Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the release of "Dr. No," the first James Bond film.
Half a century after Sean Connery first portrayed the womanizing, gadget-savvy secret agent, fans around the world will be celebrating what has been dubbed Global Bond Day.
Cities ranging from London to New York to Toronto are holding events to showcase the popularity of 007 and its prevalence in pop culture. New York, for example, is hosting a film retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art.
Over the last five decades, 22 Bond films have been released, with the 23rd coming out next month. Six actors–Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig–have played James Bond, with Roger Moore beating the pack with seven total films.
See which leading men drew the most money from movie-goers.
10. "Thunderball" (1965): $141.2 million
Bond Actor: Sean Connery
The fourth film in the Bond series was the last directed by Terence Young. It won the Academy Award for special visual effects in 1966 and was the inspiration behind the name of an Israeli hostage rescue operation in 1976.
9. "License To Kill" (1989): $156.2 million
Opening Weekend Gross: $8.8 million
Bond Actor: Timothy Dalton
This is the second, and final, movie where James Bond was played by Timothy Dalton and also the fifth and final Bond film John Glen directed. It had an estimated budget of $32 million dollars, while other Bond film budgets ranged from $1 million all the way up to $230 million.
8. "Octopussy" (1983): $184 million
Opening Weekend Gross: $8.9 million
Bond Actor: Roger Moore
Maud Adams, who plays Octopussy, was featured in an earlier Bond film, "The Man With a Golden Gun," as a different character who was killed off. The movie was also released the same year as rival Bond flick, "Never Say Never Again" (not an Eon production). "Octopussy" earned about $30 million more at the box office than its rival, despite "Never Say Never Again" featuring the return of Sean Connery.
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