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 review that the "first half of "Die Another Day" is classic Bond", but that "Things start to go downhill when the ice palace gets introduced." The first 20 minutes of "Die Another Day" was regarded as "much closer to the grimmer post-9/11 Bond played by Daniel Craig" [Pierce Brosnan's successor as the actor portraying James Bond] and able to "go toe-to-toe with the darkest moments in franchise history". However, some reviewers felt the film relied too heavily on gadgets and special effects, with the plot being neglected. James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net said, "This is a train wreck of an action