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 appears in nine Eon Bond films: four out of the six Connery films, one film with Moore, both Dalton instalments and none with Brosnan (where Bond's CIA contact is Jack Wade), but returned for Craig's; he is also not in George Lazenby's sole Bond film. In the Eon series, there were no Leiter film appearances between 1973 and 1987 and no Leiter appearances between 1989 and 2006. Although other recurring characters in the Eon series, such as M, Q and Moneypenny, had continuity within the actors, the character of Leiter has not. In the nine Eon films in which Leiter