Not many people remember May of 1963 very well. Most members of the board aren't old enough. I'm not old enough. But if you read reports about the upcoming Bond film or view its trailer, people in the US were excited for its release. They were exposed to a world of espionage, sexy girls, and great action. It was an unknown to them at the time. They were experienced in sitcoms and dramas, a comedy, maybe a horror movie if one was adventurous in their movie-goings.

All of sudden the first James Bond movie came out, and the world gets hooked on spy culture. Saying the Bond movies redefined film-making for the era is an understatement. Saying that it redefined film-making forever is more precise. You still see the effects today, as many films try to copy the formula (*cough* xXx *cough*).

That's where the problem began. Millions of people saw Die Another Day in November 2002 and most "hard core" fans left disappointed. But they were left disappointed because it was the same reason many average movie goers went and made it successful. It was a pretty good action movie.

In 1964, the plot of the next movie was concrete and known: a madman would try to knock off Fort Knox for world domination, etc. That was all it took to get people to the theaters (plus the fact it was a sequel to two movies that had already raised the bar). In 2002, explaining DAD's plot to someone (not considering it as a Bond movie) seemed rather generic and outlandish for an action movie.

The only reason the franchise survived after the 6 year post-Dalton hiatus was because the series became more geared for action/adventure crowd moreso than fans of espionage. Yes, the Brosnans were good action movies, but is that what we espionage loving, "hard core" Bond fans want to hear?

Eon wants to go back to a classic Bond for Casino Royale in 2006, but sooner or later Eon will have to choose between satisfying the loyal Bond fans and average movie goers who like action. And since the latter has the majority of box office (we, the "hard cores," will see anything EON puts on a movie screen), the future does not look bright for us Bond fans.