‘Spectre’ Might be Sam Mendes’ Final ‘James Bond’ Film

“Spectre”, the latest 007 adventure, took first place, debuting to $73 million from 3,929 theaters – a hefty figure and the second-highest debut in series history, but one that nevertheless trails the launch of “Skyfall”. Our own Chris Bumbray, a serious Bond geek, gave it an 8/10, saying the film is “While far from ideal, SPECTRE is still an excellent action film, and despite not quite measuring up to SKYFALL, a very strong Bond outing”.

Internationally, however, “Spectre” remains a juggernaut, pulling in $200 million and pushing its worldwide total to more than $300 million after two weeks in release. The main Bond girl in the movie, Eve Moneypenny played by Naomie Harris, saw a regression back to the old passive Bond girls of the ’60s era rather than the strong heroines we are so accustomed to seeing now in movies (example: Katniss from Hunger Games). Worse, the focus on the romantic elements kept the movie from devoting enough time to the mass of feelings he would have had about the movie’s villain and his impact on Bond’s life.

Directed by Sam Mendes, Spectre tells the harrowing story of James Bond, a British government worker grappling with the day-to-day struggles of alcohol addiction. Audiences loved it though, giving the film an A- which is only slightly below the A that Skyfall received.

SPECTRE took the opening record from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which was also released on a Monday to £23.882 million. By comparison, Skyfall totaled $304.4 million in the United States and $804.2 million elsewhere. “There’s also the ever-fantastic Waltz, who steals every scene with his now-signature maniacal, pantomime villain bit”. As the character was passed from Connery to George Lazenby (for one film in 1969), to Roger Moore in the ’70s, to Timothy Dalton in the ’80s, and to Pierce Brosnan in the ’90s, Bond became a cinema perennial, but our familiarity with the character’s tropes and traditions meant his movies were never a mega-blockbuster event. But with 70% of “Peanuts” viewers being families, this, the first full-length feature film based on the work, is a success, he said.

Holdovers The Martian, Goosebumps, and Bridge of Spies rounded out the top five, and The Martian held up even better than expected in its sixth weekend, falling only about 21 percent for an estimated $9.3 million. The film is chugging along nicely and should easily make it to $80 million to $85 million domestically. It grossed almost $64 million in Britain in its first week of release, shattering the country’s record for the biggest opening.

I will say though that everything leading up to that final act is a delight for fans of the series. Cooking drama Burnt slipped one place to seventh with $3 million, while The Last Witch Hunter dropped to eighth with $2.6 million, ahead of The Intern at ninth and $1.8 million and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension freefalling to 10th for $1.6 million. All they needed to see were the numbers.