Who is the best Bond?

Just six men have donned the famous tuxedo, holstered the Walther PPK, slipped into the Aston Martin, and become James Bond. Since the first official film (the original Casino Royale is widely ignored as part of the canon), Dr No, aired in 1962, the Bond franchise has grown and grown to become synonymous with film, and Britain. 

Now, the debate about who was the best Bond is as old a debate as any. It’s up there with “Do you have cream on top of jam or jam on top of cream?”, and “Who is better: Lampard or Gerrard?”. 

Well, we like to think that here at Embryo, we’ve settled this debate once and for all, using data. We love James Bond just as much as we love used cars and have created a series of graphs and charts that showcase the results from the hundreds of data points we used to create them. 

However, even we’re aware that after all this number crunching, everyone is going to have their own opinion – which is fine, that’s all part of the fun! Either way, we think this data is certainly worth a look and may (or may not) persuade you that your chosen Bond may not be the best. 

Screen Time: Which Bond Is On Camera The Most?

There have been 24 Bond films in the last seven decades, with Bond number 25, No Time To Die, set to finally be released by the end of 2021. Of the six Bonds, George Lazenby has had the longest average screen time per movie, coming in at 140 minutes. Though it has to be noted that Lazenby, who is Australian, only appears in one film, ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, which was, incidentally, 142 minutes long! 

The current Bond, Daniel Craig, comes in a close second, appearing, on average, 135.25 minutes per film. The release of the aforementioned No Time To Die, Craig’s last film, will more than likely put him at the very top of that list. That is unless he is killed off in minute one, which would certainly be a shock!

Interestingly the most famous of all the Bond’s, Sean Connery had the lowest average screen time. Appearing, on average, in just 117 minutes of each of the seven films he starred in. In total, the gap between Lazenby and Connery is pretty small, with every Bond actor having between 117-140 mins of average screen time. 

Who Made The Most Money?

It’s probably not much of a surprise that Daniel Craig has made the largest average profit for the films that he starred in. The Chester born actor has brought in an average of £592.4 million pounds per movie – truly jaw-dropping! Whether that’s to do with his consummate acting ability or that famous scene of him coming out of the water in his trunks… we’ll have to wait and see. 

His four films, then, have brought in a total of £2.3 BILLION for the owners of the franchise! You can see why they were so keen to keep him on for a fifth film. At the bottom of this list is Lazenby who only brought in £57.6 million for his one move, but out of the Bonds that made multiple films it was Sean Connery who made the lowest, bringing in just £100 million! Pierce Brosnan, aka Mr Suave, was second behind Craig, raking in £140.9 million.

So, Who Is The ‘Best’ Bond?

Well, after churning through the data, it appears that Daniel Craig is the best Bond. He is the best in terms of financial data and in terms of who appears on screen the most. And, when looking at the data from IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes film scores, it clearly shows that Daniel Craig appears in two of the five most highly rated films. Craig, then, appears to cover all bases – but we’re sure you’ll have your own thoughts and opinions still!