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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Octopussy -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Osato

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robbiesreels said:
I just watched Octopussy, (a Bond film that keeps getting better and better,) using my Optima 25e projector on a 9 foot screen and I was very impressed with the picture, but the Moonraker blu ray still looks the best of the Roger Moore Bonds.

On a side note does anybody remember the battle of the Bonds back in 1983, between Roger Moore (Octopussy, July) and Sean Connery (Never Say Never Again, October ) and which Bond film won the box-office battle
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As I recall moonraker was one of two roger Moore bonds that received a 4k scan treatment. The other was live and let die.

Thanks for the post!

Octopussy was the first bond movie that I ever saw. I was unaware of never say never again in 1983. Still do not own that one as it is a hard watch for me. Thunderball is so much better.
 

JoshZ

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Matt Hough said:
Octopussy won the Battle of the Bonds.
Yes, but not by much. They were the #3 and #5 movies of the year respectively. Both did quite well by the standards of the day.
 

Osato

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JoshZ said:
Yes, but not by much. They were the #3 and #5 movies of the year respectively. Both did quite well by the standards of the day.
Octopussy is a better film IMO. Great cast, great score, great story too. Never say never was a dreadful remake of thunderball.
 

FoxyMulder

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There is some sharpening applied to this release but i would say Moonraker is slightly worse/same, despite it's 4K scan, the fact is we are talking Lowry here, i think a number of these titles got degrained then sharpened to compensate for loss of detail, some of the sharpening adds mild halo's which are noticeable on a projection system, it would be years before Lowry got better at this.

That's just my opinion and my theory, i think most of these Bond titles are a disgrace on blu ray, i mean that with regards to how they could potentially look if they were to be given the same treatment that other high end titles receive.

Now don't get me wrong, there are far worse titles out there but Commander Bond deserves better.
 

robbiesreels

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The box-office grosses for the 2 Bond films were


Octopussy - #7 for the year U.S Gross, $67,893,619, Foreign Gross- $119,600,000, Worldwide gross- $187,500,000



Never Say Never Again- #13 for the year U.S. Gross- $55,432,841, Foreign gross- $104,600,000, Worldwide gross- $160,000,000
 

FoxyMulder

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robbiesreels said:
The box-office grosses for the 2 Bond films were


Octopussy - #7 for the year U.S Gross, $67,893,619, Foreign Gross- $119,600,000, Worldwide gross- $187,500,000



Never Say Never Again- #13 for the year U.S. Gross- $55,432,841, Foreign gross- $104,600,000, Worldwide gross- $160,000,000
I'd be interested in knowing their respective budgets but Box Office Mojo says not available.
 

FoxyMulder

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robbiesreels said:
Budget for Octopussy was- $27,500,000

Budget for Never Say Never Again- $36,000,000
No doubt Mr Connery was well paid to reprise his role, do you have any figures for what he and Roger Moore were paid. ?
 

robbiesreels

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Another interesting sideline

Following For Your Eyes Only Roger Moore had expressed a desire to stop playing James Bond. His original contract had been for
three films, which was fulfilled with The Spy Who Loved Me. Subsequent films were negotiated on a film-by-film basis. Given his reluctance
to return for Octopussy, the producers engaged in a semi-public quest for the next Bond , with both Timothy Dalton and James Brolin being considered
in fact James Brolin was very close to being the next Bond.. However , when the rival Never Say Never Again was announced, the producers re-contacted
Moore in the belief that an established actor would fare better against Sean Connery . They made an offer that Moore couldn't turn down
$4,000,000 + 5% of the net U.S. profits. ($5,265,800 total salary)

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;]Brolin's three screentests were publicly released for the first time as a special feature named James Brolin: The Man Who Would Be Bond in the Octopussy Ultimate Edition [/color]DVD. below is a scene from James Brolin's Octopussy screen test with actor Vijay Amritraj
 

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JoshZ

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robbiesreels said:
The box-office grosses for the 2 Bond films were


Octopussy - #7 for the year U.S Gross, $67,893,619, Foreign Gross- $119,600,000, Worldwide gross- $187,500,000



Never Say Never Again- #13 for the year U.S. Gross- $55,432,841, Foreign gross- $104,600,000, Worldwide gross- $160,000,000
Those were the domestic American rankings for 1983. I was referring to the worldwide rankings. Regardless, they were both healthy box office hits.
 

