Spectre is the 24th instalment in the James Bond film series produced by Eon

Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures. It is Daniel Craig's fourth

performance as James Bond, and the second film in the series directed by Sam
Mendes following Skyfall, with a screenplay written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert
Wade and Jez Butterworth.
The story sees Bond pitted against the global criminal organisation Spectre and their
leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Bond attempts to thwart Blofeld's plan to launch a global
surveillance network, and discovers Spectre and Blofeld were behind the events of the
previous three films. The film marks Spectre and Blofeld's first appearance in an Eon
Productions film since 1971's Diamonds Are Forever with Christoph Waltz playing the
organisation's leader.[N 2] Several recurring James Bond characters, including M, Q and Eve
Moneypenny return, with the new additions of La Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann, Dave
Bautista as Mr. Hinx, Andrew Scott as Max Denbigh, and Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra.
Spectre was filmed from December 2014 to July 2015, with locations in Austria, the United
Kingdom, Italy, Morocco and Mexico. The action scenes prioritised practical effects and
stunts, while still employing computer-generated imagery made by five different
companies. Spectre was estimated to have cost around $245 million, making it the most
expensive Bond film and one of the most expensive films ever made.
The film was released on 26 October 2015 in the United Kingdom, fifty years after release
of Thunderball (1965), thirty years after release of A View to a Kill (1985), and twenty
years after release of GoldenEye (1995), on the same night as the world premiere at
the Royal Albert Hall in London, followed by a worldwide release which
included IMAX screenings. It was released in the United States one week later, on 6
November. Upon its release, Spectre received mostly favourable reviews from critics, with
its acting, suspense, action sequences, and the performances of Waltz and Bautista
receiving notable acclaim, although the film was criticised for being largely inferior to its
predecessor Skyfall. The theme song "Writing's on the Wall", performed and co-written by
the British singer Sam Smith, won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original
Song. Spectre grossed over a total of $880 million worldwide, the second
largest unadjusted income for the series after Skyfall.