Automakers' movie alliances, from 'Spectre' to 'Jurassic Park'

The Aston Martin DB10 and black suit used in the filming of new Bond film Spectre join the largest collection of 007 vehicles in the world, at the London Film Museum, London, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. (Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)

Many movies with massive budgets have looked to automakers for funding, in exchange for some vehicles taking a more conspicuous role in the final product. For example, with the recent release of “Spectre,” the British automaker Aston Martin made a special car, named the DB10. This luxury coupe was made to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the relationship between the “007” franchise and Aston Marin, as it begun with the presence of an Aston Martin DB5 in 1964’s “Goldfinger.”

The obvious rival to the “James Bond” film franchise is the “Mission Impossible” series, which has a remarkable, albeit young relationship with the German manufacturer BMW. In “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” the main character and his love interest speed away from some baddies in a BMW i8, which at the time was a mere prototype, but has gone into production more recently, remaining as stunning on the streets as it was in “Ghost Protocol.”

On top of this, “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” has more scenes involving the Bavarian company, including a part where the main character and his friend run away in a BMW M3, ultimately crashing the machine.

In “Jurassic World,” there is a gratuitous amount of Mercedes-Benz vehicles all over the eponymous theme park, including a personal favorite of mine: the highly unusual G63 6x6. It’s especially ironic given that at one point in the movie, a character mocks the corporate relationships with the eponymous dinosaur theme park, suggesting dinosaur names like “Tostidodon.”

A final and obvious example is within Michael Bay’s interpretation of “Transformers,” which has consistently been close to cars that are made by brands owned by General Motors – this primarily includes Chevrolet, but also GMC and previously, Pontiac and Hummer. In fact, the newly-developed Chevrolet Camaro Mk.V is a large part of the first movie, as the autobot Bumblebee upgrades his disguise from an older Mk.II Camaro, to the then-newer model.

The Mk.V even has a color option called “Bumblebee Yellow,” at several dealerships in the real-world. On top of this, in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” there was one character that was modeled after the Chevrolet Corvette Centennial concept car, which ultimately never left the showroom; the Corvette model available at that time, the C6, was instead succeeded by the relatively much more aesthetically-pleasing C7, circa 2013.
