GoldenEye
This film, which has the most eye-popping opening sequence yet, the effortlessly gentle and elegant Pierce Brosnan makes his debut as Agent 007. The bond must accompany his former ally to Cuba, Monte Carlo, Switzerland, and Russia as Agent 006 (Sean Bean) goes rogue and plots world dominance with a frightening satellite-borne missile while fleeing a beautiful, lethal femme fatale (Famke Janssen) who would stop at nothing to put the squeeze on the brave spy.

GoldenEye
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Budget: $135 million
Worldwide Box Office: $362 million
Rate of Return: 2.67
Sure, Denise Richards isn’t anyone’s favorite “Bond Girl,” and she’s only there because Sophie Marceau turns out to be the villain. However, her predecessors still out-earned this Michael Apted-directed actioner. It was such a nice plot that Chris Nolan borrowed it for The Dark Knight Rises, while it was borrowed for Skyfall by Sam Mendes. Alas, it is, by default, the least “profitable” installment in the franchise because of a high budget and a global gross essentially tied to GoldenEye.

The World Is Not Enough (1999)