Timothy Dalton had happened to "Licence to Kill". With a worldwide gross of , "The Living Daylights" became the fourth most successful Bond film at the time of its release. In 1998 the second Deluxe Edition of Bond's soundtracks was released. "The Living Daylights" was one of the first soundtracks to receive Deluxe treatment. The booklet/poster of this CD contains MGM's quote about "The Living Daylights" being the fourth most successful Bond film. Since Dalton was contracted for three Bond films, the pre-production of his third film began in 1990, in order to be released in 1991. What was confirmed is that
Motifs in the James Bond film series be a "wink at the audience", with the suggestion that the violence was all a joke. This was shown in "Live and Let Die" when he threw the villain, Tee Hee, out of a train, removing his prosthetic arm in the process, Moore commented that he was "Just being disarming, darling". When Timothy Dalton took the role, the humour was downplayed, bringing the character more in line with that of the novels. The humour returned for the Brosnan films, with Bond admitting between kisses that he "always enjoyed studying a new tongue". Similarly, Moneypenny called Bond a "cunning linguist" after