Posted in: MGM, Movies | Tagged: 007, eon, james bond, Joe Biden, mgm, no time to die, trump

James Bond: Trump Administration Only One Without Film

For anyone who's a trivia hound, one eagle-eyed observer @Bondblog on Twitter noticed with the latest result in the 2020 presidential election in former Vice President Joe Biden becoming the President-elect, his opponent and incumbent Donald Trump becomes the first to never have a James Bond film released during his administration since the franchise began with 1962's Dr. No under John F. Kennedy with the late Sean Connery's debut as 007. Of course, it's not really the fault of Trump's directly given how COVID-19 caused numerous delays of the latest film in No Time to Die to an Easter 2021 release. Originally scheduled for Spring 2020, the pandemic eviscerated the entertainment industry shuttering productions around the world as leaders try to figure out how to keep the virus under control. With cinemas sluggish to recover and cases spiking across the country, many studios delayed their major tentpole blockbusters to 2021 with underwhelming box office performance from films like the much-anticipated Christopher Nolan's Tenet.

James Bond Films Through American Presidents

In addition to Dr. No, From Russia With Love (1963) was also released during the Kennedy administration. Lyndon Johnson saw the release of Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), and You Only Live Twice (1966). Richard Nixon saw three different Bonds with George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Connery's return in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Roger Moore's debut in Live and Let Die (1973). Gerald Ford's presidency saw The Man With The Golden Gun (1974). Jimmy Carter had two Bond films in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). The Ronald Reagan administration has the current record in Bond films with four in For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), Moore's final turn in A View to a Kill (1985), and Timothy Dalton's debut in the franchise in The Living Daylights (1987). There's technically a fifth with Connery returning one final time in the remake of Thunderball in Never Say Never Again (1983), but not under MGM and Eon.

George H. W. Bush's lone Bond film during his administration happens to be Dalton's final entry in the franchise in License to Kill (1989). Bill Clinton had the bulk of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, which were original non-Ian Fleming stories in Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and The World Is Not Enough (1999). George W. Bush had the final Brosnan film Die Another Day (2002) and marked the debut of current Bond, Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006) going back to the Fleming novels along with 2008's Quantum of Solace. The Barack Obama administration only saw two films starting with the franchise's most successful in Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). No Time to Die will be the fifth and final time Craig plays 007, which any pending legal Hail Mary's from the Trump administration will fall within Biden's term.

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