James Bond in film "Die Another Day" was written and performed by Madonna, who also had a cameo appearance in the film as a fencing instructor. "Die Another Day" had a budget of $142 million and earned $431.9 million at the box office. In 1999 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer obtained the rights to the 1967 film "Casino Royale" from Sony Pictures Entertainment for $10 million in the out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit. The case was brought by MGM after Sony had announced a deal with Kevin McClory to produce a third version of the "Thunderball" novel, for which McClory held the film rights. McClory had previously acted
Die Another Day film – a stupefying attempt by the filmmakers to force-feed James Bond into the mindless "XXX" mold and throw 40 years of cinematic history down the toilet in favor of bright flashes and loud bangs." Of the action sequences, he said, ""Die Another Day" is an exercise in loud explosions and excruciatingly bad special effects. The CGI work in this movie is an order of magnitude worse than anything I have seen in a major motion picture. Coupled with lousy production design, "Die Another Day" looks like it was done on the cheap. Gary Brown of the "Houston Community Newspapers"