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“Yesterday is a
memory, today is history, tomorrow is in the hands of one man...”
Following a press screening on the morning of Monday December 8th,
Tomorrow Never Dies then had its World Charity Premiere at the ODEON
Leicester Square on the evening of Tuesday December 9, 1997. Unusually this was the first James
Bond premiere since Thunderball not to be attended by any members of the Royal
family. The tradition had started in 1967 when the premiere of You Only
Live Twice was attended by Her Majesty The Queen and HRH The Duke of
Edinburgh. Held in aid of the
King George's Fund For Sailors, the Tomorrow Never Dies premiere
was attended by Pierce Brosnan with his partner Keeley Shaye-Smith,
co-stars Michelle Yeoh, Desmond Llewelyn, Jonathan Pryce, and Gotz Otto
who played his henchman Stamper. |
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Tomorrow Never Dies
title song vocalist Sheryl Crow also attended the premiere, as did
three-time James Bond title song performer Shirley Bassey. Also in
attendance at the premiere were Judi Dench, playing M for the second time
opposite Pierce Brosnan, Samantha Bond (also reprising her role as
Moneypenny), Colin Salmon (making his Bond film debut as Charles Robinson)
and Geoffrey Palmer, who played the trigger-happy Admiral Roebuck in
Tomorrow Never Dies. Burt Kwouk who had appeared in three James Bond
films was also one of the invited guests, along with ‘Golden girl’ Shirley
Eaton. The after-premiere party was held at Bedford Square, home of
original Ian Fleming publisher, Jonathan Cape. British actor John Hurt and
Irish singer-songwriter and Live Aid fundraiser Sir Bob Geldof were
two of the celebrities attending the premiere and party. |
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ABOVE: (left) Tomorrow Never Dies
had its World Charity Premiere at the ODEON Leicester Square on Tuesday December 9,
1997. (top right) Pierce Brosnan attended the premiere with his
partner Keeley Shaye-Smith (bottom right) Desmond Llewelyn with
Jonathan Pryce arrive at the ODEON Leicester Square. |
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Tomorrow Never
Dies went on general release across the UK from Friday December
12, 1997 with some cinemas having advance previews on Thursday
December 11th. Many cities also held regional premieres for
Tomorrow Never Dies which was the first James Bond film to be widely
promoted on the internet. Smirnoff Vodka ran a competition “007 Shaken
Not Stirred Adventure” to win a trip to Jamaica and featured the film
heavily on its website in the months leading up to the release. During
its London release Tomorrow Never Dies also played for eight
weeks at the ODEON Marble Arch from Friday December 12, 1997. This
venue had been converted into a five-screen multiplex in January 1997.
Tomorrow Never Dies initially played at the ODEON Leicester
Square for six weeks, before transferring to the adjoining ODEON Mezzanine for a
further fourteen weeks from Friday January 23, 1998.
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By popular demand Tomorrow Never Dies
also opened at the 1,330-seat screen 1 at the Empire Leicester Square
on Friday January 23, 1998, where it playing for three weeks.
Newspaper advertisements proclaimed this was ‘The Biggest Bond Ever!’,
and although not as profitable as its
predecessor, Tomorrow Never Dies was still very successful at
the box-office grossing over $330 million worldwide. With Pierce
Brosnan now firmly established as a very popular Bond in the eyes of
critics and public alike, work began on the eighteenth film in the series
in January 1999. |
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“The Man with the
Midas Touch”
To coincide with the publication of When The Snow Melts, the
autobiography of James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli [co-written with
his friend and Journalist Donald Zec (1919-2021]), the National Film Theatre presented a season of James Bond
films throughout September 1998. |
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The season began at
8.30pm on Sunday September 6, 1998 with a screening of Tomorrow Never
Dies in the 125-seat NFT2. Monday September 7th saw a double-bill of
GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies at 6.10pm this time in the
450-seat NFT1. On Thursday September 17th at 6.30pm Michael G. Wilson (now
co-producer of the series with Barbara Broccoli) took to the stage in NFT1
for a talk entitled ‘Behind the Scenes of James Bond’ where he spoke about
the filmmaking process and the legacy of his stepfather ‘Cubby’ Broccoli.
