Spectre (2015 film)
Spectre is a 2015 spy film and the twenty-fourth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. Directed by Sam Mendes and written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Jez Butterworth from a story conceived by Logan, Purvis, and Wade, it stars Daniel Craig as Bond, alongside Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Monica Bellucci, and Ralph Fiennes. It was distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. In the film, Bond battles Spectre, an international crime organisation led by Franz Oberhauser (Waltz).
Despite initially stating he would not direct Spectre, Mendes confirmed his return in 2014 after Nicolas Winding Refn declined to direct; Mendes became the first to direct successive James Bond films since John Glen. The inclusion of Spectre and its associated characters marked the end of the Thunderball controversy, in which Kevin McClory and Fleming were embroiled in lengthy legal disputes over the film rights to the novel; Spectre is the first film to feature these elements since Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Following the Sony Pictures hack, it was revealed Sony and Eon clashed regarding finance, stunts, and filming locations; Spectre is estimated to have a final budget of $245–300 million, making it one of the most expensive films ever made. Principal photography began in December 2014 and lasted until July 2015, with filming locations including Austria, the United Kingdom, Italy, Morocco, and Mexico.
Spectre premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 October 2015 and was theatrically released in conventional and IMAX formats in the United Kingdom that day, and in the United States on 6 November. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences, cast performances (particularly Craig's and Bautista's), and the musical score, but criticised the pacing and formulaic narrative decisions. It grossed $880 million worldwide, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2015 and the second-highest grossing James Bond film after Skyfall, unadjusted for inflation (fourth when adjusted). The film's theme song, "Writing's on the Wall", won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song. The next film in the series, No Time to Die, was released in 2021.
Plot[edit]
A posthumous message from the previous M leads MI6 agent James Bond to carry out a mission in Mexico City, foiling a bombing attempt on a stadium during the Day of the Dead festival. Bond obtains a ring, stylized with an octopus from the deceased attacker Marco Sciarra, and uncovers his connection to a secret organization.
In London, Gareth Mallory, the current M, suspends Bond for his unauthorized action. M is engaged in a power struggle with Max Denbigh (whom Bond dubs "C"), the Director-General of the new privately backed Joint Intelligence Service formed by the merger of MI5 and MI6. C campaigns for Britain to join the global surveillance and intelligence initiative "Nine Eyes" and shut down the '00' section. Bond, who was operating on a mission posthumously assigned by the previous M to eliminate Sciarra and track down his employers, goes rogue from MI6, with Eve Moneypenny and Q agreeing to aid Bond covertly.
Following the previous M's instructions, Bond attends Sciarra's funeral in Rome and rescues his widow Lucia from assassins. Lucia reveals Sciarra's association with a terrorist network run by Franz Oberhauser, who has been presumed dead for twenty years. Using Sciarra's ring, Bond infiltrates a meeting, where Oberhauser targets the "Pale King" for assassination. Oberhauser recognizes Bond, who flees across the city in a modified Aston Martin DB10, pursued by the network's top assassin Hinx. Moneypenny identifies the Pale King as Mr. White, a former member of the organization's subsidiary Quantum. Bond tracks White down to Altaussee, where he is dying of thallium poisoning.
Bond offers to protect his daughter Madeleine Swann, a psychiatrist who possesses knowledge about "L'Américain". White commits suicide. Bond finds Swann, who is reluctant to trust him until Hinx and his forces abduct her. Bond rescues Swann, earning him her trust. Q reveals Le Chiffre, Dominic Greene and Raoul Silva as agents of Oberhauser's organization, which Swann reveals is named Spectre. Swann takes Bond to L'Américain, a hotel in Tangier, where a secret room directs them to Oberhauser's base in the Sahara. Hinx ambushes them enroute to the base, but they fight him off and defeat him. Arriving at the base, Bond and Swann confront Oberhauser, who reveals Spectre's involvement in the Joint Intelligence Service and the Nine Eyes programme.
C, complicit in Spectre's scheme, plans to give Spectre unrestricted access to intelligence gathered by Nine Eyes. After showing Swann a distressing recording of her father's suicide, Oberhauser subjects Bond to neurosurgical torture: he discusses his shared past with Bond to Swann, revealing that they became adoptive brothers after Bond's parents died. Believing that his father loved Bond more than him, Oberhauser killed him and staged his death as well. Since then, he founded Spectre intending to target Bond and adopted the name Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Bond and Swann break free, stun Blofeld with an explosive wristwatch, and destroy the base before fleeing to London to prevent Nine Eyes from going online.
In London, Bond, Swann, M, Q, Bill Tanner and Moneypenny gather to arrest C, but Swann and Bond are separately abducted by Spectre operatives, while the others proceed with the plan. After Q stops Nine Eyes from going online, a fatal struggle between M and C results in C's death. Bond is taken to the ruins of the old MI6 building, scheduled for demolition after Silva's bombing,[N 2] where Swann is held captive. Blofeld, who survived the base's destruction with heavy scarring to his face, gives Bond a three-minute ultimatum to abandon Swann or attempt a rescue and risk death. Bond finds Swann and they escape as the building collapses. Bond shoots down Blofeld's helicopter, which crashes onto Westminster Bridge. Blofeld survives and is arrested by M.
