablewings to film the crash in the woods, to plane fuselages either builtatop snowmobiles or shot from nitrogen cannons. Production wastemporarily halted first by an injury to Craig, who sprained his kneewhilst shooting a fight scene, and later by an accident involving afilming vehicle that saw three crew members injured, at least one ofthem seriously.

Filmingtemporarily returned to England to shoot scenes at Blenheim Palace inOxfordshire, which stood in for a location in Rome, before moving onto the city itself for a five-week shoot across the city, withlocations including the Ponte Sisto bridge and the Roman Forum. Theproduction faced opposition from a variety of special interest groupsand city authorities, who were concerned about the potential fordamage to historical sites around the city, and problems withgraffiti and rubbish appearing in the film. Special effectssupervisor Chris Corbould stated the scenes had to be extensivelyplanned prior to filming specially to avoid any mishaps, going to thepoint of building protection above steps where cars would drive. Acar chase scene set along the banks of the Tiber River and throughthe streets of Rome featured an Aston Martin DB10 and a Jaguar C-X75.The C-X75 was originally developed as a hybrid electric vehicle withfour independent electric engines powered by two jet turbines, beforethe project was cancelled. The version used for filming was convertedto use a conventional internal combustion engine, to minimise thepotential for disruption from mechanical problems with the complexhybrid system. The C-X75s used for filming were developed by theengineering division of Formula One racing team Williams, who builtthe original C-X75 prototype for Jaguar. Remote driving pods werebuilt above the cars so the vehicles could be driven while thecameras focused on Craig and Bautista in the steering wheel.According to chief stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell, filming the chasehad the \"risk of skidding into the Vatican\", and led to \"arecord for smashing up cars in Spectre– seven Aston Martins in all,” with the film\'s car expensesestimated at £24 million ($48 million).

Withfilming completed in Rome, production moved to Mexico City in lateMarch to shoot the film\'s opening sequence, with scenes to includethe Day of the Dead festival filmed in and around the Zócalo and theCentro Histórico district. At the time, no such Day of the Deadparade like the one from the film took place in Mexico City; in 2016,due to the interest raised by Spectreand the government\'s desire to promote the pre-Hispanic Mexicanculture, the federal and local authorities decided to organize anactual \"Día de los Muertos\" parade through Paseo de laReforma and Centro Historico on 29 October 2016, which was attendedby 250,000 people. The film opens with a long take that joins sixshots seamlessly, and was one of the few scenes that requiredprevisualization. Through extensive planning, filming did not requiremotion control cameras. The scene joints were done in post-productionthrough re-timing and re-projections, which even matched Mexicolocations with interiors filmed at Pinewood.

Theplanned scenes required the city square to be closed for filming asequence involving a fight aboard a Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo105 helicopter flown by stunt pilot Chuck Aaron, which called formodifications to be made to several buildings to prevent damage. Thisparticular scene in Mexico required 1,500 extras, 10 giant skeletonsand 250,000 paper flowers. Reports in the Mexican media added thatthe film\'s second unit would move to Palenque in the state ofChiapas, to film aerial manoeuvres considered too dangerous to shootin an urban area. These were pasted over a computer-generated squareand crowd below the helicopter, with motion capture doubles fightinginside. Mendes and the effects team felt that this approach \"wouldget believable composition and movement\" compared to adding adigital helicopter above the Mexico City location. Following filmingin Mexico, and during a scheduled break, Craig was flown to New Yorkto undergo minor surgery to fix his knee injury. It was reported thatfilming was not affected and he had returned to filming at PinewoodStudios as planned on 22 April. Still, some parts of the Mexico scenewere done with stunt doubles, whose faces were digitally replacedwith Craig.