This was followed by a screening of the first James Bond film Dr. No
(1962) at 8.45pm. The following day saw From Russia With Love
screen in NFT1 at 8.40pm, with a double-bill of Goldfinger (1964)
and You Only Live Twice (1967) starting at 6.20pm in the main
auditorium. Sunday September 20, 1998 On Her Majesty's Secret Service
(1969) screened in in NFT1 at 3.20pm, followed by a double-bill of
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Live And Let Die (1973) at
6.10pm. |
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A second showing of
Goldfinger in NFT1 at 8.45pm on Monday September 21st and From
Russia With Love at 6.20pm on Tuesday September 22nd, was followed by
a double-bill of Dr. No/Thunderball on Thursday 24th at
6.30pm. A final screening of You Only Live Twice this time in
125-seat NFT2 took place on Friday September 25, 1998, with Diamonds
Are Forever on Saturday 26th at 8.30pm. The season concluded with a
second showing of Live And Let Die (1973) at 6.10 in NFT2 on
Wednesday September 30, 1998. The 1998 season utilised the new prints
acquired by the British Film Institute in 1996/97 and marked the last time
the films (except for You Only Live Twice) were screened at the
National Film Theatre in 35mm format. The 2009 ‘Albert R. Broccoli: Bond
and Beyond’ season at the NFT used new digital restorations of all films
up to and including Quantum of Solace (2008). The newly tweaked
revisionist versions were taken from the Lowry Digital Images restorations
which included wire removal on some of the model work in the early films,
and colours which did not always replicate the way the films were
originally seen on their theatrical debut. The rarely screened 35mm prints
of the James Bond series up to and including Live And Let Die are
still held by the British Film Institute and therefore represent the films
as they would have been originally seen in cinemas before the advent of
uniform digital editions, which have subsequently been utilised in the
majority of theatrical screenings and duplicated for home entertainment
formats. |
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“Orbis Non Sufficit”
In order to compete in the marketplace
the James Bond series continued the tradition of issuing special
teaser posters announcing production, and early trailers containing
very little actual footage from the film. The World Is Not Enough
had an effective ‘Flame Girl’ teaser campaign based on a design
conceived by Dianne Reynolds, which was utilised on posters and the
CD-single of the theme song by Garbage. |
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ABOVE: The
World Is Not Enough had its World Premiere at the Fox Bruin
Theatre in Westwood Village, Los Angeles on November 8, 1999. Far less
formal than the London premieres, the event was attended by Pierce
Brosnan, Denise Richards, Robbie Coltrane, John Cleese, Desmond
Llewelyn and director Michael Apted. Two-time James Bond girl Maud
Adams also appeared at the Los Angeles premiere, along with Rene Russo
who would co-star alongside Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair
(1999). |
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The World Is Not
Enough premiered in Los Angeles on November 8, 1999 and then had its
European Charity Premiere at the ODEON Leicester Square on Monday November
22, 1999. Like its predecessor, no members of the Royal family attended
the London premiere. Along with Pierce Brosnan, other cast members present
were Sophie Marceau, Denise Richards, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Robert
Carlyle, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench and Desmond Llewelyn whose final
James Bond premiere this would be. The longest-serving member of the James
Bond films died in a car crash on December 19, 1999, less than one month
after the release of The World Is Not Enough. Roger Moore, who
starred with Llewelyn in six of his seven Bond films, spoke at a memorial
service held on January 6, 2000. John Cleese, Llewelyn's co-star in The
World Is Not Enough, would briefly take over the role of Q in Die
Another Day (2002). Once again hugely successful at the box-office
taking $37 million in the USA during its opening weekend, The World Is
Not Enough consolidated Pierce Brosnan's status as a major
international star.
Special advance previews
of The World Is Not Enough were held at many cinemas on Thursday November 25,
1999, including the ODEON Marble Arch where it then played for twelve
weeks. After eight weeks at the ODEON Leicester Square, The World Is
Not Enough transferred to the adjoining ODEON Mezzanine for a further
nine weeks from Friday January 14, 2000. The same day saw Pierce Brosnan's
third James Bond adventure open at the Plaza Piccadilly where it screened
for two weeks; and the Virgin Trocadero, where it played for nine weeks -
ending its West End run on Thursday March 16, 2000. This time ultimately
grossing more than it's predecessor at the worldwide box-office, newspaper
advertisements were once again quick to promote the success when the film was showing across London. |
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ABOVE:
Three months ahead of the London premiere of The World Is
Not Enough (1999), Desmond Llewelyn had opened ‘007
Licence To Thrill’ on August 17, 1999 - a simulator ride theme
park attraction situated at the Trocadero Centre on Piccadilly
Circus and Coventry Street. The building was formerly known as
the London Pavilion, where Dr. No had premiered in
1962, and every subsequent James Bond film up to and including
Moonraker (1979) had screened at some point during
their original West End engagement or re-release. The
attraction was produced by Landmark Entertainment, best
known for producing interactive experiences at Universal
Studios including ‘Jurassic Park: The Ride’, and ‘Terminator 2
3D’. Then-current M, Judi Dench and Desmond Llewelyn as
Q, both reprised their roles for the pre-filmed parts of the
attraction. Its script was penned by GoldenEye
screenwriter Bruce Feirstein, who also collaborated on the
mechanical aspects of the ride. Also on display at the
Trocadero Centre were the Lotus Esprit S1 from The Spy Who
Loved Me (1977) and Acrostar ‘Bede’ Jet from Octopussy
(1983). The attraction had debuted in the USA as ‘James Bond
007 A License To Thrill’ on May 9, 1998, with a joint premiere
at five North American amusement parks - Paramount's Great
America, King Dominion, Carowinds, King's Island; and Canada's
Wonderland in Toronto, Canada. The final location of the
attraction was Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, which opened
on December 1, 1999 to coincide with the Antipodean release of
Pierce Brosnan's third 007 adventure. |
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“The Architect of
Illusion”
Whilst The World Is Not Enough was still playing in the West End,
there was a chance for Londoner's to see You Only Live Twice back
on the big screen at the National Film Theatre. Sean Connery's fifth James
Bond adventure was screened as part of ‘Architects of Illusion’ - a season
of films devoted to the art of the Production Designer. You Only Live
Twice was screened in NFT1 at 6.10pm on Monday February 7, 2000 with
Ken Adam attending the performance, and again on Thursday February 10th at
8.30pm, this time in the 130-seat NFT3. ‘Moonraker, Strangelove and Other
Celluloid Dreams - The Visionary Art of Ken Adam’ an exhibition of the
work of the legendary Production Designer had been on display at the
Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, from November 17, 1999 to
January 9, 2000. |
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The films also included
in that months ‘Junior NFT’ strand were also shown as an extension to the
‘Architects of Illusion’ season, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
which screened in NFT3 on Saturday February 5, 2000. The National Film
Theatre booklet for February 2000 noted that the film was “Normally shown
as an example of Roald Dahl's screenwriting, or Roland Emmett's
inventions, or even just for fun, CCBB is also a showcase for the
production design work of Ken Adam”. The 1968 musical fantasy based on the
1964 children's book by Ian Fleming, was produced by Albert R. Broccoli
from a screenplay by the authors friend (and You Only Live Twice
screenwriter) Roald Dahl, with additional dialogue from James Bond
screenwriter Richard Maibaum. |
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