Later, Bond receives his restored Aston Martin DB5 from Q and drives off with Swann.
Production[edit]
Pre-production[edit]
In March 2013, Mendes said he would not return to direct the next film in the series, then known as Bond 24;[25][26] he later recanted and announced that he would return, as he found the script and the plans for the long-term future of the franchise appealing.[27] Nicolas Winding Refn would later reveal that he turned down an offer to direct the film.[28] In directing Skyfall and Spectre, Mendes became the first director to oversee two successive Bond films since John Glen directed five consecutive films, ending with Licence to Kill in 1989.[29] Dennis Gassner returned as the film's production designer,[30] while cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema took over from Roger Deakins.[30][31] In July 2015 Mendes noted that the combined crew of Spectre numbered over one thousand, making it a larger production than Skyfall.[32] Craig is listed as co-producer. He considered the credit a high point of his career, saying, "I'm just so proud of the fact that my name comes up somewhere else on the titles."[33]
The film's use of the SPECTRE organisation and its characters marked the end of long-standing litigation between Eon Productions and producer Kevin McClory, who sued James Bond creator Ian Fleming in 1961 claiming ownership over elements of the novel Thunderball,[34] and in an out of court settlement two years later, was awarded the novel's film rights, including Spectre and its characters.[N 3] McClory died in 2006, and in November 2013, MGM and the McClory estate formally settled the issue with Danjaq, sister company of Eon Productions—with MGM acquiring the full copyright film rights to the concept of Spectre and all of the characters associated with it.[36] It has been suggested that with the acquisition of the film rights and the organisation's re-introduction to the series' continuity, the SPECTRE acronym was discarded and the organisation reimagined as "Spectre".[37][38][39]
When Sony Pictures Entertainment renegotiated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures the deal to cofinance the Bond franchise in 2011, they were tasked to provide 25% of the negative cost of both Skyfall and Spectre, in exchange for receiving 25% of the profits plus distribution fees for overseeing its worldwide rollout. When the film was announced in June 2013, the budget was not yet fixed, but was certain to be higher than the $210 million of Skyfall due to foreign locations and bigger payments for Mendes and Craig.[40] In November 2014, Sony was targeted by hackers who released details of confidential e-mails between Sony executives regarding several high-profile film projects. Included within these were several memos relating to the production of Spectre, claiming that the film was over budget, detailing early drafts of the script written by John Logan, and expressing Sony's frustration with the project.[41] Eon Productions later issued a statement confirming the leak of what they called "an early version of the screenplay".[42] Eon resisted Sony and MGM's arguments to cut down on stunts and location work to reduce the budget but managed to secure tax incentives and rebates, such as $14 million from Mexico. Spectre has a final budget estimated between $250 million and $275 million.[40]
Writing[edit]
Spectre marked the return of many scriptwriters from the previous Bond films, such as Skyfall writer John Logan;[29] Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who had done work in five previous Bond films,[N 4] and British playwright Jez Butterworth, who had previously made uncredited contributions to Skyfall. Butterworth was brought in to polish the script, being helped by Mendes and Craig. Butterworth considered that his changes involved adding what he would like to see as a teenager, and limited the scenes with Bond talking to men, as "Bond shoots other men—he doesn't sit around chatting to them. So you put a line through that."[44] With the acquisition of the rights to Spectre and its associated characters, Purvis and Wade revealed that the film would provide a minor retcon to the continuity of the previous films, with the Quantum organisation alluded to in Casino Royale and introduced in Quantum of Solace reimagined as a division within Spectre rather than an independent organisation which is implied to be no longer active by the film's events. The plot of Spectre also linked the events of Skyfall to Craig's first two Bond movies by revealing antagonist Raoul Silva to be associated with Spectre reverting Skyfall's initial solo story status.[45] Various plot ideas were discussed and discarded during the writing process; Ralph Fiennes revealed in a 2021 podcast interview that at one stage Sam Mendes suggested a plot twist revealing M to be the villain, which Fiennes vetoed. Another draft by Logan had MI6 chief of staff Bill Tanner uncovered as a Spectre mole.[46][47][48]
Despite being an original story, Spectre draws on Ian Fleming's source material, most notably in the character of Franz Oberhauser, played by Christoph Waltz, and his father Hannes. Hannes Oberhauser is a background character in the short story "Octopussy" from the Octopussy and The Living Daylights collection, and is named in the film as having been a temporary legal guardian of a young Bond in 1983.[49] As Mendes searched for events in young Bond's life to follow the childhood discussed in Skyfall, he came across Hannes Oberhauser, who becomes a father figure to Bond. From there, Mendes conceived the idea of "a natural child who had been pushed out, cuckoo in the nest" by Bond, which became Franz.[50] Similarly, Charmian Bond is shown to have been his full-time guardian, observing the back story established by Fleming.