A briefshoot at London\'s City Hall was filmed on 18 April 2015, while Mendeswas on location. On 17 May 2015 filming took place on the Thames inLondon. Stunt scenes involving Craig and Seydoux on a speedboat aswell as a low flying helicopter near Westminster Bridge were shot atnight, with filming temporarily closing both Westminster and LambethBridges. Scenes were also shot on the river near MI6\'s headquartersat Vauxhall Cross. The crew returned to the river less than a weeklater to film scenes solely set on Westminster Bridge. The LondonFire Brigade was on set to simulate rain as well as monitor smokeused for filming. Craig, Seydoux, and Waltz, as well as Harris andFiennes, were seen being filmed. Prior to this, scenes involvingFiennes were shot at a restaurant in Covent Garden. Filming then tookplace in Trafalgar Square. In early June, the crew, as well as Craig,Seydoux, and Waltz, returned to the Thames for a final time tocontinue filming scenes previously shot on the river. Blofeld\'shelicopter crash was done with two full sized helicopter shells,which were rigged with steelwork and an overhead track.Computer-generated rotor blades and scenery damage were added inpost-production. The MI-6 building, which in the film is vacated andscheduled for demolition following the terrorist attack from Skyfall,was replaced in the production plates for a digital reconstruction.When the building is detonated, it is a combination of both aminiature and a breakaway version of the digital building.

Afterwrapping up in England, production travelled to Morocco in June, withfilming taking place in Oujda, Tangier and Erfoud, after preliminarywork was completed by the production\'s second unit. The headquartersof Spectre in Morocco was located in Gara Medouar which is a \'crater\'caused by erosion and of neither volcanic nor impact origin. Anexplosion filmed in Morocco holds a Guinness World Record for the\"Largest film stunt explosion\" in cinematic history,involving 8,140 litres of kerosene and 24 charges each with akilogram of high explosives. Principal photography concluded on 5July 2015. A wrap-up party for Spectrewas held in commemoration before entering post-production. Filmingtook 128 days.

Whilstfilming in Mexico City, speculation in the media claimed that thescript had been altered to accommodate the demands of Mexicanauthorities—reportedly influencing details of the scene andcharacters, casting choices, and modifying the script to portray thecountry in a \"positive light\"—to secure tax concessionsand financial support worth up to $20 million for the film. This wasdenied by producer Michael G. Wilson, who stated that the scene hadalways been intended to be shot in Mexico as production had beenattracted to the imagery of the Day of the Dead, and that the scripthad been developed from there. Production of Skyfallhad previously faced similar problems while attempting to securepermits to shoot the film\'s pre-title sequence in India before movingto Istanbul.

Fivecompanies did the visual effects – Cinesite, Double Negative, ILMLondon, Moving Picture Company and Peerless – under the supervisionof Steve Begg. The computer-generated effects included setextensions, digital touches on the vehicles, and crumbling buildings.A sixth one, Framestore, handled the title sequence, the seventh inthe series designed by Daniel Kleinman. It took four months tocomplete, and centred on an octopus motif reminiscent of the Spectrelogo, along with images of love and relationships.

Musicand soundtrack

ThomasNewman returned as Spectre\'scomposer. Rather than composing the score once the film had movedinto post-production, Newman worked during filming. The theatricaltrailer released in July 2015 contained a rendition of John Barry\'sOn Her Majesty\'s Secret Servicetheme. Mendes revealed that the final film would have more than onehundred minutes of music. The soundtrack album was released on 23October 2015 in the UK and 6 November 2015 in the USA on the DeccaRecords label.

InSeptember 2015 it was announced that Sam Smith and regularcollaborator Jimmy Napes had written the film\'s title theme,\"Writing\'s on the Wall\", with Smith performing it for thefilm. Smith said the song came together in one session and that heand Napes wrote it in under half an hour before recording a demo.Satisfied with the quality, the filmmakers used the demo in the finalrelease. The English band Radiohead also composed a song for thefilm, but it was rejected, according to guitarist Jonny Greenwood,for being \"too dark\".

\"Writing\'son the Wall\" was released as a download on 25 September 2015. Itreceived mixed reviews from critics and fans, particularly incomparison to Adele\'s \"Skyfall\", leading to Shirley Basseytrending on Twitter on the day it was released. It became the firstBond theme to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart, the second towin the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and the fifth to benominated. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Songat the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.

