Is Daniel Craig Really Worth $150 Million as James Bond?

Everyone knows that movies are a big, expensive and highly lucrative business, but every once in a while a number gets out that’s so distractingly enormous that it boggles the mind.

It used to be that heads would turn when an actor earned $20 million, but that amount almost seems quaint today. According to recent reports, Sony is prepared to offer James Bond star Daniel Craig an astonishing $150 million to return to the franchise for two more films. (And to think, there was a time when everyone believed that casting Craig in the first place was a terrible idea.)

I can’t speak to the validity of that number. The news comes from Radar Online, a site with a source that claims, “The studio is desperate to secure the actor’s services while they phase in a younger long-term successor,” a statement which is suspiciously phrased. You don’t “phase in” a new James Bond. It’s not like Timothy Dalton showed up as Roger Moore’s sidekick for a couple of movies before going solo. It’s a ludicrous idea, unless the studio finally realizes that there are more “Double-O” agents in the franchise and that there’s no reason not to produce some spin-offs. (Or unless it’s just badly phrased.)

But regardless of this story’s accuracy, the question that it raises is whether any actor is worth $150 million for just two movies. That’s enough money to make a whole James Bond movie. Is Daniel Craig really so invaluable to this franchise that the idea of losing him is unthinkable?

The answer is “maybe,” but probably not for the reason you’d think.

Columbia Pictures

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Granted, James Bond has never been indelibly linked to just one actor. Sean Connery was the one who made the role iconic in Dr. No (1962), but he even he was already late to the party. James “Jimmy” Bond had already been played by actor Barry Nelson on television, in a 1954 adaptation of Casino Royale. And when Connery eventually played hardball with the studio, and wanted to finally leave the franchise altogether, they ultimately recast the role – multiple times – with (mostly) resounding financial success.

But every time James Bond gets recast, it is a period of panic for fans of the series and, doubtless, the producers of the franchise. Ian Fleming’s super-spy has been a cash cow for over half a century but there’s no guarantee that he’ll always stay that way. And with the James Bond franchise as absurdly lucrative as ever (Skyfall made $1.1 billion, SPECTRE made $880 million), the security that comes with keeping Daniel Craig around – and not rocking the boat any more than absolutely necessary – might just be worth any price tag to Sony.

Here’s the thing though: as of right now, Sony doesn’t even have James Bond anymore.

Columbia Pictures

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Sony Pictures only ever had the rights to distribute James Bond, and those rights expired with SPECTRE. And while Eon Productions and MGM might decide to renew their deal with Sony Pictures, there’s no guarantee that they actually will, so a source from Sony claiming that the studio is willing to pony up that much cash for Craig doesn’t necessarily make sense.

However, if Sony is willing to pay that much money to protect a man who is currently seen as the James Bond franchise’s most powerful asset, this story could go a long way as a bargaining chip in those negotiations. If there is any truth to the rumor – and that’s a pretty big “if” – it wouldn’t necessarily mean that Sony was investing $150 million in Daniel Craig, it might just mean they’re willing to spend that much to keep the franchise going.

And let’s be honest here: Sony needs all the big franchises it can get. Ghostbusters was supposed to re-invigorate a blockbuster brand, and it wasn’t the breakout success the studio hoped for. The studio’s plans for a Spider-Man universe were scuttled after the failure of Amazing Spider-Man 2, and now they’re sharing the popular character with Marvel Studios. Their adaptation of the hit video game Uncharted just got pushed back. The Dark Tower is an ambitious Stephen King adaptation but it isn’t necessarily an easy sell audiences who haven’t read the novels. 

Columbia Pictures

Sony needs a major franchise all their own, and James Bond was it. If paying out $150 to Daniel Craig will help the studio reacquire the rights to distribute a franchise that makes around $1 billion per film, then he’s probably worth that investment.

The question then, of course, is whether Daniel Craig will actually take the money. He rather notoriously poo-pooed the idea when he was supposed to be actively promoting SPECTRE. It’s possible that he was just playing hardball, and if so he did a beautiful job of it, but if you actually watched SPECTRE then you probably picked up on a particular vibe from Craig, one that implies that he’s really rather bored with the whole thing now.

Columbia Pictures

And that really is the rub, isn’t it? Daniel Craig might be worth $150 million to a studio, but what about the audience? Is it worth spending that much money to force an actor to keep making films he’s tired of making? Don’t James Bond fans deserve a little more than that? Don’t they deserve a franchise made by people who are excited about what they’re doing, and eager to expand it in new directions?

Daniel Craig was a fantastic James Bond, but so was Sean Connery, so was Pierce Brosnan, so was Roger Moore (for a while at least), and so (arguably) was Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby. There will be other James Bonds that audiences will be damned excited to see. And they’ll cost less money and be less of a hassle and the world will keep spinning.

And $150 million will always be ludicrous. Except (maybe) to Sony.

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Top Photo: Columbia Pictures

William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.