compare 'no time to die' and 'black widow'

'No time to die' was directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga after he took over from the previous directors Danny Boyle and John Hodge who left due to creative differences. the movie starred Daniel Craig as James Bond, the popular action character originating from the James Bond books by Ian Fleming.

the production budget for the film was $250-$301 million and its box office so far is $331.6 million worldwide. the opening weekend figures for the film were $119.1 million over 54 territories 

the premier for 'no time to die' was released on the 28th of September 2021 in the royal Albert Hall in London. the film was originally scheduled to be released in November 2019 but due to Covid-19 delays the film was released in cinemas across the uk on the 30th of September 2021 and shortly after in the USA on the 8th of October 2021.

'black widow' was directed by Cate Shortland, starring Scarlett Johansen as black widow the famous character from the marvel comics.

the production budget for the film was less than 'no time to die' with $200 million and its box office is $379.4 million worldwide. in the opening weekend the film was premiered in 46 territories less than 'no time to die'. however, the opening weekend figures for the film were greatly more than 'no time to die with $226.2 million globally $80.4 million of this being from domestic box office and $78.8 million from international box office. the reason why 'black widow' could have had substantially higher opening weekend figures than 'no time to die' is because of the extra Disney plus payments for 'premier access' to watch the film early before being actually released on the website.

the James Bond books by Ian flaming is where the bond films originate from. you can clearly see the difference in how the covers of the film are presented from covers of the book. the book covers shown conform to the male gaze as you would expect in the time the books were written between 1953 and 1960.

the character of James Bond is world known by fans thanks to the Ian flaming books and previous films. 

there are 26 previous bond films before 'no time to die' which only supports the fact the character played by Daniel Craig is so popular. furthermore, Daniel Craig also would have helped the media collect interest from the public around the film as he has been bond for 5 films, 'no time to die' being his last. this makes him one of the most popular bond characters being one of the characters longest held actors therefore gaining major interest from the public.

the character black widow gained its popularity through the marvel comics and appearances in other marvel films before getting her own film 'black widow'. the character quickly gained popularity due to her being one of the first combat super heroes in the marvel films who was not sexualised like other female super heroes have been before.

her first appearance as a character was in the marvel comic 'tales of suspense' published in 1964. 46 years later was her first film appearance in the 2010 film iron man 2. 

the character has also appeared in other forms of media including animated TV series and video games. 

after her debut on screen in iron man 2 the character black widow appeared in 7 films before her own film 'black widow' released in 2021. black widow is also now of the first films centring a female marvel character.

both films are high concept movies with large production budgets and high tech elements. 

both films have A list celebrity stars with Daniel Craig as bond and Scarlett Johansen as black widow. both films also share similarities with the amount of money spent to produce the films, around $200 million.

 the filming location for 'no time to die' was many in Italy and London. Italy has also served as the back drop for 8 bond films Italy also being a backdrop in nearly all of Daniel Craigs appearances as bond. London has also been in nearly all of the bond films being the headquarters of MI6.

the filming location for black widow took the cast around the world with the film being shot in Norway, Morocco and Budapest. along side the numerous places the film was shot a lot of the film was shot in studio using special effects such as CGI.

In 'no time to die' all of the stunts are real and there was no CGI used the only thing that was fake were the bullets. in the film 10 Aston Martin DB5s wee used in the movie two of them were the genuine article. four of them were full blown stunt cars which used tube framed carbon fibre bodies wit non-stop powertrains. on another note all the stunts that you see in the film are real. none of them are fake and there is no use of CGI. however, some scenes were shot using fully remote cars meaning the driver of the car could remotely drive the car from outside the vehicle. there were also stunt men used in the film such as in the beginning of the film when Daniel Craigs stunt double Paul Edmondson pulls off a breathtaking jump on a motorcycle.

compared to 'no time to die' 'black widow' used more effects and CGI which is reflected by the fact a lot of the film was filmed in studio. marvel is known for its impressive visual effects and black widow reflects this. however the film also used some real sequences such as in the final battle at the end of the film there was a skydiving sequence. it was confirmed that some of the footage was in fact real skydiving featuring stunt doubles for the sequence. this allowed the production team to use different camera angles and to track movements. however, apart from this there is a good amount of CGI used. it done correctly it is a good element of technical enhancement of the film and creates a surreal environment as it does in black widow when you finally see the put together film on screen.

the two official film posters you see below follow a similar format. they feature the main title of the film with the release dates at the bottom of the screen. the design of the posters are very popular and commonly used. they feature the main character (in this case bond and black widow) in the centre of the screen with the other main characters positioned around bond and black widow. showing all the main actors on one poster is an efficient marketing technique as it shows the viewer the multitude of big a list celebrities featured in the film which suggests to the audience that the film is good and worth watching.

'no time to die' had a $100 million marketing budget and black widow had a total of $150 million marketing cost due to the hefty delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

in total there were 4 black widow trailers released on you tube by marvel entertainment all of which enquired millions of views. 

for no time to die there were also 4 official trailers released on youtube by James Bond 007.

in no time to die one of their most successful product placements are the Land Rover SUV's which are usually used as the villains go to car in the bond films. the SUV manufacturer has appeared in all five Daniel Craig movies. It most notably earned five million dollars and six million dollars of exposure during the theatrical runs of spectre 2015 and skyfall 2012, respectively. With Land Rover getting a similar amount of exposure in no time to die, it can be expected to get that sort of value again

another product placement deal in no time to die is Nokia. The first images from the No Time To Die trailers of James Bond holding a phone suggest he will be the one using a Nokia. This is not yet confirmed but based on the connection between Nokia and No Time To Die and the blurred images of the phone held by Bond in the trailer it almost certainly must be a Nokia.

they also had an add campaign with Nokia featuring Lashana Lynch. which  brought attention to their new release phones. in black widow BMW managed to land a product placement with marvel for the film. it gained a total of around $4.5 million.

for no time to die they have a multitude of free marketing including lots of fan generated discussions about who is going to be the next bond. the most common discussion about the new bond is if is should be a woman, a back person or both combined in order to be more inclusive and straying from the old ever used image of bond being a white male.

a similar way of free marketing is also very prominent in black widow in the discussions that she is a more dimensional character who is not sexualised. this discussion grew media attention for audiences as it is not prominent female characters do not need to rely on over sexualisation in order to grow in popularity to audiences. this is reflected in black widow as the character 'black widow' is a counter type for previous female marvel characters who have been over sexualised and comforting to the male gaze.