BOND IS MGM'S MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TOUCH.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Every decade or so, another actor takes over the part of James Bond, but one thing has remained the same since the first Bond movie was released 40 years ago: Suave Agent 007 brings in the fans, and the profits.

The 20th Bond film, ``Die Another Day,'' opens in theaters today against the second weekend of the mega-blockbuster ``Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.''

But few are betting against the box office potential of the latest Bond entry, which is expected to at least equal the heroic performances of the three most recent Bond films, each of which has earned in excess of $300 million worldwide.

``Bond was born in the era of the Kennedys and the fascination with international intrigue,'' said Steven Jay Rubin, author of ``The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia.'' ``You started out with baby boomers and it's now grandparents, parents and sons and daughters. How many movie series have been embraced by three generations?''

In the past 40 years, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's previous 19 Bond movies have combined to gross just over $1 billion in domestic ticket sales. The studio is maximizing the franchise's appeal in the red-hot home video market by coinciding the new film's debut with the re-release of several classic Bond movies on DVD.

Experts predict that MGM, which has struggled with most of its major theatrical releases in the past 12 months, should profit handsomely both at the box office and in the retail stores from the launch of ``Die Another Day,'' which stars Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry.

``There are very few motion pictures that come into the market and stimulate renewed viewing of a library,'' said Christopher Dixon, an analyst with UBS Warburg in New York. ``When viewers see Halle Berry coming out of the water like Ursula Andress did in 'Dr. No' 40 years ago, they think, 'Why don't I go out and rent that?'''

``Die Another Day'' marks Brosnan's fourth outing as Bond since 1995. He has been the most consistently successful Bond at the box office since Sean Connery originated the role in 1962 with ``Dr. No'' and starred in five more Bond films for MGM, peaking in popularity with 1964's ``Goldfinger'' and 1965's ``Thunderball.''

``If you sold as many tickets for 'Die Another Day' as you did for 'Thunderball,' you'd have a film that would make about $370 million domestically,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations. ``We think of 'Jaws' and 'The Godfather' from the '70s to be the first blockbusters, but based on the (adjusted) numbers, these Bond movies were really the first blockbusters.''

Dergarabedian calculates that if you look at the total number of admissions for the 19 films, almost half a billion people have bought a ticket to see a Bond movie over the last 40 years.

The films remained widely popular even as Connery left the franchise to pursue other roles. Roger Moore headlined seven Bond films from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s before Timothy Dalton took over in 1987's ``The Living Daylights'' and 1989's ``License to Kill.'' The only other actor to play the role in MGM's 20 Bond films is George Lazenby in 1969's ``On Her Majesty's Secret Service.''

Connery returned to play Bond one last time in 1983's ``Never Say Never Again,'' a film released by Warner Bros. and not considered a part of the official series. Legal battles prevented any Bond films for six years beginning in 1989, before the series was revived with Brosnan as Bond in 1995's ``GoldenEye.''

``You have to give Pierce Brosnan credit,'' said Rubin. ``He won over a whole new generation of fans and yet kept the original fans.''

This year, Bond returns to the screen at an ideal time for Santa Monica- based MGM. While the studio had several non-Bond hit films in 2001 such as ``Hannibal'' and ``Legally Blonde,'' it was on a multiple-film losing streak this year with such bombs as ``Windtalkers'' and ``Hart's War'' before the studio had a solid box office success this fall with the comedy ``Barbershop.''

``You've already seen a nice lift in the stock price because of Bond coming out,'' said Joseph Gomes, an analyst with C.L. King and Associates. ``The success of the movie will go a long way toward restoring MGM's reputation.''

MGM controls the rights to the industry's largest film library of more than 4,000 films and has profited handsomely from home video sales of Bond films. Bond classics ``Dr. No,'' ``GoldenEye,'' ``License To Kill,'' ``The Man With The Golden Gun,'' ``The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ``Tomorrow Never Dies'' went on sale this month.

``The Bond franchise is not just the movies themselves but also all the ancillary markets,'' said analyst Gomes, who owns some MGM shares. ``The old movies are once again on television (and) they have repackaged them in DVD. The more successful the movie is, the more successful the ancillary products will be.''

The only franchises that can even begin to compare with Bond in terms of longevity and box office potency are the ``Star Wars'' and ``Star Trek'' films which bowed in 1977 and 1980, respectively. Rubin said other franchises ranging from the old ``Tarzan'' movies to ``Superman'' and ``Lethal Weapon'' have inevitably declined in quality, but not 007.

``In 40 years and 20 movies, even the worst Bond movies are entertaining,'' said author Rubin, who is also a film producer. ``Even when they have made mistakes, they haven't crippled the series.''

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, chart

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sean Connery

(2 -- color) Roger Moore

(3 -- color) Timothy Dalton

(4 -- color) Pierce Brosnan

(5 -- color) George Lazenby

(6 -- color) Ursula Andress

(7 -- color) Halle Berry

Images copyright 2002 MGM

Chart:

LICENSED TO THRILL

Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist