15 Terrible Mistakes That Almost Ruined James Bond For Everyone

10. No Bond Films From 1989-1995

Following the disappointing box office performance of 1989's Licence to Kill (even though it still made a truckload of cash), the future of the Bond series was put in doubt, combined with various bureaucratic rights-related issues which weren't resolved until 1993. Timothy Dalton bowed out of playing Bond for a third time after reading the script for Goldeneye, at which point he was replaced by Pierce Brosnan, and production ramped up for the movie's eventual 1995 release. Even though Brosnan was almost immediately accepted as a classic Bond and Goldeneye was a tremendous box office success, the 6-year gap between movies was a scary time for Bond fans, where many felt that the series was actually going to die out once and for all (something which, in our present culture of reboots and remakes, just seems ridiculous). It was a huge risk waiting so long to release another movie, though thankfully, MGM managed to come surging out of the gate with one of the best Bond films of the period, and the wait at least reminded them that there was always going to be an audience for this character.