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Pre-Title Sequences from Shortest to Longest
MakeshiftPython
“Baja?!”
Given the news of NTTD supposedly having a pre-title sequence that clocks at 20 minutes, I thought it would be interesting to look into the length of every Bond film's pre-titles. My method of timing them was to not include the opening studio logos, so I start it off with either the gun barrel or in the case of CR, QOS, and SF start right after the stuio logos fade to black. I then stop the timer right when the main titles visual cue kicks in.
Here's all the pre-titles listed in film release order to see the evolution of the lengths:
From Russia with Love - 3:00
Goldfinger - 4:52
Thunderball - 4:32
You Only Live Twice - 5:47
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 6:32
Diamonds Are Forever - 4:32
Live and Let Die - 4:30
The Man with the Golden Gun - 7:55
The Spy Who Loved Me- 7:40
Moonraker - 5:32
For Your Eyes Only - 6:16
Octopussy - 7:16
A View to a Kill - 5:59
The Living Daylights - 7:14
Licence to Kill - 8:32
GoldenEye - 10:10
Tomorrow Never Dies - 9:12
The World is Not Enough - 14:05
Die Another Day - 13:12
Casino Royale - 3:11
Quantum of Solace - 3:36
Skyfall - 12:33
Spectre - 12:26
No Time to Die - 23:30
Now here's all the pre-titles from shortest to longest:
From Russia with Love - 3:00
Casino Royale - 3:11
Quantum of Solace - 3:36
Live and Let Die - 4:30
Thunderball - 4:32
Diamonds Are Forever - 4:32
Goldfinger - 4:52
Moonraker - 5:32
You Only Live Twice - 5:47
A View to a Kill - 5:59
For Your Eyes Only - 6:16
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 6:32
The Living Daylights - 7:14
Octopussy - 7:16
The Spy Who Loved Me- 7:40
The Man with the Golden Gun - 7:55
Licence to Kill - 8:32
Tomorrow Never Dies - 9:12
GoldenEye - 10:10
Spectre - 12:26
Skyfall - 12:33
Die Another Day - 13:12
The World is Not Enough - 14:05
No Time to Die - 23:30
So under Cubby and Harry's run during FRWL-TMWTGG the typical length was above 4 minutes, with FRWL being the shortest at 3:00 and TMWTGG being the longest at 7:55. When Cubby took over during TSWLM-LTK the typical length was boosted to 6-7 mins, with MR being the shortest at 5:32 and LTK being the longest at 8:32. Then with Michael and Barbara taking over since GE they've clearly favored having in having the pre-titles clocking around over 10 mins, with TND being the shortest at 9:12 and TWINE the longest at 14:05. The clear exceptions were CR and QOS, as they ran even shorter than the average length during Harry and Cubby's run.
Here's all the pre-titles listed in film release order to see the evolution of the lengths:
From Russia with Love - 3:00
Goldfinger - 4:52
Thunderball - 4:32
You Only Live Twice - 5:47
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 6:32
Diamonds Are Forever - 4:32
Live and Let Die - 4:30
The Man with the Golden Gun - 7:55
The Spy Who Loved Me- 7:40
Moonraker - 5:32
For Your Eyes Only - 6:16
Octopussy - 7:16
A View to a Kill - 5:59
The Living Daylights - 7:14
Licence to Kill - 8:32
GoldenEye - 10:10
Tomorrow Never Dies - 9:12
The World is Not Enough - 14:05
Die Another Day - 13:12
Casino Royale - 3:11
Quantum of Solace - 3:36
Skyfall - 12:33
Spectre - 12:26
No Time to Die - 23:30
Now here's all the pre-titles from shortest to longest:
From Russia with Love - 3:00
Casino Royale - 3:11
Quantum of Solace - 3:36
Live and Let Die - 4:30
Thunderball - 4:32
Diamonds Are Forever - 4:32
Goldfinger - 4:52
Moonraker - 5:32
You Only Live Twice - 5:47
A View to a Kill - 5:59
For Your Eyes Only - 6:16
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - 6:32
The Living Daylights - 7:14
Octopussy - 7:16
The Spy Who Loved Me- 7:40
The Man with the Golden Gun - 7:55
Licence to Kill - 8:32
Tomorrow Never Dies - 9:12
GoldenEye - 10:10
Spectre - 12:26
Skyfall - 12:33
Die Another Day - 13:12
The World is Not Enough - 14:05
No Time to Die - 23:30
So under Cubby and Harry's run during FRWL-TMWTGG the typical length was above 4 minutes, with FRWL being the shortest at 3:00 and TMWTGG being the longest at 7:55. When Cubby took over during TSWLM-LTK the typical length was boosted to 6-7 mins, with MR being the shortest at 5:32 and LTK being the longest at 8:32. Then with Michael and Barbara taking over since GE they've clearly favored having in having the pre-titles clocking around over 10 mins, with TND being the shortest at 9:12 and TWINE the longest at 14:05. The clear exceptions were CR and QOS, as they ran even shorter than the average length during Harry and Cubby's run.
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Comments
So was I. I think the difference is that DAD's pre-title was always planned to be as long as it was so the sequencing feels more natural. With TWINE it was only supposed to be Bond getting the money at the bank and end with Renard being revealed as the sniper, telling Cigar Girl "everything is going according to plan" which then transitions to the titles. So once the titles finished we'd then get what seems to be a typical MI6 office scenes that we always got after the titles in older films, except it ends with a bang and transitions into the boat chase.
