Auskar Wrote:All Bond movies are remakes. For some reason, Bond movies must be based, at least partially, on one of the Ian Fleming novels. Sometimes the resemblence is difficult to see, but it is there. For example, "Never Say Never Again" is a remake of "Thunderball."
Taking a book to film is not a remake, it's just another version; same story, different medium, kind of like the Twilight Zone movie. "Lawrence of Arabia," "Dr. Zhivago," "The Bridge on the River Kwai" were not remakes. There were several versions of "The Phantom of the Opera" and the "Hunchback of Notredam," except for the first, the rest were remakes.
The reason why Bond movies share titles with Ian Fleming novels or short stories is probably because Bond is, after all, his creation. Besides, the Bond books were extremely popular back in the '60s (JFK's favorite author), just like Tom Clancy decades later. Back then, more people actually
read books, and then went to see the movie (a little different than today).
It's true that "Never Say Never Again" was a remake of "Thunderball." That's because they shared the same exact plot. However, Woody Allen's "Casino Royale" shares only the title with the latest Bond film, which therefore is not a remake.
However, "Octopussy," "Living Daylights," "Goldeneye" (and others) had no plot similarities with the short stories whose titles they share. The next Bond film will have to be a remake of a previous film or possibly just share a title with a short story that has not yet been used (e.g., The Hildebrand Rarity) and nothing more.