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 Dumped Me Spy Who Dumped Me" grossed $33.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $41.7 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $75.3 million, against a production budget of $40 million. In the United States and Canada, "The Spy Who Dumped Me" was released alongside "Christopher Robin", "The Darkest Minds" and "", and was projected to gross $10–15 million from 3,111 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $5 million on its first day, including $950,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $12.4 million, finishing third at the box office behind holdover