LICENSED TO THRILL THE 40-YEAR-LONG BOND FRANCHISE HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE IN MOVIE HISTORY.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

The James Bond franchise may be more than four decades old, but Hollywood is counting on Agent 007 still being a potent force both in theaters and on DVD shelves this holiday season.

The latest Bond flick, ``Casino Royale,'' bows nationwide in theaters today and comes 44 years after actor Sean Connery introduced the character to audiences in 1962's ``Dr. No.''

``Royale,'' the 21st ``official'' movie in the series, is widely expected to break the two-week stranglehold the wildly popular comedy ``Borat'' has had on the box-office rankings. The movie has been receiving strong reviews and so has the new 007, Daniel Craig, who replaces Pierce Brosnan in the role.

While Craig has had key roles in such high-profile films as ``Munich,'' ``Road to Perdition'' and ``Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,'' he is an unproven leading man when it comes to the box office -- and not all the previous five actors playing Bond have been a hit with the public.

``There's some franchises you think are guaranteed, like `Harry Potter,' but the history of Bond is a bit mixed,'' said Brandon Gray, editor of Box Office Mojo. ``Prior to Brosnan, the (Timothy) Dalton ones didn't go off big and his `License to Kill' kind of did in the franchise for a while.''

While ``License to Kill'' brought in a paltry $51 million domestically in 1989, the franchise took off again six years later when Brosnan replaced Dalton and starred in four Bond movies starting with ``GoldenEye'' through 2002's ``Die Another Day.''

``Pierce Brosnan was unique. He was someone people always wanted to see as Bond since the 1980s when he was on `Remington Steel.''' Gray said. ``It just seemed to be a natural fit at the time to bring back the franchise. Daniel Craig doesn't have that history. He's more of an unknown, a question mark.''

DVD collection

There is much riding on ``Royale'' being a hit, perhaps the biggest of which is the re-release of 20 of the Bond films. They have been packaged in four separate DVD ``Ultimate Collection'' boxed sets that have a suggested retail price of just under $90 each but are being discounted at many major retailers this week for under $60.

Each contains five films with different actors in the role of Bond. Volume I, for example, features ``The Man With the Golden Gun'' (Roger Moore), ``Goldfinger'' (Connery), ``The World is Not Enough'' (Brosnan), ``Diamonds Are Forever'' (Connery) and ``The Living Daylights'' (Dalton).

``It's a golden franchise for the studio and I'm glad to see it's back, but the way they have boxed these DVDs is a little nuts,'' said Ralph Tribbey, editor of The DVD Release Report, an industry newsletter. ``They took all the titles, threw them in a hat and just randomly put them out. They're not available as individual titles, which I guess people on eBay can sort out.''

The Bond boxed sets were released Tuesday by Fox Home Entertainment, which said each of the movies has been painstakingly restored to have the ``highest quality audio and visual elements,'' according to Steve Feldstein, Fox's senior vice president of marketing.

``These films look so amazing that they are just going to blow away the viewer,'' Feldstein added. ``The older films look like they were recently made and all of them, of course, are timeless.''

While ``Royale'' is being released by Sony Pictures Entertainment, it is a critical production for MGM, the legendary studio that had been reduced to a DVD library last year but was brought back to life in March.

MGM already has plans for new installments of several franchises, including Sylvester Stallone in ``Rocky Balboa,'' out next month; a fourth ``Terminator'' film (without Arnold Schwarzenegger); another ``Pink Panther,'' starring Steve Martin; and a sequel to ``The Thomas Crown Affair,'' starring Brosnan.

``Any time you can re-energize a product line with a new edition, whether it's `Jurassic Park' or `Star Wars' or James Bond, you want to take full advantage of that,'' Tribbey said.

Books and more

Also taking full advantage is the publishing industry, with scores of new or updated Bond-related books for sale. They include the new ``James Bond: The Legacy 007,'' the revised ``James Bond: The Secret World of 007,'' the new ``The Art of Bond: From Storyboard to Screen,'' and paperback versions of each of Ian Fleming's original novels on which the movie series is based.

Retailers are also selling ``2007 James Bond Wall Calendar'' and the ``James Bond Movie Posters 2007 Calendar.''

But for the book, DVD and other merchandising tie-ins to be fully exploited, it's important for ``Royale'' to connect with fervent Bond fans and a large portion of the moviegoing audience.

``It's been four years since the last Bond, and that's maybe the biggest hurdle,'' said Gray. ``It's four years and it's not Pierce Brosnan in the role, who went out on a high note with `Die Another Day,' which went out with $160 million domestically alone.''

Gray notes that the new Bond movie seems to be inspired a bit by the successful Matt Damon ``Bourne'' franchise and presents a very different approach to Bond than before.

``I think, chances are,'' he said, ``they'll be all right with this one.''

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CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Daniel Craig

(2 -- color) Timothy Dalton

(3 -- color) George Lazenby

(4 -- color) Pierce Brosnan

(5 -- color) Sean Connery

(6 -- color) Roger Moore

Box:

007 by the numbers

Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist