James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. Eon Productions, which now holds the adaptation rights to all of Fleming's Bond novels, made all but two entries in the film series.

In 1961, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman purchased the filming rights to Fleming's novels. They founded Eon Productions and, with financial backing by United Artists, produced Dr. No, directed by Terence Young and featuring Connery as Bond. Following its release in 1962, Broccoli and Saltzman created the holding company Danjaq to ensure future productions in the James Bond film series. The Eon series currently has twenty-five films, with the most recent, No Time to Die, released in September 2021. With a combined gross of $7.8 billion to date, it is the fifth-highest-grossing film series in nominal terms. Adjusting for inflation, the series has earned over $19.2 billion in 2022 dollars from box-office receipts alone, with non-Eon entries pushing this inflation-adjusted figure to a grand total in excess of $20 billion.

The films have won six Academy Awards: for Sound Effects (now Sound Editing) in Goldfinger (at the 37th Awards); to John Stears for Visual Effects in Thunderball (at the 38th Awards); to Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers for Sound Editing and to Adele and Paul Epworth for Original Song in Skyfall (at the 85th Awards); to Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes for Original Song in Spectre (at the 88th Awards); and to Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell for Original Song in No Time to Die (at the 94th Awards). Several other songs produced for the films have been nominated for Academy Awards for Original Song, including Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", and Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only". In 1982, Albert R. Broccoli received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

When Broccoli and Saltzman bought the rights to existing and future Fleming titles, the deal did not include Casino Royale, which had been sold to producer Gregory Ratoff for a television adaptation in 1954. After Ratoff's death, the rights passed to Charles K. Feldman, who subsequently produced the Bond spoof Casino Royale in 1967. A legal case ensured that the film rights to the novel Thunderball were held by Kevin McClory, as he, Fleming and scriptwriter Jack Whittingham had written a film script on which the novel was based. Although Eon Productions and McClory joined forces to produce Thunderball, McClory still retained the rights to the story and adapted Thunderball into the 1983 non-Eon entry Never Say Never Again. Distribution rights to both of those films are currently held by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which distributes Eon's regular series. In February 2025, Amazon MGM Studios announced that they had gained full creative control of the franchise and that long-serving producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson would step down from producing future films in the series, although they would remain co-owners. On 25 March 2025, Amazon MGM announced that producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman have been selected to produce the next James Bond film.

Eon films

+ Eon films Title Year Bond actor Director Box office (millions) Budget (millions) Actual $ Adjusted $ (2024) Actual $ Adjusted $ (2024) Dr. No 1962 59.5 1.1 From Russia with Love 1963 78.9 2.0 Goldfinger 1964 124.9 3.0 Thunderball 1965 141.2 6.8 You Only Live Twice 1967 111.6 10.3 On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 64.6 7.0 Diamonds Are Forever 1971 116.0 7.2 Live and Let Die 1973 126.4 7.0 1974 97.6 7.0 1977 185.4 14.0 Moonraker 1979 210.3 34.0 For Your Eyes Only 1981 194.9 28.0 Octopussy 1983 183.7 27.5 1985 152.4 30.0 1987 191.2 40.0 Licence to Kill 1989 156.2 36.0 GoldenEye 1995 352.0 60.0 Tomorrow Never Dies 1997 333.0 110.0 1999 361.8 135.0 Die Another Day 2002 432.0 142.0 Casino Royale 2006 606.0 150.0 Quantum of Solace 2008 586.1 200.0 Skyfall 2012 1,108.6 150–200– Spectre 2015 880.7 245–250– No Time to Die 2021 771.2 250–301– Total of Eon-produced films – –

Dr. No (1962)

Strangways, the British Intelligence (SIS) Station Chief in Jamaica, is killed. In response, British agent James Bond—also known as 007—is sent to Jamaica to investigate the circumstances. During his investigation Bond meets Quarrel, a Cayman fisherman, who had been working with Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples. One of the islands was Crab Key, home to the reclusive Dr. No.

Bond visits the island, where he meets a local shell diver, Honey Ryder. The three are attacked by No's men, who kill Quarrel using a flamethrowing armoured tractor; Bond and Honey are taken prisoner. Dr. No informs them he is a member of SPECTRE, the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion, and he plans to disrupt the Project Mercury space launch from Cape Canaveral with his atomic-powered radio beam. Bond and Honey escape from the island, killing No and blowing up his compound in the process.

From Russia with Love (1963)

SPECTRE's expert planner Kronsteen, known as "Number Five", upon order of the organisation's Number One, devises a plot to steal a Lektor cryptographic device from the Soviets and sell it back to them while exacting revenge on Bond for killing their agent Dr. No; ex-SMERSH operative Rosa Klebb, SPECTRE's Number Three, is in charge of the mission. She recruits Donald "Red" Grant as an assassin and Tatiana Romanova, a cipher clerk at the Soviet consulate in Istanbul, as the unwitting bait.

