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) launching mines. Bond finds out that the "Liparus" has never visited any known port or harbor. Amasova discovers that Bond killed her lover Sergi Barsov (as shown at the beginning of the movie), and she vows to kill Bond as soon as their mission is complete. Bond and Amasova board an American submarine to examine the "Liparus" as it captures the submarine. Stromberg sets his plan in motion: the simultaneous launching of nuclear missiles from British and Soviet submarines to obilterate Moscow and New York City. This would trigger a global nuclear war, which Stromberg would survive in "Atlantis", and