James Bond in film of the funding for the Bond films, fell into financial difficulties following the box office failure of "Heaven's Gate" (1980), bringing uncertainty to the future of the funding. The situation was resolved in May 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired United Artists. Following "For Your Eyes Only", Roger Moore had expressed a desire to stop playing James Bond. His original contract had been for three films, a requirement fulfilled with "The Spy Who Loved Me". Subsequent films had been negotiated on a film-by-film basis. The producers engaged in a semi-public quest for the next actor to play Bond, which would be for
The Spy Who Loved Me (film) which was famous for accompanying disappointed characters in Hamlet cigar commercials. He then plays the opening string section of the second movement, Andante, of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 as his hideout "Atlantis" rises from the sea. The score also includes two pieces of popular film music scored by Maurice Jarre. The "Doctor Zhivago" theme, which is played on Anya's music box during the pre-credit sequence, and the theme from "Lawrence of Arabia", which appears as background music during a desert sequence. "The Spy Who Loved Me" opened with a Royal Premiere attended by Princess Anne at the Odeon Leicester