Principal photography began in December 2014 and lasted until July 2015, with filming locations including Austria, the United Kingdom, Italy, Morocco, and Mexico.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences, cast performances (particularly Craig's and Bautista's), and the musical score, but criticised the pacing and formulaic narrative decisions.

A posthumous message from the previous M leads MI6 agent James Bond to carry out a mission in Mexico City, foiling a bombing attempt on a stadium during the Day of the Dead festival.

M is engaged in a power struggle with Max Denbigh (whom Bond dubs "C"), the Director-General of the new privately backed Joint Intelligence Service formed by the merger of MI5 and MI6.

Blofeld, who survived the Sahara base's destruction with heavy scarring to his face, gives Bond a three-minute ultimatum to abandon Swann or attempt a rescue and risk death.

When the film was announced in June 2013, the budget was not yet fixed, but was certain to be higher than the $210 million of Skyfall due to foreign locations and bigger payments for Mendes and Craig.

Included within these were several memos relating to the production of Spectre, claiming that the film was over budget, detailing early drafts of the script written by John Logan, and expressing Sony's frustration with the project.

[42] Eon resisted Sony and MGM's arguments to cut down on stunts and location work to reduce the budget but managed to secure tax incentives and rebates, such as $14 million from Mexico.

[46][47][48] Despite being an original story, Spectre draws on Ian Fleming's source material, most notably in the character of Franz Oberhauser, played by Christoph Waltz, and his father Hannes.

Daniel Craig returned for his fourth appearance as James Bond, while Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw reprised their roles as M, Eve Moneypenny and Q respectively, having been established in Skyfall.

Sam Mendes thought the silent nature would drive Bautista away, but the lifelong Bond fan expressed interest in reviving the quiet henchman archetype of characters such as Jaws, and Oddjob from Goldfinger.

[58] In a separate interview with Danish website Euroman, Jesper Christensen revealed he would be reprising his role as Mr White from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

[20][21] Christensen's character was reportedly killed off in a scene intended to be used as an epilogue to Quantum of Solace, before it was removed from the final cut of the film, enabling his return in Spectre.

[73] Production was temporarily halted first by an injury to Craig, who suffered a meniscus tear while shooting a fight scene with Bautista,[74][75] and later by an accident involving a filming vehicle that saw three crew members injured, at least one of them seriously.

[73] A car chase scene set along the banks of the Tiber River and through the streets of Rome[81] featured an Aston Martin DB10 (a model developed especially for the film, with only 10 examples produced[82]) and a Jaguar C-X75.

[83] The version used for filming was converted to use a conventional internal combustion engine, to minimise the potential for disruption from mechanical problems with the complex hybrid system.

[73] The planned scenes required the city square to be closed for filming a sequence involving a fight aboard a Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo 105CBS helicopter flown by stunt pilot Chuck Aaron,[89] which called for modifications to be made to several buildings to prevent damage.

[104] This was denied by producer Michael G. Wilson,[104] who stated that the scene had always been intended to be shot in Mexico as production had been attracted to the imagery of the Day of the Dead, and that the script had been developed from there.

[105] Production of Skyfall had previously faced similar problems while attempting to secure permits to shoot the film's pre-title sequence in India before moving to Istanbul.

[119] It received mixed reviews from critics and fans, particularly in comparison to Adele's "Skyfall",[120][121][122][123] leading to Shirley Bassey trending on Twitter on the day it was released.

[106][124] Despite the mixed reception, it became the first Bond theme to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart,[125] the second to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song,[126] and the fifth to be nominated.

[134][135] On 13 March 2015, several members of the cast and crew, including Craig, Whishaw, Wilson and Mendes, as well as previous James Bond actor, Sir Roger Moore, appeared in a sketch written by David Walliams and the Dawson Brothers for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One.

[citation needed] Following the announcement of the start of filming, Paramount Pictures brought forward the release of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation to avoid competing with Spectre.

[152] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $98.4 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it sixteenth on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

[176] Despite a strong opening, it failed to attain the $100 million mark there as projected due to mixed response from critics and audiences as well as facing competition from local films.

Its critical consensus reads, "Spectre nudges Daniel Craig's rebooted Bond closer to the glorious, action-driven spectacle of earlier entries, although it's admittedly reliant on established 007 formula.

[183] In another five star review, The Daily Telegraph's Robbie Collin described Spectre as "a swaggering show of confidence'", lauding it as "a feat of pure cinematic necromancy".

[184] Positive yet critical assessments included Kim Newman of Sight and Sound, who wrote that "for all its wayward plotting (including an unhelpful tie-in with Bond's childhood that makes very little sense) and off-the-peg elements, Spectre works" as he felt "the audience's patience gets tested by two and a half hours of set-pieces strung on one of the series's thinner plots";[185] and IGN's Chris Tilly, who rated the film 7.2 out of 10, considering Spectre "solid if unspectacular", and concluding that "the film falls frustratingly short of greatness.

"[194] In a positive review published in Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, describing Spectre as "party time for Bond fans, a fierce, funny, gorgeously produced valentine to the longest-running franchise in movies".

"[198] Michael Phillips, reviewing for the Chicago Tribune, stated, "For all its workmanlike devotion to out-of-control helicopters, Spectre works best when everyone's on the ground, doing his or her job, driving expensive fast cars heedlessly, detonating the occasional wisecrack, enjoying themselves and their beautiful clothes.