Not gonna get into this except to say... the first three or four MGM Tarzan films were big, absolutely A films.  They were very popular and successful, but how "Big" they were, I dunno. I wasn't there.

I was there for the Bonds. The first two were successful, I suppose, but James Bond was still best-known as President Kennedy's favorite reading material. I remember being a little surprised when FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE came around because it hadn't seemed to me that DR. NO was that big a deal. The Bonds hit it big with GOLDFINGER, which was indeed gigantic.  It was a true cultural touchstone, what everyone was talking about, and a rare phenomenon, no doubt.

Just to say that, yes, Bond was gigantic, but not from the beginning. GOLDFINGER was ginormous for sure, but it kind of came out of the blue.