The movie was ok, but it was not James Bond, and I hated the last 30 minutes of the movie. Wow... who didn't see that coming?
And I doubt it's the most successful if you go back and look up the old ones and account for inflation.
No surprise here ... this movie was awesome! I hail it as the best bond film for its realism and grizzly feel. And YES Craig IS bond so get over it! He does just as well as anyone else ever did and even kinda looks like Connery to an extent
here is a list of 22 bond films (inculding one that is NOT on the offical bond film list) and how much they grossed in theaters:
1 Casino Royale
$167,445,960
11/17/06
2 Die Another Day
$160,942,139
11/22/02
3 The World Is Not Enough $126,943,684
11/19/99
4 Tomorrow Never Dies $125,304,276
12/19/97
5 GoldenEye
$106,429,941
11/17/95
6 Moonraker
$70,308,099
6/29/79
7 Octopussy
$67,893,619
6/10/83
8 Thunderball
$63,595,658
12/21/65
9 Never Say Never Again $55,432,841
10/7/83
10 For Your Eyes Only $54,812,802
26/81
11 The Living Daylights $51,185,897
7/31/87
12 Goldfinger
$51,081,062
12/22/64
13 A View to a Kill
$50,327,960
5/24/85
14 The Spy Who Loved Me $46,838,673
7/13/77
15 Diamonds Are Forever $43,819,547
12/17/71
16 You Only Live Twice $43,084,787
6/13/67
17 Live and Let Die
$35,377,836
6/27/73
18 License to Kill
$34,667,015
7/14/89
19 From Russia, with Love $24,796,765
4/8/64
20 On Her Majesty's Secret Service $22,774,493
12/18/69
21 The Man with the Golden Gun $20,972,000
12/18/74
22 Dr. No
$16,067,035
Casino Royale was, eh, better than the previous Brosnan outings but it still had vestiges of the old Bond formula at the third act (someone must have said "Hey we haven't reached our explosion quotient yet--let's blow up a whole building..."). Daniel Craig looked tough but he was just as wooden as Brosnan was (and for Brosnan's shortcomings I blame the writers/producers and directors). I like the move of less gadgets and zero hammy self-conscious one-liners. It was the best box office wise cause it was the most pimped. Fleming's Bond looked more like an English butler then he did a thug ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_bond ). I just hope they don't "up" the explosion quotient, decide to bring back the hammy one-liners and make it more sci-fi than espoinage thriller...again.
Yes, I prefer Roger Moore to Sean Connery as Bond. I thought Moore's Bonds were livelier and I am of that age that associates Bond more with Moore than Connery. I am not saying Connery was a bad Bond. I liked Diamonds Are Forever and From Russia With Love. I even liked Timothy Dalton's Bonds. So I am not a Bond purist. So what? That's what I like. I like more escapism to realism, especially in these difficult time we are living in. Casino Royale was the wrong Bond at the wrong time.
The domestic numbers speak volumes, "Casino" only did mediocre in the States at best. $167m here, no matter what happened worldwide is not good. "Happy Feet" kicked it's ass here. $200m has long been the benchmark for success here (pretty much what certifies a blockbuster) The US market is what makes or breaks what the studio's attitudes will be. Tons of movies these days are doing more than $200m in box office and that's what Thunderball and Goldfinger did in the 60's. The studio wanted to put Bond back in this category and blew it. Don't count on Craig being around for long.
Craig can have his fans but he will never, ever replace the already established iconic figure of the original Bond. Craig has failed where Connery and Moore succeeded: these two originals drew the female viewers to these movies in droves. Craig looks silly in a Tux and and unbelievable as a womanizer, and definetly not a protagonist. A thug yes, good guy,not even.
Fleming's Bond most certainly was not an English butler type, better go back and read the books again (or probably actually for the 1st time) he was described as looking like Hoagy Carmichael, a famous musician in the forties:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoagy_Carmichael
Carmichael actually looked like a more dashing, dangerous Fleming. Brosnan actually looks like a more sophisticated version of this (not that he was the best Bond, not by a long shot). Fans though "Casino" may have it is way off the mark and a credibility failure for the true Bond fan.
By the way, with the continued devaluation of the dollar factored in, "Casino" would have had to have made $179m to equal "Die Another Day" so it actually did worse in ticket sales than "Die".
Thank you werewuf for figuring that out. I hate when people go "It's the biggest movie ever?!!!" If I'm paying $10 for a seat now and it was 10 cents 40 years ago obvious math shows which one will win.
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