Bahrainis love them a few James Bond: “Spectre” storms cinema

“Spectre“, and “The Peanuts Movie”, two big-budget holdovers, outpaced new releases to lead the box office for a second weekend. Both films are likely to slide down the rankings fairly swiftly after The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Disney’s The Good Dinosaur hit cinemas.

The Bond market is booming overseas, and especially in China. The action ranges from a spectacular opening in Mexico City featuring one of the most ambitious single takes – though I doubt it really is – I’ve ever seen in ANY film to an outrageous Austrian snow chase to a hidden villain’s lair recalling the lairs of villains past. With an estimated $48 million, it’s also only about $11 million off what Skyfall made during its entire China run.

Computer-animated 3D cartoon “The Peanuts Movie”-the first big screen rendering in 35 years for the beloved comic book characters-sold an estimated US$24.2 million in tickets to stay in second place in its second week, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said”.

Lionsgate’s holiday comedy Love The Coopers opened with $8.4 million and a third place finish. Jessie Nelson’s film stars John Goodman, Diane Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Olivia Wilde and Alan Arkin, and follows a Christmas Eve celebration turned upside down as four generations of the Cooper clan gather together.

Warner Bros.’ Chilean miner drama, “The 33”, earned a middling $5.8 million. It is only the second October film in history to reach $200M+ following Gravity. Starring Antonio Banderas, the PG-13 film was not liked by film critics.

Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, an Indian film distributed by Fox global Productions, came in eighth in the USA with $2.4 million from just 286 locations.

This week, the Open Road Films movie extended to 60 screens, pulling in almost $1.4 million. That puts it domestic total at more than $82 million.

But the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt drama By the Sea failed to make a splash, taking just $95,440 (£63,000) at 10 screens. By the Sea should have pulled in a theater average of at least $25,000-$30,000 to be considered a player. Reviews were mostly negative for the vanity project and the exclusive play plus big starpower did not add up to packed houses.