It was a disappointing campaign for a movie marking a half-century of adventures. It is much preferred by me to Bond lying in the dirt in front of a white background. There was also a special IMAX poster for the midnight release that whilst devoid of most colour, surrounds Bond with the necessary iconography of London, the Aston Martin DB5, a Walther PPK, and an Omega Aqua Terra watch. Die Another Day, celebrating Bond’s 40th, went a similar route, but at least they added some effects to the blue background. Many a fan was dismayed that this was chosen to represent the celebration of fifty years of cinematic 007, myself included. Like the final US poster, it featured a singular character against a stark white background. Here in the United States, I never saw the Skyfall character posters in a cinema lobby and I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing. The 007 logo is gold this time out, signifying the 50th anniversary. Granted, some would say Bond should not be walking down a tunnel coming out of the barrel, but I felt it was more Bondian than what we saw with the last film and, unfortunately, what’s to come.

Having the gun barrel as the teaser poster is a great callback to the first twenty movies in which it was amongst the initial images an audience would see. Drenched in blackness, Bond is striding forward down a tunnel that is merged with the iconic opening gun barrel. It’s more striking than the images we got with the Quantum of Solace campaign. May 2012 brought the release of the first Skyfall teaser poster.

James bond posters casino royale