[49]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Spectre grossed $880.7 million worldwide; $135.5 million of the takings were generated from the UK market and $200.1 million from North America.[14] Worldwide, this made it the second-highest-grossing James Bond film after Skyfall,[151] and the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2015.[152] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $98.4 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it sixteenth on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".[153] Sony had expected the net profit of the film to be around $38 million had it performed to the same level of its predecessor, but it earned 20% less than Skyfall.[154] Sony paid 50% of the production costs for the film—which totalled some $250 million after accounting for government incentives—but received only 25% of certain profits, once costs were recouped. The studio also spent tens of millions of dollars in marketing and had to give MGM some of the profit from the studio's non-Bond films, including 22 Jump Street.[154]
In the United Kingdom, the film grossed £4.1 million ($6.4 million) from its Monday preview screenings.[155] It grossed £6.3 million ($9.2 million) on its opening day[156] and then £5.7 million ($8.8 million) on Wednesday, setting UK records for both days.[157] In the film's first seven days it grossed £41.7 million ($63.8 million), breaking the UK record for highest first-week opening, set by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's £23.9 million ($36.9 million) in 2004.[158] Its Friday–Saturday gross was £20.4 million ($31.2 million) compared to Skyfall's £20.1 million ($31 million). The film also broke the record for the best per-screen opening average with $110,000, a record previously held by The Dark Knight with $100,200.[159] It has grossed a total of $136.3 million there.[160] In the UK, it surpassed Avatar to become the country's highest-grossing IMAX release ever with $10.09 million.[161]
Spectre opened in Germany with $22.5 million (including previews), which included a new record for the biggest Saturday of all time,[162] Australia with $8.7 million (including previews) and South Korea opened to $8.2 million (including previews).[163] Despite the 13 November Paris attacks, which led to numerous theatres being closed down, the film opened with $14.6 million (including $2 million in previews) in France.[164] In Mexico, where part of the film was shot, it debuted with more than double that of Skyfall with $4.5 million.[162] It also bested its predecessor's opening in various Nordic regions where MGM distributes, such as Finland ($2.7 million) and Norway ($2.9 million),[165] and in other markets like Denmark ($4.2 million), the Netherlands ($3.4 million), and Sweden ($3.1 million).[165] In India, it opened at No. 1 with $4.8 million which is 4% above the opening of Skyfall.[166] It topped the German-speaking Switzerland box office for four weeks and in the Netherlands, it held the No. 1 spot for seven weeks straight where it topped Minions to become the top movie of the year.[160][167] The top earning markets are Germany ($70.3 million) and France ($38.8 million).[168] In Paris, it has the second-highest ticket sales of all time with 4.1 million tickets sold only behind Spider-Man 3 which sold over 6.3 million tickets in 2007.[169]
In the United States and Canada the film opened on 6 November 2015, and in its opening weekend, was originally projected to gross $70–75 million from 3,927 screens, the widest release for a Bond film.[170] However, after it grossed $5.3 million from its early Thursday night showings and $28 million on its opening day, weekend projections were increased to $75–80 million. The film ended up grossing $70.4 million in its opening weekend (about $20 million less than Skyfall's $90.6 million debut, including IMAX previews), but nevertheless finished first at the box office.[171] IMAX generated $9.1 million for Spectre at 374 screens, premium large format made $8 million from 429 cinemas, reaping 11% of the film's opening, which means that Spectre earned $17.1 million (23%) of its opening weekend total in large-format venues. Cinemark XD generated $1.9 million in 112 XD locations.[171][172]
In China, it opened on 12 November and earned $15 million on its opening day, which is the second biggest 2D single day gross for a Hollywood film behind the $18.5 million opening day of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and occupying 43% of all available screens which included $790,000 in advance night screenings.[173] Through its opening weekend, it earned $48.1 million from 14,700 screens which is 198% ahead of Skyfall,[163] a new record for a Hollywood 2D opening.[174] IMAX contributed $4.6 million on 246 screens, also a new record for a three-day opening for a November release (breaking Interstellar's record).[163] In its second weekend, it added $12.1 million falling precipitously by 75% which is the second worst second weekend drop for any major Hollywood release in China of 2015.[175] It grossed a total of $84.7 million there after four weekends (foreign films in the Middle Kingdom play for 30 days only, unless granted special extensions).[176] Despite a strong opening, it failed to attain the $100 million mark there as projected due to mixed response from critics and audiences as well as facing competition from local films.[160][177][178]
Critical response[edit]
Spectre has an approval rating of 63% based on 371 professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.4/10. Its critical consensus reads, "Spectre nudges Daniel Craig's rebooted Bond closer to the glorious, action-driven spectacle of earlier entries, although it's admittedly reliant on established 007 formula."[179] Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Spectre a score of 60 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[180] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[171]
