The 24th James Bond movie, starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci, is named after the evil organisation first seen in 1965



He has charmed, seduced and battled his way across the big screen for more than half a century, but now James Bond looks set for a return to his 1960s roots. The 24th 007 movie is to be titled Spectre, after the evil global terrorist organisation first introduced in cinemas at the height of Bond mania in the 1965 film Thunderball, it was announced on Thursday.

At a star-studded press conference live-streamed from London’s Pinewood Studios, where director Sam Mendes is due to begin filming next week, producers also revealed that the Austrian actor Christoph Waltz will play a key role in the movie. But they refused to confirm reports that the two-time Oscar winner has signed to portray the new Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the iconic Bond villain who traditionally heads up Spectre.

Léa Seydoux, 29, who starred in Blue is the Warmest Colour, and Monica Bellucci, 50, who starred in Irreversible, will play the new “Bond girls” – Madeleine Swann and Lucia Sciarra, respectively – opposite 46-year-old Daniel Craig in his fourth outing as 007. The new film has also added Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista and Sherlock’s Andrew Scott to the cast. Bautista, who is a professional wrestler, will play a character named Mr Hinx, tipped to be a henchman of sorts, with Scott as a Whitehall newcomer named Denby.

Reports two weeks ago suggested that three key action scenes, including night-time vehicle chases, will take place in the Rome’s historic centre and on the famous Corso Vittorio Emanuele II thoroughfare. Further Italian scenes will be shot at the royal palace of Caserta in Campania, a huge 18th-century site constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples, reports said.

“For Bond fans, this is the best Christmas present – the return of James Bond and classic elements of the series with yet another classic title coined by Ian Fleming,” said Ajay Chowdhury of the James Bond International Fan Club. “This announcement is like opening the first window of a Bond advent calendar. Further windows will be: who will sing the song, the first trailers, the premiere. The only thing better than this news would be Santa driving an Aston Martin sleigh.”

Spectre, which is due to open in UK cinemas on 23 October and in the US on 6 November next year, arrives with the spy saga at an all-time high in terms of critical cachet and box office clout. Mendes’s Skyfall took more than $1.1bn (£700m) worldwide in 2012 and is Britain’s highest-grossing film, with receipts of more than £100m.

Announcing the production, Sony said of the plot: “A cryptic message from Bond’s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre.”