SMERSH celebrates 60th anniversary

Yes, there really was a SMERSH.

The military counter-espionage service set up by Stalin in 1943 is celebrating it’s 60th anniversary with an exhibition in Moscow.

Not only are various tools of the trade on display, but many items that SMERSH “collected” while operating in Europe are also available for visitors to wonder at.

While the service only existed for three years, as a result of a merger with NKVD secret police (which in turn later became the KGB) it has been forever immortalised in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming who had first hand intimate knowledge of the soviet spy apparatus while working with British intelligence.

The unnamed curator of the exhibition stated that “If Smersh were still around today, this country would be a better place. It wouldn’t be run by bandits and crooks.”

This sentiment is reflected by many Russian citizens who have already visited the displays and feel that while the organisation was brutal they approved of its existence and its founder, Viktor Abakumov.

The full report can be found on the UK’s Telegraph newspaper website.

Live at 007 Bond Street in the UK?

MGM have come up with a unique advertising gimmick by sending a letter to people that live at 007 Bond Street in the UK congratulating them on being the recipient of a copy of the Die Another Day DVD due for release in the UK on May 2nd.

The letter, which has been displayed on the DVDAnswers website states: “MGM Home Entertainment will be sending everyone in the UK who lives at 007 Bond Street a free copy of Die Another Day…”, which seems to indicate that it does not just include the famous London address, but every Bond Street in the whole of the UK!

So, where do you live?

Thanks to DLibrasnow for bringing this news to our attention in this thread of the Die Another Day (2002) forum. Feel free to add your comments to this in the CBn forums.

SOURCE: DVDANSWERS

Meet Michael Madsen

The Official Michael Madsen International fan Club reports that Michael will be at the Santa Monica Borders book store on Saturday the 22nd of February from 7:30pm for a book signing.

He has recently released a book of poetry called “A Blessing Of The Hounds” through 12 Gauge Press. It contains an Introduction by Quentin Tarantino, and can be purchased online via the publisher’s website.

In addition to this, the fan club has just posted a message to his fans dated January 2003. In it he comments on Die Another Day, stating that he was happy with the the way it turned out. He further states that he “will be back for more in the next one.”

SOURCE: The Official Michael Madsen Internation Fan Club

Unauthorised Remix Angers Madonna

New York Magazine reports that Madonna has instructed her lawyers to send a “cease-and-desist” letter to famed house-music DJ, Junior Vasquez, for apparently distributing his mix of her Die Another Day single. She is furious about this because Vasquez sought approval for the mix, but got rejected.

Vasquez has since denied distributing the unauthorised mix, which has only been played a few time.

This is not the first time that Junior Vasquez has had a run in with Madonna. Six years ago, she did not appreciate him using parts of a message she left on his answering machine in his club anthem “If Madonna Calls…”

Source: KRT Wire

Please feel free to discuss this news in this thread in CBn’s Die Another Day (2002) Forum.

DAD breaks opening day box office record in the UK

Forum member mattbowyer has reported the news from Ananova that Die Another Day has recorded the highest ever opening for a Bond movie in the UK.

This early news indicates that Die Another Day should break records set by the last Bond movie, The World Is Not Enough, but the real test will be how well the movie survives the second week of release when word of mouth and media reactions start to influence the public at large.

Hopefully by Monday we should have a breakdown of the weekend takes in both the UK and US so we can clearly see how Die Another day fairs against its competition for the box office dollar.

Thanks to mattbowyer for posting the news and please feel free to make your comments on the matter in his thread in the Die Another Day forum.

 

Box Office Bondage

While we all can talk about how Die Another Day will stack up against the likes of the already released Harry Potter 2 and the soon to be released The Twin Towers in the current box office season battle, these two do not yet have the sustained history and longevity that super spy James Bond has enviously achieved.

 

With that in mind let’s focus on the franchise itself and consider where Die Another Day could fair against the other nineteen movies that make up the forty year history of the Bond legacy.

