Thunderball was the first official Eon James Bond film released in widescreen format.
Released in 1965, Thunderball was presented in Techniscope, a widescreen format that used a two-perforation film frame and could be enlarged for theatrical projection. The format helped the production show off its large-scale underwater action and Caribbean settings.
The film was the fourth official Bond production and starred Sean Connery as 007. It follows Bond’s attempt to recover two stolen nuclear warheads from SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo. Its extensive underwater sequences made it one of the most technically ambitious entries of the early series.
Thunderball is sometimes confused with Goldfinger because Goldfinger was the previous film and helped establish many of the franchise’s famous visual conventions. Goldfinger was not the first official Eon Bond film released in widescreen format.