canon : A word to describe something that is true to the original story; Things considered ‘canon’ are basically considered ‘true’ (in the story) [Urban Dictionary].
In 2002, James Bond Movie Posters by Tony Nourmand was published [1].
It’s hard to say if his book ever answered the title question posed above, to any extent, for the EON Productions entries. But the 200-plus pages of referenced images have proven most helpful to finding the answer here.
While still holding at 27 James Bond movies, this update may reflect a pivot point to change that status.
Movie producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson have struck a deal with Amazon to sell off their position of control over the franchise [1].
As per details of the historic agreement, Amazon MGM Studios, Wilson and Broccoli have formed a new joint venture to house the intellectual property rights. The three parties will remain co-owners of the iconic franchise but Amazon MGM will have creative control.
Present answer: James Bond is somewhere between 51 and 52 years old.
That was the age of the latest in a line of actors when he played the fictional Agent 007 on-screen, at the time of filming in 2019.*
As of this post, the number is still 27 James Bond movies.
The timeline has updated since this subject was originally broached here on Branding Bond, however. In a summary dated March 17, 2022, then updated a month or so later, Forbes reported that the Amazon deal to acquire MGM has now been finalized [1].
As the story goes— “Danjaq” was setup by Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman in 1961, an amalgam of their wives, respectively named Dana and Jacqueline [1].
According to Mark Dent of The Hustle, the producers “structured their partnership in a way that maximized profits and, controversially, limited their British tax burden [2].
- Their Britain-based production company, Eon (short for ‘everything or nothing’), made the films.
- Another business, Danjaq, acted as the holding company for the Bond rights. Danjaq was first incorporated in Switzerland and later in Delaware. Most profits flowed to Danjaq.
Between that pivotal first year and 1975, nine of the first ten James Bond motion pictures were produced by Messrs Broccoli and Saltzman. Seventeen came after, Cubby Broccoli having been involved with seven or eight (depending on how you count the 1995 GoldenEye).
As preamble, consider this from James Bond film historians John Cork and Bruce Scivally: “In 1977 and ’78, it was hard to quantify the tremendous impact of Star Wars [1] and Close Encounters [2] on popular culture, which easily equalled Bond’s influence in the mid-60s … [3].
The public wanted outer-space adventure, and [Albert R] Broccoli felt that in Moonraker – Ian Fleming’s 1955 novel … he had a story and a title that were ripe for the times.
As of this post, there are 27 James Bond movies.