Oscars Will Include Tribute to James Bond

James Bond and his license to kill and skirt-chase will be honored at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, the telecast’s producers said.

The tribute to 007 comes as the venerable spy franchise celebrates its 50th anniversary. The popularity of Ian Fleming’s devilish secret agent shows no signs of flagging. The latest entry, “Skyfall,” starring Daniel Craig, became the first Bond movie to pass $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Some Oscar-prognosticators believe that the film’s theme song from British chanteuse Adele and the performance of Javier Bardem as a sociopathic villain could find themselves with Oscar nominations.

“We are very happy to include a special sequence on our show saluting the Bond films on their 50th birthday,” Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron said in a statement. “Starting with ‘Dr. No’ back in 1962, the 007 movies have become the longest-running motion picture franchise in history and a beloved global phenomenon.”

Zadan and Meron didn’t tip their hand about what the sequence will involve and whether Craig and past Bonds like Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan would participate.

The Oscar show will air Sunday, Feb. 24.

H.SH