Bond travels to Turkey and meets Ali Kerim Bey, the MI6 officer in Turkey. Between them, they obtain the Lektor, and the three escape with the device on the Orient Express. However, they are followed by Grant, who kills Kerim Bey and a Soviet security officer. Grant pretends to be another British agent and meets Bond. Over dinner Grant drugs Romanova, then overcomes Bond. Bond tricks Grant into opening Bond's attaché case in the manner that detonates its tear gas booby trap, allowing Bond to attack and kill him. Bond and Romanova escape with the Lektor to Venice. Rosa Klebb, disguised as a hotel maid, attempts to steal the Lektor and kill Bond, but ends up being shot by Romanova.

Goldfinger (1964)

Bond is ordered to observe bullion dealer Auric Goldfinger. He suspects Goldfinger of cheating at cards and foils his scheme by distracting his female accomplice, who is later killed by Goldfinger's Korean manservant and henchman Oddjob after Bond seduces her. Bond is then instructed to investigate Goldfinger's gold smuggling operation and he tails the dealer to Switzerland. Bond is captured when he reconnoitres Goldfinger's plant and is drugged unconscious; Goldfinger then transports Bond to his Kentucky stud farm where he holds Bond captive. Bond escapes briefly to witness Goldfinger's meeting with US mafiosi, observing secretly as Goldfinger presents to the gangsters his plans to rob Fort Knox by using materials they have smuggled to him and later kills them to avoid paying his dues.

Bond is recaptured after hearing the details of the operation, but he subsequently seduces Pussy Galore, Goldfinger's private pilot, and convinces her to inform the American authorities. Goldfinger's private army breaks into Fort Knox and accesses the vault, where Bond fights and kills Oddjob, while American troops battle with Goldfinger's army outside. Bond's plane is hijacked by Goldfinger, but Bond struggles with him and shoots out a window, creating an explosive decompression, killing Goldfinger.

Thunderball (1965)

Bond investigates the hijacking of an Avro Vulcan loaded with two atomic bombs, which had been taken by SPECTRE. The organisation demands a ransom for the return of the bombs. Bond follows a lead to the Bahamas, where he meets up with his CIA counterpart and friend Felix Leiter. The pair suspect a rich playboy, Emilio Largo, who is soon discovered to be SPECTRE's Number Two, ordered by the secretive Number One to direct the operation, and search the area around his yacht and then the area where they think the yacht may have travelled. After finding the plane—but without the nuclear devices on board—the two agents arrange for Largo's yacht to be tracked and ambushed once the bombs are being moved by Largo.

You Only Live Twice (1967)

007 is sent to Japan to investigate the spacecraft theft and astronaut kidnapping in orbit of American Project Gemini spacecraft Jupiter 16 by an unidentified spacecraft. Upon his arrival, Bond is contacted by Aki, assistant to the Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka. Bond established that the mastermind behind the hijacking is SPECTRE's Number One, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, in conjunction with Osato, a local industrialist. Bond follows the trail to Blofeld's volcano headquarters and spaceport, while the spacecraft, Bird One, attacks a Soviet capsule. Blofeld explains to Bond that his plot is to fake in front of each superpower that Bird One is an enemy spacecraft to transform the Cold War into World War III.

Tanaka's ninja troops attack the base, while Bond manages to distract Blofeld and create a diversion which allows him to open the hatch, letting in the ninjas. During the battle, Osato is killed by Blofeld, who activates the base's self-destruct system and escapes. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka and the surviving ninjas escape through the cave tunnel before it explodes, and are rescued by submarine.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

While searching for Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE, Bond (played by George Lazenby) saves Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) on the beach from committing suicide by drowning, and later meets her again in a casino. Bond then receives information from Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the European crime syndicate Unione Corse and Tracy's father, about Blofeld's Swiss solicitor. Bond breaks into the solicitor's office and establishes Blofeld is corresponding with the London College of Arms. Posing as an emissary of the college, Bond meets Blofeld, who has established a clinical allergy-research institute atop Piz Gloria in the Swiss Alps. Bond soon establishes that Blofeld is brainwashing his patients to distribute bacteriological warfare agents throughout various parts of the world.

Bond escapes from the clinic after Blofeld identifies him as a British agent. Bond arranges a raid on the clinic using men from Draco's organisation. The raid is a success, although Blofeld escapes. Bond marries Tracy, but she is murdered shortly afterwards by Irma Bunt, Blofeld's partner.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Bond (played by a returning Sean Connery) is tasked with investigating a major diamond smuggling ring which begins in Africa and runs through Holland and the UK to the United States. Disguised as professional smuggler and murderer Peter Franks, Bond travels to Amsterdam to meet contact Tiffany Case: he is given the diamonds and travels on to the US, where he is met by Felix Leiter. Bond moves through the chain, which leads to the Whyte House, a casino-hotel owned by the reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte.

Bond follows the diamonds to a pick-up by Bert Saxby, Whyte's head of security, and then onto a research laboratory owned by Whyte, where he finds that a satellite is being built by a laser refraction specialist, Professor Dr. Metz. Suspecting Whyte, Bond tries to confront him, but instead meets Blofeld, who captures the agent and explains to him that the satellite can blow up nuclear missiles. Blofeld admits that he intends to auction it to the highest bidder. Bond escapes and frees the captive Whyte and they establish that Blofeld is using an offshore oil rig as his base. Bond attacks the rig, stopping Blofeld's operation and dispersing his organisation.