All the scenes in MI6 and the boat chase would have gone on longer if they were kept in place after the titles. For example the boat chase would have expanded with police forces joining in on the river but that all got cut out. That's why the MI6 scenes feel so truncated because they had to cut it down for the PTS.
Yes. As much as I enjoy a lot of the TWINE PTS, you can really feel its length. I'm hopeful NTTD's will feel more natural. I wouldn't mind seeing shorter PTSs make a comeback with the next era, though as I said the length isn't necessarily indicative of quality. I'd even be up for a few more Bond-less PTSs as long as they're done well (I thought we were about to get one with NTTD being set in just Norway, but the 20-minute confirmation has debunked that).
And I also enjoy how the Brosnan films used the pre-title action mini-stunt leading to a larger action payoff. GE's bungee jump then the freefall to catch a plane. TND's escape from the airfield then the dogfight and ejector seat finale. DAD's real world surfing intro. Then the hovercraft chase.
+1 all of PB’s films started great.
I agree, but regrettably, 3/4 ended weak IMO (TND, TWINE, and DAD). The only PTSs I've not been enjoying lately are YOLT and DAF.
Interesting that the End Credits probably follow a very similar pattern. DN and TB seemed to have credits that lasted no longer than 20 seconds, while now they are more like 10 minutes!
Also Craig era is quite divisive with CR and QoS being quick hitters, while SF & SP are among the longest of the bunch
I always thought that was pretty unique of Bond title sequences to retain the more obscure credits, likely so that the sequence can still go for four minutes. Typical main titles like the MCU films are only half as long since they're only crediting the main crew members and cast.
I’m curious how they’ll manage that in NTTD: it looks like it can’t be one continuous sequence, unless we’re getting Fleming-style flashbacks later on.
TMWTGG clocked in at nearly 8 minutes?
And we always noticed the length of TWINE, but DAD was less than a minute behind.
I love these kind of threads.
Yeah that is interesting, isn't it? It certainly is a long one as quite a lot happens, but it feels much shorter because it's all one, pretty continuous sequence I guess.
And I would have guessed that SF is longer than DAD.
As others mentioned already: Despite loving the boat chase in TWINE, I have to admit that the PTS is too long and it is a bit strange to have two different action scenes in the PTS which are even intercepted by the MI6-scene.
I feel the same: The PTS in YOLT and DAF are disappointing.
While we're talking about other films, Mandy's pre-titles sequence is half the film :P I loved that approach.
Sort of; we do get the other two title screens before "Mandy" ("The Shadow Mountains 1983 A.D." and "Children of the New Dawn"). I love that film though; I'm glad you brought it up.
Fair enough; I forgot about those / wouldn't have realized they counted as the film's titles. Lucky to have seen it once in theatres, and loved it as well!
That's where my pre-pre-title sequence theory plays! Norway being its own sequence (perhaps five minutes), followed by a gun barrel which opens up to Matera. I could be very wrong. I do like the idea of the girl under ice in Norway hard cutting to Madeleine emerging from the water in Matera. That to me sounds like a smooth transition.
See I think it could be possible (and I hope this isn’t too spoilery for this thread as it only concerns stuff that we’ve seen in the No Time To Die trailers) that we have the action in Matera, then credits, then perhaps later a flashback to Bond and Madeline arriving in Matera and spending their evenings together etc. It’s the kind of thing Fleming would do at the openings of his books.
I’m not 100% convinced by that idea though: doesn’t feel quite right. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.
In a curious way, I felt the same way about the NTTD PTS. It's never boring and goes by very fast for me, but it feels long because of the fact that so much is going on in several locations (even if they're all closer in proximity).
One thing that the two longest pre-titles have in common is that there's leaps in time and distance, with pauses in the middle to give audiences a moment to breathe before ramping up the action. The major difference is TWINE's pre-titles was drastically changed in the editing phase, whereas NTTD's pre-titles were intentionally designed as it is.
It feels like for TWINE the filmmakers wanted to try to keep the pace up as long as possible, which meant cutting down the MI6 scenes in order to rush to the boat chase. With NTTD, it feels like the filmmakers were confident that audiences would be patient with the long pre-titles so they allowed the middle scenes with Bond and Madeleine to breathe a little more, and keep all the action beats intact. We pretty much live in an era where you can start a film WITHOUT flashing a title until the very end. This has happened with Christopher Nolan's Batman films and carried over onto the Marvel films.
Now that we have the longest PTS with NTTD, I'm wondering when we'll see that get beat, if that ever even happens.
I feel like it isn't even a matter of audiences being patient with a long pre-titles, a majority probably aren't even familiar with the idea of a PTS, titles sequence, and film. They're just watching *movie*.
The general public would probably be familiar enough with the fact that there is a Bond theme and accompanying visuals, but I don't think they're in the theatre thinking "when is the titles sequence going to start? This is one long PTS!". Not that you're implying that's what they're doing... I just don't think the general audience is as locked into these Bond formulae like we are.
As for what 'boundaries' they could push for the next one, I don't think it'll be to do with length or the span of time it could stretch. I'm not sure if we're going to have a throwaway action sequence that's not connected to the plot in the vein of GF, TND, OP etc. I suspect it'll continue to act as a fundamental part of the story, setting up characters and plot elements... I can imagine a future Bond film involving a longer PTS that maybe doesn't even introduce Bond - an opening action sequence, perhaps a location shift before the villain's plot is shown and set in motion. Not quite like TMWTGG or LALD as they'd be larger in scale and more fundamental to the film's plot. We'd only be introduced to Bond a little bit into the film, so in the same sort of vein as the DN film or the FRWL novel. With a new actor coming along I'd say this would be especially a good opportunity to do this.