Marketing

Duringthe December 2014 press conference announcing the start of filming,Aston Martin and Eon unveiled the new DB10 as the official car forthe film. The DB10 was designed in collaboration between Aston Martinand the filmmakers, with only 10 being produced especially forSpectre asa celebration of the 50th anniversary of the company\'s associationwith the franchise. Only eight of those 10 were used for the film,however; the remaining two were used for promotional work. Aftermodifying the Jaguar C-X75 for the film, Williams F1 carried the 007logo on their cars at the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix, with the teamplaying host to the cast and crew ahead of the Mexican premiere ofthe film.

Topromote the film, the film\'s marketers continued the trendestablished during Skyfall\'sproduction of releasing still images of clapperboards and video blogson Eon\'s official social media accounts. 17 brands appear in the filmthrough product placement, and many of those, such as Heineken,Bollinger, Omega and Sony – owner of the film\'s co-distributorColumbia Pictures – did Spectretie-in advertisements.

On 13March 2015, several members of the cast and crew, including Craig,Whishaw, Wilson and Mendes, as well as previous James Bond actor, SirRoger Moore, appeared in a sketch written by David Walliams and theDawson Brothers for Comic Relief\'s Red Nose Day on BBC One. In thesketch, they film a behind-the-scenes mockumentary on the filming ofSpectre.The first teaser trailer for Spectrewas released worldwide in March 2015, followed by the theatricaltrailer in July and the final trailer in October.

Release

Spectrehad its world premiere in London on 26 October 2015 at the RoyalAlbert Hall, the same day as its general release in the UnitedKingdom and Republic of Ireland. Following the announcement of thestart of filming, Paramount Pictures brought forward the release ofMission: Impossible– RogueNation to avoid competing with Spectre.In March 2015 IMAX corporation announced that Spectrewould be screened in its cinemas, following Skyfall\'ssuccess with the company. In the UK it received a wider release thanSkyfall,with a minimum of 647 cinemas including 40 IMAX screens, compared toSkyfall\'s587 locations and 21 IMAX screens.

Homemedia

Spectrewas released for digital HD on 22 January 2016 and on DVD and Blu-rayon 9 and 22 February 2016 in the US and UK respectively. It debutedatop the home video charts in both countries, and finished 2016 with1.5 million units in the UK, the second best-selling title of theyear – behind only Star Wars: TheForce Awakens - and 2 million copies inthe US, 12th in the year-end $880.7 million worldwide; $135.5 million of the takings weregenerated from the UK market and $200.1 million from North America.Worldwide, this made it the second highest-grossing JamesBond film after Skyfall,and the sixth highest-grossing film of 2015. Deadline.com calculatedthe net profit of the film to be $98.4 million when factoringtogether all expenses and revenues for the film. Sony had expectedthe net profit of the film to be around $38 million had it performedto the same level of its predecessor. But since it earned 20 per centless than Skyfall,the profit in actual was $24.6 million. Sony paid 50 percent of theproduction costs for the film — which totalled some $250 millionafter accounting for government incentives — but received only 25percent of certain profits, once costs were recouped. The studio alsospent tens of millions of dollars in marketing and had to give MGM apiece of the profit from the studio\'s non-Bond films, including 22Jump Street.

In theUnited Kingdom, the film grossed £4.1 million ($6.4 million) fromits Monday preview screenings. It grossed £6.3 million ($9.2million) on its opening day and then £5.7 million ($8.8 million) onWednesday, setting UK records for both days. In the film\'s firstseven days it grossed £41.7 million ($63.8 million), breaking the UKrecord for highest first-week opening, set by HarryPotter and the Prisoner of Azkaban\'s£23.9 million ($36.9 million) in 2004. Its Friday–Saturday grosswas £20.4 million ($31.2 million) compared to Skyfall\'s£20.1 million ($31 million). The film also broke the record for thebest per-screen opening average with $110,000, a record previouslyheld by The Dark Knightwith $100,200. It has grossed a total of $136.3 million there. In theUK, it surpassed Avatarto become the country\'s highest-grossing IMAX release ever with$10.09 million.

