Latest Bond Tops Global Box Office With $117.8 Million

The latest James Bond film “Spectre” crushed the weekend box office to the tune of $73 million. All four films star Daniel Craig as 007. Yet unlike those locations, where Spectre has been breaking records set by predecessor Skyfall, the new movie couldn’t quite reach those levels, with Sam Mendes’ earlier effort still the king of 007 openings back in 2012 with $88.3 million.

Sony, MGM and Eon Productions, partners on the tentpole, say SPECTRE faced more competition than Skyfall, which had the weekend to itself in terms of new releases. But Bruer is certain the Bond franchise is still healthy and strong.

“It’s still a great number”, said Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s senior media analyst.

Audiences also flocked to see Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang in The Peanuts Movie that grossed $45 million in its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Internationally, “Spectre” has proved even more successful, with more than 0 million in sales over two weeks. SPECTRE missed that by $15 million, but remains the second-biggest opening in the franchise’s history (right behind SPECTRE would be Quantum of Solace, which nabbed almost $68 million).

Though critics were less enthusiastic, audiences polled by CinemaScore on average gave “Spectre” an A-minus grade.

The success of the two new releases pushed The Martian off the top spot in its sixth week of release, with the Matt Damon-starrer falling to third place.

Both movies have helped boost the Box Office which had a disappointing October with movies including Bradley Cooper’s Burnt and Sandra Bullock’s Our Brand is Crisis falling flat. The action sequel topped the foreign box office this weekend, picking up a leading US$117.8 million (S$167.5 million) across 78 territories.

It has been suggested the 24th Bond film may yet top Skyfall’s worldwide taking of $1.1 billion, having done better outside the United States, making $296.1 in total so far.

Coming in fifth was the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ spy thriller Bridge of Spies (DreamWorks) with $6.1 million and $55 million grossed in its first month.

James Bond adventure Spectre shot down its rivals at the U.S. box office to debut in first place with $73m at the weekend. They included Spotlight, about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, which took $302,276 (£200,700).