If the James Bond films were a person they would now qualify for free prescriptions and eye tests.
Incredibly, Wednesday marks 60 years since the premiere of the first 007 film Dr No, starring Sean Connery as the secret agent.
Since then there have been another 24 blockbuster movies and five more Bonds. And, as these film billboard posters show, the action hero in the most successful and enduring franchise in cinema history has changed with the times.
To celebrate James Bond Day on Wednesday there will be programmes at selected cinemas nationwide and an online sale of memorabilia will resume at Christie’s.
The auction has already raised more than £6million for charity, with 007’s Aston Martin DB5 selling for nearly £3m alone.
Other props, including some of the posters pictured here, will be on sale.
But fans will have to wait until at least 2024 for the next movie.
The studio says it is “re-inventing Bond”. We can hardly wait.
Meanwhile the hunt is on for a new James Bond to replace Daniel Craig.
Daniel Craig’s run as James Bond remains one of the most successful reboots of a franchise in cinema history.
The blonde-haired actor shocked long-time fans when his casting was first confirmed in 2005.
However, he more than proved himself in 2006’s Casino Royale, playing a more brutal, bruised and beaten Bond than ever before.
Fifteen years and four more films later, his tenure as 007 came to an end with 2021's No Time to Die, giving him a send-off no other Bond actor has seen before.
Names in the running with recent betting odds are:
- Henry Cavill - 2/1
- Rege-Jean Page - 7/2
- Idris Elba - 4/1
- Tom Hardy - 4/1
- Chiwetel Ejiofor - 13/2
- James Norton - 10/1
- Aidan Turner - 12/1
- Jamie Dornan - 12/1
