“Spectre” becomes 2nd highest Bond debut of all time

Spectre is James Bond’s 24th trip to theaters did not match the $88.4-M domestic box office debut of Skyfall in November 2012, the series best, but beat the openings of Casino Royale ($40.8-M) and Quantum of Solace ($67.5-M). It did play about $3 million behind Skyfall in Germany ($20.1m), a couple million behind in Italy ($5.7m) and relatively on par in Switzerland, Spain, Taiwan and Singapore.

Though the studios split the budget equally, MGM, gets 75% of the profits and Sony 25%, because of the generous deal the latter had to make to land distribution rights. The young adult adventure film opened in the People’s Republic, picking up US$19.8 million for the weekend. This is the first full-length theatrical feature to star the Peanuts gang, while it’s the 27th Bond film. “The $99 million animated family flick has almost three weeks before the next competing kids” movie, Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur”, opens. At a cost of $99 million to make, Charlie Brown and company made their first appearance in CG animation, but at an estimated $45 million, it, too, will have a lot of work to do to ensure it becomes a hit.

In other competition, The Martian remains a force of nature at the box office, landing at No. 3 in Week Six with $9.3 million. If not, The Martian, the intergalactic trip to Mars saga starring Matt Damon, will certainly eclipse that mark next weekend. The new $458.4 million worldwide total also made it Scott’s highest-grossing worldwide picture.

Completing the top five were Sony’s “Goosebumps” which pulled in another $7 million and Disney’s “Bridge of Spies”, which brough in another $6.1 million. Outside the November timeframe, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opened with $72.6 million and an “A-” CinemaScore past year before finishing with $208.5 million. Slowly expanding overseas, the global total is now at $16.9 million.

Of the four notable limited releases, ‘Miss You Already’ is the only one to not have a strong weekend. Biographical sports drama “My All American” is based on the true story of underdog college football player Freddie Steinmark.

“Spotlight”, director Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, was the strongest of the pack, opening to $302,276 from only five theaters.