Release and Reception
The film had a World Charity Premiere at The Odeon Leicester Square, on 9 December 1997; this was followed by an after premiere party at Bedford Square, home of original Ian Fleming publisher, Jonathan Cape. The film went on general release in the UK and Iceland on 12 December and in most other countries during the following week. It opened at number 2 in the US, with $25,143,007 from 2,807 cinemas – average of $8,957 per cinema – behind Titanic, which would become one of the highest grossing film of its time. It ended up achieving a worldwide gross of over $330 million, although it did not surpass its predecessor GoldenEye, which grossed almost $20 million more.
The critical reception of the film was mixed, with the film review collection website Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 57% "rotten" rating (55% amongst top critics), and similar site Metacritic rating it at 56%. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four-stars, saying "Tomorrow Never Dies gets the job done, sometimes excitingly, often with style" with the villain "slightly more contemporary and plausible than usual", bringing "some subtler-than-usual satire into the film". James Berardinelli described it as "the best Bond film in many years" and said Brosnan "inhabits his character with a suave confidence that is very like Connery's." However, in the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan thought a lot of Tomorrow Never Dies had a "stodgy, been-there feeling", with little change from previous films, and Charles Taylor wrote for Salon.com that the film was "a flat, impersonal affair".
The title song sung by Sheryl Crow was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Original Song – Motion Picture" and a Grammy for "Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television". The film received four nominations for Saturn Awards, with Brosnan winning "Best Actor". It also won a MPSE Golden Reel Award for "Best Sound Editing – Foreign Feature" and a BMI Film Music Award.
The original UK release received various cuts to scenes of violence and martial arts weaponry, and to reduce the impact of sound effects, in order to receive a more box office friendly 12 certificate. Further cuts were made to the video/DVD release to retain this rating. These edits were restored for the Ultimate Edition DVD release in the UK, which was consequently upgraded to a 15 certificate.
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