Spectreopened in Germany with $22.5 million (including previews), whichincluded a new record for the biggest Saturday of all time, Australiawith $8.7 million (including previews) and South Korea opened to $8.2million (including previews). Despite the 13 November Paris attacks,which led to numerous theatres being closed down, the film openedwith $14.6 million (including $2 million in previews) in France. InMexico, where part of the film was shot, it debuted with more thandouble that of Skyfallwith $4.5 million. It also bested its predecessor\'s opening invarious Nordic regions where MGM is distributing, such as in Finland($2.7 million) and Norway ($2.9 million), and in other markets likeDenmark ($4.2 million), the Netherlands ($3.4 million), and Sweden($3.1 million). In India, it opened at No. 1 with $4.8 million whichis 4% above the opening of Skyfall.It topped the German-speaking Switzerland box office for four weeksand in the Netherlands, it has held the No. 1 spot for seven weeksstraight where it has topped Minionsto become the top movie of the year. The top earning markets areGermany ($70.3 million) and France ($38.8 million). In Paris, it hasthe second highest ticket sales of all time with 4.1 million ticketssold only behind Spider-Man 3which sold over 6.3 million tickets in 2007.

In theUnited States and Canada the film opened on 6 November 2015, and inits opening weekend, was originally projected to gross $70–75million from 3,927 screens, the widest release for a Bond film.However, after it grossed $5.3 million from its early Thursday nightshowings and $28 million on its opening day, weekend projections wereincreased to $75–80 million. The film ended up grossing $70.4million in its opening weekend (about $20 million less than Skyfall\'s$90.6 million debut, including IMAX previews), but neverthelessfinished first at the box office. IMAX generated $9.1 million forSpectre at 374 screens, premium large format made $8 millionfrom 429 cinemas, reaping 11% of the film\'s opening, which means thatSpectre earned $17.1 million (23%) of its opening weekendtotal in large-format venues. Cinemark XD generated $1.9 million in112 XD locations.

InChina, it opened on 12 November and earned $15 million on its openingday, which is the second biggest 2D single day gross for a Hollywoodfilm behind the $18.5 million opening day of Mission:Impossible– Rogue Nation andoccupying 43% of all available screens which included $790,000 inadvance night screenings. Through its opening weekend, it earned$48.1 million from 14,700 screens which is 198% ahead of Skyfall,a new record for a Hollywood 2D opening. IMAX contributed $4.6million on 246 screens, also a new record for a three-day opening fora November release (breaking Interstellar\'srecord). In its second weekend, it added $12.1 million fallingprecipitously by 75% which is the second worst second weekend dropfor any major Hollywood release in China of 2015. It grossed a totalof $84.7 million there after four weekends (foreign films in theMiddle Kingdom plays for 30 days only, unless granted specialextensions). Albeit a strong opening, it failed to attain the $100million mark there as projected due to mixed response from criticsand audiences as well as facing competitions from local favourable reviews, with critics praising the actionsequences, cinematography, score and performances, but criticisingthe screenplay. Rotten Tomatoes sampled 315 reviews and judged 64% ofthem to be positive, saying that the film \"nudges Daniel Craig\'srebooted Bond closer to the glorious, action-driven spectacle ofearlier entries, although it\'s admittedly reliant on established 007formula.\" On Metacritic, the film has a score of 60 out of 100,based on 48 critics, indicating \"mixed or average reviews\".Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of\"A−\" on an A+ to F scale.

Prior toits UK release, Spectremostly received positive reviews. Mark Kermode, writing in TheGuardian, gave the film four out offive stars, observing that the film did not live up to the standardset by Skyfall,but was able to tap into audience expectations. Writing in the samepublication, Peter Bradshaw gave the film a full five stars, callingit \"inventive, intelligent and complex\", and singling outCraig\'s performance as the film\'s highlight. In another five starreview, The Daily Telegraph\'sRobbie Collin described Spectreas \"a swaggering show of confidence\'\", lauding it as \"afeat of pure cinematic necromancy.\" Positive yet criticalassessments included Kim Newman of Sightand Sound, who wrote that \"for allits wayward plotting (including an unhelpful tie-in with Bond’schildhood that makes very little sense) and off-the-peg elements,Spectreworks\" as he felt \"the audience’s patience gets tested bytwo and a half hours of set-pieces strung on one of the series’thinner plots\"; and IGN\'s Chris Tilly, who rated the film 7.2out of 10, considering Spectre\"solid if unspectacular\", and concluding that \"thefilm falls frustratingly short of greatness.\"

