James Bond is prime marketing material for companies that want to add a bit of suave to their products, with the British secret agent’s suit, beer, car, watch, and mobile all up for grabs.
Sony has been the loyal provider of the mobile device for a few films now, but a recent ruckus caused by Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond, pointed to a change in provider. Craig said that Sony’s Xperia Z3+ was not “cool enough” for Bond, even though he was offered $5 million to promote it.
The Xperia Z5 seems to have won him over, or perhaps it was the additional money Sony funded into Spectre, the latest James Bond film coming to cinemas on October 26.
In the build up to the movie’s release, Sony plans to upload a few short films with characters from the Spectre series. The short film series starts with Moneypenny — played by actress Naomie Harris — in an action scene that has the Xperia Z5 and RX100 IV camera involved.
Sony later confirmed the short film was on the F65 4K cinema camera, using RX100 IV for slow motion capture. The short film was directed by Danny Kleinman, who has been involved in the design of James Bond sequences.
The short film series probably won’t involve the Xperia Z5 taking a dip in the water however, with reports Sony has ditched the waterproof functionality on the new smartphone.
The deal struck between Sony and Eon Productions has not been made public, but we expect Sony upped the price to keep its place as the gadgeteer for James Bond. Samsung was reportedly also in the running, offering $50 million to outfit James Bond with the Galaxy S6 and potentially the Gear S2 smartwatch.
Since a large part of the production for James Bond is paid for by advertisers, it makes sense that Eon Productions would be interested in finding the best deal on the gadget front. James Bond has never been the best at adapting to new technologies, but Q always has some new wacky technology to test out in the field.
Vodafone UK is also celebrating Spectre with a ‘Bond Edition’ of the Xperia Z5. It will include a Spectre theme, wallpaper and behind the scenes blog from Miss Moneypenny, although we aren’t sure if it will be in character or Naomie Harris talking about life on the set.
