Studio gambles with "Casino Royale" and new Bond

LONDON - James Bond's producers have taken a gamble worthy of the Casino Royale with the super-spy's latest film, and will find out this week if it will pay off.

They have returned to the first Bond novel for a remake that opens on Thursday and Friday and, to the dismay of many fans, cast blond Briton Daniel Craig in the lead role.

So far the odds favor Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, keepers of the Bond film legacy, who have won almost universal praise from critics for Craig's gritty performance in "Casino Royale" and created a strong buzz ahead of the release.

Only after Thursday will they know if they have hit the box office jackpot.

"We have taken risks and we have changed," Broccoli told Reuters in New York recently. "If you don't change you die."

When 38-year-old Craig was named as the new Bond last year, the messages of dismay drowned out those of support. He was deemed too ugly, stocky, too raw or unsophisticated to take on the mantle of the world's most famous spy.

"I think I'm going to cry," was one U.S. blogger's reaction to the announcement in October, 2005, summing up concerns about Craig replacing the generally popular Pierce Brosnan.

In Britain, where people care more about Bond than just about any other movie character, Craig was a major news story.