Criticalappraisal of the film was mixed in the United States. In a lukewarmreview for RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz gave the film 2.5 starsout of 4, describing Spectreas inconsistent and unable to capitalise on its potential. KennethTuran, reviewing the film for LosAngeles Times, concluded that Spectre\"comes off as exhausted and uninspired\". Manohla Dargis ofThe New York Timescriticised the film as having \"nothing surprising\" andsacrificing its originality for the sake of box office returns.Forbes\'Scott Mendelson also heavily criticised the film, denouncing Spectreas \"the worst 007 movie in 30 years\". Darren Franich ofEntertainment Weeklyviewed Spectreas \"an overreaction to our current blockbuster moment\",aspiring \"to be a serialized sequel\" and proving \"itselfas a Saga\". While noting that \"nothing that happens inSpectreholds up to even minor logical scrutiny\", he had \"come notto bury Spectre,but to weirdly praise it. Because the final act of the movie is sostrange, so willfully obtuse, that it deserves extra attention.\"Christopher Orr, writing in TheAtlantic, also criticised the film,saying that Spectre\"backslides on virtually every aspect\". Lawrence Toppman ofThe Charlotte Observercalled Craig\'s performance \"Bored, James Bored.\" AlyssaRosenberg, writing for The WashingtonPost, stated that the film turned into\"a disappointingly conventional Bondfilm.\"

In apositive review published in RollingStone, Peter Travers gave the film 3.5stars out of 4, describing Spectreas \"party time for Bond fans, a fierce, funny, gorgeouslyproduced valentine to the longest-running franchise in movies\".Mick LaSalle from the San FranciscoChronicle, raved that \"One of thegreat satisfactions of Spectreis that, in addition to all the stirring action, and all the timelyreferences to a secret organization out to steal everyone\'s personalinformation, we get to believe in Bond as a person.\" StephenWhitty from The New York Daily News,who awarded the film four of five stars, stated that \"Craig iscruelly efficient. Dave Bautista makes a good, Oddjob-like assassin.And while Lea Seydoux doesn\'t leave a huge impression as this film\'s\'Bond girl\', perhaps it\'s because we\'ve already met—far toobriefly—the hypnotic Monica Bellucci, as the first real \'Bondwoman\' since Diana Rigg.\" ChicagoSun-Times film reviewer Richard Roeper,who gave the film three stars out of four, considered the film\"solidly in the middle of the all-time rankings, which meansit\'s still a slick, beautifully photographed, action-packed,international thriller with a number of wonderfully, ludicrouslyentertaining set pieces, a sprinkling of dry wit, myriad gorgeouswomen and a classic psycho-villain who is clearly out of his mind butseems to like it that way.\" Michael Phillips, reviewing for theChicago Tribune,stated, \"For all its workmanlike devotion to out-of-controlhelicopters, Spectreworks best when everyone\'s on the ground, dois or her job, drivingexpensive fast cars heedlessly, detonating the occasional wisecrack,enjoying themselves and their beautiful clothes.\" Varietyfilm critic Guy Lodge complained in his review that \"What\'smissing is the unexpected emotional urgency of Skyfall,as the film sustains its predecessor\'s nostalgia kick with a lesssentimental bent.\"

Accolades

Award

Category

Recipient

Result

Academy Awards

Best Original Song

\"Writing\'s on the Wall\" (Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes)

Won

Golden Globe Awards

Best Original Song

Won

Critics\' Choice Awards

Best Song

Nominated

Best Actor in an Action Movie

Daniel Craig

Nominated

St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards

Best Song

\"Writing\'s on the Wall\" (Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes)

Won

Houston Film Critics Society Awards

Best Original Song

Nominated

Art Directors Guild Awards

Production Design for a Contemporary Film

Dennis Gassner

Nominated

Satellite Awards[188]