Osato

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robbiesreels said:
Another interesting sideline

Following For Your Eyes Only Roger Moore had expressed a desire to stop playing James Bond. His original contract had been for
three films, which was fulfilled with The Spy Who Loved Me. Subsequent films were negotiated on a film-by-film basis. Given his reluctance
to return for Octopussy, the producers engaged in a semi-public quest for the next Bond , with both Timothy Dalton and James Brolin being considered
in fact James Brolin was very close to being the next Bond.. However , when the rival Never Say Never Again was announced, the producers re-contacted
Moore in the belief that an established actor would fare better against Sean Connery . They made an offer that Moore couldn't turn down
$4,000,000 + 5% of the net U.S. profits. ($5,265,800 total salary)
[/size]
Brolin's three screentests were publicly released for the first time as a special feature named James Brolin: The Man Who Would Be Bond in the Octopussy Ultimate Edition DVD. below is a scene from James Brolin's Octopussy screen test with actor Vijay Amritraj[/SIZE]
Roger Moore is James Bond for me. It's amazing he made 7 official James Bond films. The era was so different from now. It was so wonderful in the 80s when there wAs a new bond film every 2 years! I saw many of the films on VHS during that time as well. Octopussy was the first theatrical bond for me. I did not see a view to a kill in theaters, but it was the first VHS tape I bought. I haven't missed any of the bond films after view as well.

As much as I loved roger as bond I was also very excited for dalton in the living daylights. The happy 25th anniversary special hosted by Moore was so fitting as promotion for the new film too. I also received a James Bond 007 book about all of the films during that time. Very exciting times. In addition I also collected scores for octopussy, avtak and daylights. In addition to the James Bond hits collection that had a of the themes up to octopussy.
 

Reed Grele

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I remember well the 1983 "Battle of the Bonds". Can't believe it's been over 30 years!

Back then HBO had a news parody show called "Not Necessarily the News". One show featured a short spot spoofing the "Battle" by having both Roger Moore, and Sean Connery as Bond (other actors, of course) in a back to back gun barrel sequence that ends with them turning face to face and shooting each other... "Never Say Octopussy Again". It was hilarious!

I still have it on a Beta tape. And it used to be on You Tube, but I just did a pretty thorough Google search and couldn't find it.
 

brioni

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Connery's take for Never Say Never Again was USD $5,000,000 + 5% of the net US profits (USD $6,410,000 total salary).

sources:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110515030901/http://www.freewebs.com/moonrakerbondstation/seanconnery.htm

If you go to Lazenby's page, there is a very interesting contact discussion.

There's many different revenue figures banded around in books and the web, this archive website claimed to be accurate.It suggests Never Say Never Again lost the studio $16,400,000 while MGM/UA made $6,800,000 from Octopussy.http://web.archive.org/web/20090526232117/http://www.freewebs.com/sonybankablebonds/

Another table here that factors in marketing budgets:
http://moonrakerbondstation2.webs.com/prodmarketingbudgets.htm

Head to head 1982 Bond interviews:
http://www.the007dossier.com/007dossier/post/2013/09/24/1982-Today-Show-James-Bond-Specials
 

Worth

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I find it hard to believe that Never Say Never actually lost money, though it may well have not been hugely profitable. Of course, according to the studios, no film has ever made a profit. Accountants are by far the most creative people in Hollywood.
 

Osato

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Worth said:
I find it hard to believe that Never Say Never actually lost money, though it may well have not been hugely profitable. Of course, according to the studios, no film has ever made a profit. Accountants are by far the most creative people in Hollywood.
Lost is a great way to describe never say never again.
 

charlesgunn

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atfree said:
One of the most bothersome aspects to Never Say Never Again for me is the score....sounds like either a TV movie or a porn film. Just totally mismatched to a Bond film.

With one of the dullest climactic battles of the whole series Thunderball did it's best with the underwater fighting.
Unfortunately Never say Never Again was able to remake this movie and make the climactic battle even more dull .

I've actually grown to like parts of the score over the years but it does remain totally out of place for most of the movie.
 

Bob Cashill

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As I recall the score was something of a rush job for the great Michel Legrand, who regretted taking it on as Barbra Streisand put him through the wringer on that same year's Yentl. Don't judge singer Lani Hall on the basis of the title track; she's very good.
 

robbiesreels

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According to the i.m.d.b. Producer Kevin McClory invited John Barry to do the music for "Never Say Never Again"
but he politely declined out of respect for Albert R. Broccoli and his association with EON productions.

ALSO George Lazenby was considered by producer Kevin McClory to play Bond but was dropped from consideration
when Sean Connery confirmed he wanted the role.
 

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