Christopher Nolan finally names his all-time James Bond film — and the 007 who tops his list

Christopher Nolan names the ultimate 007 and the definitive Bond film — proof the franchise still has a license to thrill.

Christopher Nolan finally planted a flag in the eternal 007 debate, and his answers track with the movies he makes: cool-headed spycraft, big feelings, and real-world heft over gadget spam.

On the podcast, Nolan picked his Bond GOATs

Dropping by Josh Horowitz's 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast, Nolan named both his top Bond movie and his preferred Bond actor. No hedging, no politician answers.

'My favorite Bond film is On Her Majesty's Secret Service, as anyone who has seen Inception can probably figure out.'

• Favorite film: 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969). Nolan loves how it puts Bond's personal life and tragedy ahead of gizmos and fireworks. Fans have long connected that film's emotional spine to the way 'Inception' is built, and Nolan basically winked at that in the quote above.
• Favorite Bond actor: Timothy Dalton. Nolan called 'The Living Daylights' 'very, very good' but said its finale is a little shaky on the technical side. He also thinks 'Licence to Kill' has 'aged better' than he expected, and he argues Dalton is the screen Bond who comes closest to Ian Fleming's original character on the page. He adds that more Dalton entries would have been fascinating.

If you grew up hearing that Dalton was the odd man out, the tide has turned. His two films, 'The Living Daylights' and 'Licence to Kill,' went for a harder-edged, grounded read of Bond years before Daniel Craig made that approach the franchise baseline. A lot of Bond historians now say Dalton was simply early to the party.

Why these picks make sense for Nolan

Nolan's always worn his 007 fandom on his sleeve, but the specifics here are telling. 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is the franchise's outlier that dares to put heartbreak first, and Dalton was the guy playing Bond as a bruised human being rather than a quip machine. Also, flagging the technical wobble in 'The Living Daylights' finale is a very Nolan note: he obsesses over how action is staged and photographed, so of course that's where his eye goes.

Meanwhile, Nolan's own big swing is about to test the box office

Universal is projecting that 'The Odyssey ' will open between $90 million and $100 million across roughly 3,900 theaters in North America. If it lands at the top end, that would be Nolan's biggest domestic debut since 'The Dark Knight Rises' in 2012. Clearing $100 million would also make it only the third movie of 2026 to hit that mark, behind 'Toy Story 5' and 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.' The confidence is fueled by the momentum Nolan picked up post-'Oppenheimer.'

The scale backs that up. 'The Odyssey' reportedly carries a production budget around $250 million, with an estimated $125 million global marketing push. It is the first feature shot entirely on IMAX cameras and will get an exclusive three-week IMAX run, another hard commit from Nolan to the premium theatrical experience.