Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by jamesgarvin (A) on August 12, 2005 at 15:45:04

In Reply to: There's more to these numbers -- posted by RGA on August 12, 2005 at 00:30:54:

Here would be another way to look at the numbers. Rather than comparing each film to other Bond releases in a different year, let's compare each film to how it performed against other films within that year. Dalton's first film was the 19th highest grossing film of 1987. License to Kill was the 36th highest grossing film of 1989. Brosnan's first Bond film was the 6th highest grossing film of 1995. Ahead of it were Toy Story, Apollo 13, Pocohontas, Batman. Stiff competition. Brosnan's second film dropped to the 10th highest grossing film of 1997, but considering that Men In Black, Titanic, Jurassic Park, and the re-release of Star Wars, ten is not so bad. Brosnan's third dropped to the 14th spot in 1999, but again, considering that 1999 saw The Matrix, Star Wars, Toy Story 2, The Sixth Sense, and Blair Witch, that is a respectable performance. Brosnan's last Bond film was 12th in 2002, but considering that year brought us Spiderman, Lord of the Rings, Men in Black II, and Harry Potter, that is a very respectable placement.

Even discounting inflation, gross figures, etc., Brosnan's performance, in terms of box office placement, has been better than Dalton's. I suspect that if Dalton's Bond placed spots akin to Brosnan's, he would have been Bond for more than two pictures.