The James Bond movie franchise celebrated its 50th anniversary in style last year as director Sam Mendes and star Daniel Craig delivered the series' most financially successful instalment with 007's 23rd official adventure, Skyfall.Having shattered UK box office records with over £100 million in receipts on home soil, the film has now overtaken Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises to become the seventh-highest grossing movie of all time with global takings of $1.094 billion.
Skyfall is now the second-biggest earner of 2012 behind Joss Whedon's The Avengers (with Earth's Mightiest Heroes having amassed a mighty haul of $1.512 billion), although its unlikely that the film will be able to climb any higher in the all time chart, with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King currently sitting in sixth place on $1.119 billion and looking just out of Bond's reach.