Best Cinematography

Hoyte van Hoytema

Nominated

Best Original Score

Thomas Newman

Nominated

Best Original Song

\"Writing\'s on the Wall\" (Sam Smith & Jimmy Napes)

Nominated

Best Visual Effects

Steve Begg & Chris Corbould

Nominated

Best Art Direction and Production Design

Dennis Gassner

Nominated

Best Film Editing

Lee Smith

Nominated

Best Sound (Editing and Mixing)

Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers, Scott Millan, Gregg Rudloff & Stuart Wilson

Nominated

Saturn Awards

Best Action or Adventure Film

Nominated

Empire Awards

Best British Film

Won

Best Thriller

Won

Teen Choice Awards

Choice Movie: Action

Nominated

Choice Movie Actress: Action

Léa Seydoux

Nominated

Future

A sequelto Spectre began development in spring 2016 Sam Mendes hasstated he will not return to direct the next film in the series.

InOctober 2016 Craig stated that he may indeed return for another film,saying, \"As far as I\'m concerned, I\'ve got the best job in theworld. I\'ll keep doing it as long as I still get a kick out of it. IfI were to stop doing it, I would miss it terribly.\"

In July2017 Daniel Craig confirmed he will return as Bond, filming on theuntitled film is expected to take place in 2018, with the filmreleased in October/November filmed from December 2014 to July 2015, with locations inAustria, the United Kingdom, Italy, Morocco and Mexico. The actionscenes prioritised practical effects and stunts, while stillemploying computer-generated imagery made by five differentcompanies. Spectrewas estimated to have cost around $245 million, making it the mostexpensive Bond film and one of the most expensive films ever made.

The filmwas released on 26 October 2015 in the United Kingdom on the samenight as the world premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London,followed by a worldwide release which included IMAX screenings. Itwas released in the United States one week later, on 6 November. Uponits release, the film received favourable reviews from critics. Itsacting, suspense and action sequences were praised, and both Waltzand Bautista received widespread acclaim for their performances asBlofeld and Hinx. The theme song, \"Writing\'s on the Wall\",performed by the British singer Sam Smith won the Academy Award forBest Original Song and the corresponding Golden Globe. Spectregrossed over a total of $880 million worldwide, the second largestunadjusted income for the series after its predecessor Skyfall.

Plot

Aposthumous message from the previous M leads Bond to carry anunauthorised mission in Mexico City, where he stops a terroristbombing plot. While confronting the criminals\' leader, Marco Sciarra,Bond grabs his ring which is emblazoned with a stylised octopus. Uponreturning to London, Bond is indefinitely suspended from field dutyby M. Parallel to this, M is in the midst of a power struggle withMax Denbigh (whom Bond dubs \"C\"), the head of a privatelybacked agency, the Joint Intelligence Service. C campaigns forBritain to form \"Nine Eyes\", a global surveillance andintelligence co-operation initiative and uses his influence to closedown the \'00\' section as he believes it to be outdated.

Bonddisobeys M\'s order and travels to Rome to attend Sciarra\'s funeral.He seduces Sciarra\'s widow, Lucia, who tells him Marco belonged toSpectre, an organisation of businessmen with criminal and terroristconnections. Bond uses Sciarra\'s ring to infiltrate a Spectremeeting, where he identifies the leader Franz Oberhauser. Afterhearing Oberhauser give the order for \"the Pale King\" to beassassinated, Bond escapes the meeting and is pursued across the cityby Spectre\'s assassin, Mr. Hinx. Moneypenny informs Bond that thePale King is Mr. White, a former member of Spectre subsidiaryQuantum. White has fallen afoul of Oberhauser, prompting theassassination order. Bond asks her to investigate Oberhauser, who waspresumed dead years earlier.

Bondlocates White in Austria, where he learns that White is dying ofthallium poisoning. He tells Bond to find and protect his daughter,Dr. Madeline Swann, who will take him to L\'Américain; this will inturn lead him to Spectre. White then commits suicide. Bond approachesSwann, and after rescuing her from Hinx, the two meet Q. ThroughSciarra\'s ring, Q forensically links Oberhauser to Bond\'s previousmissions, identifying Le Chiffre, Dominic Greene and Raoul Silva asSpectre agents.

