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Data from The Numbers shows TLD at $40M, LTK at $42M and GE at $60M for production budget information (all nominal and not inflation adjusted data).
https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/James-Bond#tab=summary
From what I've read, they were running a very tight ship for GE, because as mentioned they didn't know if Bond would be relevant after LTK's rather dismal showing stateside and the decline in box office over the course of the 80s. Fortunately, their fears were misplaced.
Fortunately, their increased budget for GE allowed them to return to England and help retrofit their own studio in a disused aircraft factory and airfield called Leavesden Aerodrome in Hertfordshire. Of course the money had to be all accounted for, right down to every last penny, but that's beside the point. GE still virtually doubled (if it pleases you more) its budget more than any of Moore's last Bond movies or Dalton's.
I do recall reading that the GE budget was pretty tight compared to other action fare of the time (including Die Hard and the like), and of course production costs had increased in the six years since LTK. Whatever the reasons, ultimately it more than paid for itself and re-established Bond as a phenomenon.
It was a film I watched almost religiously growing up. Despite seeing Connery, Moore etc too GE remained a favourite for decades.
I genuinely loved that film and simply couldn’t understand why some people didn’t like it.
*shuts eyes and sticks fingers in ears*
Ok...........................maybe the end song.................................and Alan Cummin..............and Sean Bean’s ropey accent.
Those who actually saw LTK often gave Dalton good press. Roger Ebert, probably the most influential critic at the time, gave LTK 3 and half stars out of 4 (whereas he'd been lukewarm to TLD) and wrote "On the basis of this second performance as Bond, Dalton can have the role as long as he enjoys it. He makes an effective Bond - lacking Sean Connery's grace and humor, and Roger Moore's suave self-mockery, but with a lean tension and a toughness that is possibly more contemporary."
Barry Norman described Brosnan as having “cool poise”. Not sure what he thought of Dalton. Wish I’d seen his reviews, though I know he said many years later in an interview with Richard Bacon that he felt Tim “lacked the humour”.
I get the feeling a lot of people associate Bond humour with one-liners. The latter of which Dalton was never particularly convincing with.
Of course, there's the argument that Dalton was just too straitlaced, read that as po-faced or self-effacing, to be considered right for Bond. I don't agree with this view but it's certainly one that many have of him. The difference I'd say between Brosnan's Bond and Dalton's is that the Brozz didn't push himself as an actor over the course of his 4 movies. It was always the same delivery: the tilt of the head, the knowing smile and the squint. There were a few other faces he would pull, but they were from his own stock library of expressions. He had his own seething anger one he liked to use quite a lot too. Personally, I thought Dalton showed us more of multifaceted range over his 2 Bond movies than Brosnan did over his 4, but it's the BO that counts at the end of the day, not the art.
If I were to use Rotten Tomatoes as any sort of gauge, then I'd say Dalton has picked up some new admirers since '89 and "Licence to Kill" is finally getting some of the love it deserves (albeit slowly). It once used to be an unimpressive 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, but has now climbed to a certified "fresh" with a rating of 77%. Of course that didn't help the BO in 89 or help it turn a healthy profit, but it shows how tastes can change and quickly.
I have my issues with Dalton and his regular "angy thesp" facial expressions but I think he would have faired better than Brosnan does in scenes like the one above.
I actually think Brosnan's more restrained demeanour in the scene below works more succesfully.
I think the graveyard scene in GE is one of Brosnan's best scenes.
Siskel, I believe gave the film a reluctant thumbs down, put praised Dalton (amazing since he really only liked Connery), and the stunt work. He felt the film looked dirty and uneven, but was still fairly solid.
I might be wrong about this but I think the big movie to compare to LTK would be Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade which was released just shy of 2 weeks prior to the release date of the Bond movie in the US. My guess is that Indiana Jones was still hoovering up all the dollars whilst 007 was getting off to a limp start there.
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Actually, Last Crusade was the first big summer movie that year (now they come out in April) and came out in May around Memorial Day weekend if I remember right. My buddy and I went to see a matinee after our university finals a couple of weeks later. Then it was Star Trek V, Batman and Lethal Weapon 2 that followed in succession.
I recall at the time the makers of Lethal Weapon 2 originally scheduled it to open the same weekend as LTK and instead opted to move it up a week so as to not compete, so they were actually worried about Bond, but ended up doing far better at the box office.
As somebody else mentioned, had they waited until later in the year it would have been open season as the only holiday action picture in '89 was Tango and Cash. That's why I hope they never move back to the blood bath of the summer season as the focus is always on what's new this week and it's easy to get lost. Solo is a prime example of that.
In the United States, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released May 24, 1989.
Licence to Kill was release was July 14, 1989.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier release date was June 9, 1989.
Batman release date was June 23, 1989
Honey I Shrunk the Kids release date was June 23, 1989
Lethal Weapon II release date was July 7, 1989.
In its opening weekend (July 14-16), Licence to Kill was No. 4, behind Lethal Weapon II, Batman and Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
LTK just was not interesting enough to be able to compete with the big hitters like Batman and Lethal weapon, bot movie that I find better movies than LTK. And Honey I shrunk the kids was an original quirky comedy.
I am not saying it had to compete against Vengeance, but that Vengeance was representative of what the American action movies had become: overblown, far fetched, a caricature of itself. The first Die Hard was action movie at its best, its sequels, not so much.
It's more that James Bond himself wasn't interesting enough to directly compete with newer American franchises. The American public had been increasingly losing interest since FYEO, and had LTK been a more formulaic, safer film like AVTAK it would have done just as badly, probably even with Brosnan in the role. It took a hard reboot, a long absence, and the decline of the competing franchises to get people interested again, and even then GoldenEye didn't dare open at remotely the same time as Batman Forever. I will however contend that if LTK had opened in November (like GE) and been blessed with a promotional budget half as large as Batman or Lethal Weapon 2's, it would have performed much better.
If that happened, I wonder if Bond's six year absence would have played out differently, and whether Dalton would have still returned to the role in '95.
Happily GE surpassed it in the US and was #6 at the US box office for the year (total gross $106,429,941) whereas Die Hard: With A Vengeance was #11 ($100,012,499). DH opened on May 19, GE on November 17. Wise decision!
Well said and good points about the slightly documentary flavour. It certainly has that. The vengeful 'brother' ruse element was nicely done too. I'm due a rewatch once they put it out in 4K.
I think the hiatus was mostly due to major financial problems at MGM. Eon-Danjaq sued MGM in the middle of it.