Well you can’t say he hasn’t earned it. Daniel Craig will become the top earning James Bond of all time after signing a new deal that will see the British actor take in a cool $49 million to appear in the next two installments of the long running special agent franchise.

Bond certainly wasn’t on its last legs by the middle of the last decade, Pierce Brosnan had done a sterling job of steadying the ship after a series of Bonds struggled to replace the incomparable Sean Connery in the 80's; yet there was the sense that its time might be coming to an end, with outdated attitudes and a Bond that remained stiff and relatively one dimensional as a character. Craig’s debut in 2006 for Casino Royale breathed new life into the films however, as he picked up plaudits for both that and 2008’s Quanton of Solace, giving Bond a more emotional, weaker side.

As well as plaudits Craig’s also picked up a lot of money; he made $3 million for Casino Royale, a figure which rose to more than $7 million for QoS and then a whopping $17 million for latest film Skyfall. The huge critical and commercial success of Skyfall – the best-selling Bond ever, and the first seriously be considered in the running for an Oscar – has led to a new bumper deal, which puts him right at the top of Hollywood’s highest earners. To put these figures into perspective, Sean Connery was paid an average of $5.1 million per film, taking inflation into account, whilst Brosnan’s last 007 appearance The World Is Not Enough saw him take a similar amount.