Swanntakes Bond to L\'Américain, a hotel in Tangier, and they discoverthat White left evidence directing them to Oberhauser\'s operationsbase at a massive crater in the Sahara. Taking a train to a remotestation, Bond and Swann have an encounter with Hinx that sees theassassin killed, and are eventually escorted to Oberhauser\'s base.There, Oberhauser reveals that Spectre has been funding the JointIntelligence Service while staging terrorist attacks around theworld, creating a need for the Nine Eyes programme. In return C willgive Spectre unlimited access to intelligence gathered by Nine Eyes,allowing them to anticipate and counter-act investigations into theiroperations. Bond is tortured as Oberhauser discusses their sharedhistory: after the younger Bond was orphaned, Oberhauser\'s fatherHannes became his temporary guardian. Believing that Bond supplantedhis role as son, Oberhauser killed his father and staged his owndeath, adopting the name Ernst Stavro Blofeld—going on to formSpectre and targeting Bond. Bond and Swann overpower him and escape,destroying the base in an explosion and leaving Blofeld to die.

As theMoroccan facility was one node in a wider network, Bond and Swannreturn to London where they meet M, Bill Tanner, Q, and Moneypennywith the intention of arresting C and stopping Nine Eyes from beingactivated. Swann and Bond are abducted separately, while the rest ofthe group proceed with the plan. After Q succeeds in preventing theNine Eyes from going online, a brief struggle between M and C endswith C falling to his death. Meanwhile, Bond is taken to the ruins ofthe old MI6 building, which is scheduled for demolition after RaoulSilva\'s bombing. Moving throughout a ruined labyrinth, he encountersa disfigured Blofeld, who tells him that he has a choice betweenescaping the building before explosives are detonated or die tryingto save Swann. Bond finds Swann and the two escape by boat as thebuilding collapses. Bond shoots down Blofeld\'s helicopter, whichcrashes onto Westminster Bridge. As Blofeld crawls away from thewreckage, Bond confronts him but leaves him to be arrested by M,before leaving the bridge with Swann.

Cast

• Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007. The director Sam Mendes has described Bond as being extremely focused in Spectre, likening his new-found dedication to hunting.

• Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the mysterious mastermind behind Spectre, as well as the puppeteer responsible for events in Bond\'s recent life.

• Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann, a psychologist working at a private medical clinic in the Austrian Alps, and the daughter of Mr. White.

• Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 quartermaster who outfits Bond with equipment for use in the field.

• Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, a former agent who left the field to become M\'s assistant.

• Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx.

• Andrew Scott as Max Denbigh, nicknamed \"C\".

• Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra, the wife of assassin Marco Sciarra.

• Ralph Fiennes as M (head of MI6), code name for Gareth Mallory.

• Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, the MI6 Chief of Staff

• Jesper Christensen as Mr. White, a fugitive from MI6 and a senior figure in SPECTRE\'s Quantum subsidiary, as portrayed in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

• Alessandro Cremona as Marco Sciarra

• Judi Dench as Mallory\'s predecessor March2013 Mendes said he would not return to direct the next film in theseries, then known as Bond 24;he later recanted and announced that he would return, as he found thescript and the plans for the long-term future of the franchiseappealing. Nicolas Winding Refn would later reveal that he turneddown an offer to direct the movie. In directing Skyfalland Spectre,Mendes became the first director to oversee two consecutive Bondfilms since John Glen directed TheLiving Daylights and Licenceto Kill in 1987 and 1989. DennisGassner returned as the film\'s production designer, whilecinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema took over from Roger Deakins. InJuly 2015 Mendes noted that the combined crew of Spectrenumbered over one thousand, making it a larger production thanSkyfall.Craig is listed as co-producer. He considered the credit a high pointof his career, saying \"I\'m just so proud of the fact that myname comes up somewhere else on the titles.\"

