Moonraker (film)

Moonraker
Theatrical release poster by Dan Gouzee
Directed by	Lewis Gilbert
Screenplay by	Christopher Wood
Based on	Moonraker by Ian Fleming
Produced by	Albert R. Broccoli
Starring	Roger Moore Lois Chiles Michael Lonsdale Richard Kiel Corinne Cléry
Cinematography	Jean Tournier
Edited by	John Glen
Music by	John Barry
Production companies	Eon Productions Les Productions Artistes Associés
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	26 June 1979 (1979-06-26) (United Kingdom) 29 June 1979 (1979-06-29) (United States) 10 October 1979 (1979-10-10) (France)
Running time	126 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom[1] United States[2] France[2]
Language	English
Budget	$34 million
Box office	$210.3 million

Moonraker is a 1979 spy-fi film, the eleventh in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Cléry, and Richard Kiel. Bond investigates the theft of a Space Shuttle, leading him to Hugo Drax, the owner of the shuttle's manufacturing firm. Along with astronaut Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond follows the trail from California to Venice, Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon rainforest, and finally into outer space to prevent a plot to wipe out the world population and repopulate humanity with a master race.^[3][4]

The story was intended by author Ian Fleming to become a film even before he completed the novel in 1954; he based it on a screenplay manuscript he had devised earlier. The film's producers had originally intended to make For Your Eyes Only, but chose Moonraker owing to the rise of the science fiction genre in the wake of the Star Wars phenomenon. Budgetary issues led to the film being shot primarily in France; other locations included Italy, Brazil, Guatemala and the United States. The soundstages of Pinewood Studios in England, traditionally used for the series, were only used by the special effects team.

Moonraker had a high production cost of $34 million,^[5] more than twice as much as The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and it received mixed reviews. However, the film's visuals were praised, with Derek Meddings being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, and it eventually became the highest-grossing film of the series at the time with $210.3 million worldwide,^[5] a record that stood until 1995's GoldenEye.

This was Bernard Lee's final outing as M. Lee was scheduled to reprise his role in For Your Eyes Only, but was admitted to hospital in November 1980, diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died in January 1981 before any of M's scenes could be filmed.^[6]