James Bond movies are more than twice as violent as they used to be, according to a study in New Zealand.

Researchers fear that exposure to such violence can contribute to aggressive behaviour among children. Violent acts in Bond films were more than twice as common in 2008 film "Quantum of Solace" than in the first 1962 movie "Dr. No", according to research from University of Otago.

Researchers analysed 22 official franchise films, spanning 46 years, to test the hypothesis that popular movies are becoming more violent.

"Skyfall" was not included as it was unreleased at the time of the study. They found that rates of violence increased significantly over the period studied and there was an even bigger increase in portrayals of severe violence: acts that would be likely to cause death or injury if they occurred in real life.