  Thefilm\'s usage of the Spectre organisation — originally stylised\"SPECTRE\" as an acronym of SPecialExecutivefor Extortion—andits characters marked the end of long-standing litigation between EonProductions and producer Kevin McClory, who sued James Bond creatorIan Fleming in 1961 claiming ownership over elements of the novelThunderball,and in an out of court settlement two years later, was awarded thenovel\'s film rights, including Spectre and its characters. McClorydied in 2006, and in November 2013 MGM and the McClory estateformally settled the issue with Danjaq, LLC—sister company of EonProductions—with MGM acquiring the full copyright film rights tothe concept of Spectre and all of the characters associated with it.With the acquisition of the film rights and the organisation\'sre-introduction to the series\' continuity, the SPECTRE acronym wasdiscarded and the organisation reimagined as \"Spectre\".

  WhenSony Pictures Entertainment renegotiated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer thedeal to co-finance the Bondfranchise in 2011, they were tasked to provide 25 percent of thenegative cost of both Skyfalland Spectre,in exchange to receiving 25 percent of the profits plus distributionfees for overseeing its worldwide rollout. When the film wasannounced in June 2013, the budget was not yet fixed, but was certainto be higher than the $210 million of Skyfalldue to foreign locations and bigger payments for Mendes and Craig. InNovember 2014, Sony was targeted by hackers who released details ofconfidential e-mails between Sony executives regarding severalhigh-profile film projects. Included within these were several memosrelating to the production of Spectre,claiming that the film was over budget, detailing early drafts of thescript written by John Logan, and expressing Sony\'s frustration withthe project. Eon Productions later issued a statement confirming theleak of what they called \"an early version of the screenplay\".Eon resisted Sony and MGM\'s arguments to cut on stunts and locationwork to reduce the budget, but managed to secure tax incentives andrebates, such as $14 million from Mexico. Spectrehas a final budget estimated between $250 million and $275 million.

  Writing

  Spectremarked the return of many scriptwriters from the previous Bondfilms, such as Skyfallwriter John Logan; Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who had done work infive previous Bond films; and British playwright Jez Butterworth, whohad previously made uncredited contributions to Skyfall.Butterworth was brought in to polish the script, being helped byMendes and Craig. Butterworth considered that his changes involvedadding what he would like to see as a teenager, and limited thescenes with Bond talking to men, as \"Bond shoots other men—hedoesn’t sit around chatting to them. So you put a line throughthat.” With the acquisition of the rights to Spectre and itsassociated characters, Purvis and Wade revealed that the film wouldprovide a minor retcon to the continuity of the previous films, withthe Quantum organisation alluded to in CasinoRoyale and introduced in Quantumof Solace reimagined as a divisionwithin Spectre rather than an independent organisation.

  Despitebeing an original story, Spectredraws on Ian Fleming\'s source material, most notably in the characterof Franz Oberhauser, played by Christoph Waltz, and his fatherHannes. Hannes Oberhauser is a background character in the shortstory \"Octopussy\" from the Octopussyand The Living Daylights collection,and is named in the film as having been a temporary legal guardian ofa young Bond in 1983. As Sam Mendes searched for events in youngBond\'s life to follow the childhood discussed in Skyfall,he came across Hannes Oberhauser, who becomes a father figure toBond. From there Mendes conceived the idea of \"a natural childwho had been pushed out, cuckoo in the nest\" by Bond, whichbecame Franz. Similarly, Charmian Bond is shown to have been hisfull-time guardian, observing the back story established by Fleming.

  Casting

  The maincast was revealed in December 2014 at the 007 Stage at PinewoodStudios. Daniel Craig returned for his fourth appearance as JamesBond, while Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw reprisedtheir roles as M, Eve Moneypenny and Q respectively, having beenestablished in Skyfall.Rory Kinnear also reprised his role as Bill Tanner in his thirdappearance in the series.

  ChristophWaltz was cast in the role of Franz Oberhauser, though he refused tocomment on the nature of the part. It was later revealed with thefilm\'s release that he is Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Waltz got interestedin the film for dealing with technology-assisted mass surveillance,\"speaking about relevant social issues in a way that few Bondshave done before”, and denied rumours that the role was writtenspecially for him, but added that \"when I came on board, therole grew, evolved, and
  

  

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