Mission
James Bond confronts billionaire industrialist Hugo Drax, who plans to destroy life on earth and establish himself as king of a super-race in outer space.

Release Data
UK: 26th June 1979 (PG)
USA: 29th June 1979 (PG)
World Premiere: 26th June 1979 (Odeon Leicester Square, UK)
UK TV Premiere: 27th December 1982, ITV
US TV Premiere: 22nd November 1981, ABC

Running Time: 122 minutes
Classification: PG (UK), PG (US)
Budget: $34m
Worldwide Box Office: $202.7m
US Box Office: $62.7m
US Admissions: 24.9 million
UK Box Office: $19.4m

Production
Producer: Albert R. Broccoli
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Screenplay: Christopher Wood
Composer: John Barry

Locations
Guatemala; Iguaçu Falls, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil; Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA; London, England, UK; Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, USA; Palmdale, California, USA; Paris, France; Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil; St Lucie County, Florida, USA; Vaux-Le-Viconte, France; Venice, Veneto, Italy

Pre-Credits Sequence
A space shuttle is being transported on the back of a 747 which is hijacked with the plane being destroyed and the crew being killed. Bond is called in by M, who is up to no good with an air stewardess. The pilot disables the plane whilst she produces a gun. A fight entails and the pilot who is wearing a parachute gets thrown out. Jaws then appears and pushes Bond out. 007 has no choice but to catch up with the pilot and take his parachute. In the meantime, Jaws has managed to catch up with Bond and wants a piece of him. Bond pulls his own ripcord and returns to ground safely, whilst Jaws crash lands in a conveniently placed circus tent.

Title
As well as being the title of Ian Fleming’s third novel, Moonraker is the moniker given to the space shuttles owned by Sir Hugo Drax.

Cut Scenes & Alternate Versions
According to writer Tom Mankiewicz there was a scene featuring Drax meeting his co-financiers in the Amazon lair; they use the room located just below the space shuttle launch pad that Bond and Holly later escape from. This scene was shot but later cut out.

Theatrical trailer includes a close up reaction shot of Jaws after Bond punches him in the face aboard Drax’s space station. The shot was not seen in the finished film.

A scene involving Bond and Holly inside what appears to be a meditation room aboard Drax’s space station, was shot but never used in the final film. Shots of this scene made its way into some of the press stills as well as the trading cards released by Topps in 1979.

Best Line
On seeing Bond in flagrante with Dr Goodhead in a space capsule:
Q: “I think he’s attempting re-entry sir.”