 

With the imminent commercial release of Die Another Day in the next few hours in the United States, inarguably the most influential movie market in the world, here are a few major Bond milestones that the twentieth instalment aspires to and, for the fans and producers alike, hopefully surpass:

 

Best US opening weekend – US$35,520,000 (The World Is Not Enough – 1999)

 

Best US Total Gross – US$126,932,000 (The World Is Not Enough – 1999)

 

Best worldwide Total Gross – US$353,100,000 (The World Is Not Enough – 1999)

 

Best inflation adjusted Gross – US$427,108,000 (Thunderball – 1965)

 

As recent cinematic history goes, TWINE is definitely the Bond movie to beat, but most fans would agree that if Die Another Day could eclipse Thunderball’s inflation adjusted gross it would rightfully be crowned as the most successful Bond movie ever.

 

According to Box Office Mojo, where these figures come from, Die Another Day is due to open in over 3,300 theatres, which is the most ever by a Bond movie (TWINE opened in 3,163 theatres), so MGM are giving a huge boost in attempting to make Die Another Day, if not the overall box office winner, the most successful Bond movie to cap off the forty year franchise.

 

Commanderbond.net will keep a close eye on the box office returns of Die Another Day and report the figures as they come to hand.

Feel free to discuss the anticipation in this thread in Commanderbond.net’s Die Another Day forum.

Da Vinci to be seen in Die Another Day

Ananova reports that a surgical robot called Da Vinci will feature in a scene from Die Another Day.

 The three mechanical arms of the robot will be seen

Spoiler (Highlight To Read)

waving over Bond’s body after he is captured.

Ananova quotes a spokesman from the Imperial College of London, where the robot is being used, as saying “Surgeons and spies are alike as both aspire to serve their subjects with minimum of fuss while using the best technologies around.”

Just another example of the latest technology being featured in a Bond movie.

Feel free to discuss this topic in this thread of the Die Another Day Forum.

What The Box Office Prophets Say

The crystal ball gazers at Box Office Prophets have made their predictions for November and the general consensus of opinion is that James Bond will come in second to Harry Potter, which is no real surprise to most pundits.

Of the six “prophets” who actually quantified their predictions only one suggested that Die Another Day will top the box office, four ranked it as coming in at No. 2, while one predicted the No. 3 spot for Bond.

One “prophet” has boldly predicted that Die Another Day will gross USD$130,000,000 against Harry Potter’s USD$320,000,000 and that Halle Berry’s presence will be a major factor.

Stay tuned for further reports on the box office results of Die Another Day as they come to hand.

If you’d like to discuss these predictions please visit this thread of the Die Another Day Forums.

Cleese launches the Revlon 007 Colour Collection

New York's Daily News has reported that John Cleese yesterday launched the Revlon's new colour collection inspired by Die Another Day's Bond girls Halle Berry and Rosemund Pike.

The news report:

---

Weird science

John Cleese takes over the role of James Bond's gadget-dispensing Q in "Die Another Day." And, yesterday, the Monty Python veteran got into character for the launch of Revlon's 007 Color Collection, a makeup line inspired by new Bond girls Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike.

Donning a lab coat at Django restaurant, spymaster Cleese fiddled with some vials that British Intelligence supposedly used to distill the top-secret lipstick shades. In reality, he confessed, "I'm so hopeless with anything technical that you wouldn't believe it. It's funny, because [current Bond] Pierce Brosnan is hopeless with gadgets."

Cleese replaces the original Q, Desmond Llewelyn, who died in 1999 in a car accident. He was 80. Llewelyn and Cleese "had a plan," the 62-year-old comedian told Daily News fashion editor Alev Aktar. "He was going to go on until he was 100, and at that point I was going to be 80 and would have learned enough to take the role over properly."

We'll see how he fares on Nov. 22, when the movie opens.

---

Thanks to john007 for reporting this news, and you can discuss it in this thread.