Beating ‘Peanuts’ for No. 1, ‘Spectre’ shoots to $73M, misses ‘Skyfall’s’ mark

This total makes the film starring Daniel Craig as 007 the second-biggest opening in the series’ history behind its predecessor, “Skyfall”, which made $88.3 million in 2012. Projections for the opening weekend had the 24th Bond film at $80 million but that quickly fell and it is now believed that Daniel Craig’s fourth movie will make a little more than $70 million. The film also set a new record in Denmark for the biggest three-day opening of all time, as SPECTRE took in 28.1 million krone ($4.21 million USD), also surpassing Skyfall.

It is hard to compare how well SPECTRE is doing, in comparison to Skyfall, as they opened at different times of the year. “The competition was different, the weekend was different”, said Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of worldwide distribution. “Spectre”, the latest of the 007 franchise, topped fellow newcomer “The Peanuts Movie”, both of which ended a streak largely dominated by “The Martian”.

Spectre still had the second-biggest opening weekend for a Bond film in the United States and Canada.

Nobody does it better when it comes to James Bond at the box office.

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. With a budget between $245-300 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made.

After the slump of the last few weeks, including the catastrophic finish a week ago that marked one of Hollywood’s worst weekends in seven years, audiences returned in droves and put the 2015 box office back on track for a record-breaking year. The combination of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and period setting has been too good to pass up, unlike Sandra Bullock’s Our Brand Is Crisis, which has only brought in $6 million in two weeks (vs. $54.9 million for Spies).

Coming in at No. 4 was Goosebumps, which earned $7 million in its fourth weekend at the box office. Spectre has a clear road ahead as the next blockbuster, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, won’t be out until November 20.

“The Peanuts Movie” also collected over 45 million dollars in the last week of October, showing that Charlie Brown could get the public’s attention even when James Bond was around to charm the crowds. Skyfall was made for $209 million, while SPECTRE cost more to produce, approximately $250 million.