SPECTRE Smashes Records at Chinese Box Office; Nears $550M Worldwide

Spectre star Daniel Craig in what is rumored to be his last appearance as Bond after four previous films. Audiences clearly flocked back to theaters for this, which bodes well for its final numbers.

Spectre added $35.4 million to bring its domestic total to $130.7 million. It took in $8.4 million for CBS Films. Sony is distributing the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer and Eon Productions’ film which carries an enormous $250 million price tag.

As the season’s first premiere with a holiday theme, costing less than $18 million, expectations are that its performance will improve as the Thanksgiving weekend approaches. The film is scheduled to be released on November 12. Its star power, however, only received a B-minus grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore and 16% critics approval rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

“The Martian” was in fourth place, at 6.7 million dollars this weekend and a seven-week total of 207.4 million dollars in North America. Both movies dropped less than 35% from last weekend. This all means that worldwide, SPECTRE has almost reached $550 million, and is well on its way towards Skyfall’s $1.1 billion record for a Bond movie. With a budget estimated around $90 million, this is definitely lower than the studio anticipated at this point. Jessie Nelson directorial Love the Coopers saw an opening of $8.4 million which puts it at third on the top five.

The film is backed by Alcon Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Despite of weekend closure the movie grossed descent figures. “Spectre” star Craig joined Alibaba founder Jack Ma in a live national TV broadcast to kick off Singles Day, the country’s biggest online shopping day, which was seen by over 500 million viewers. It has now made $17 million more than its predecessor did. Starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams, the story of the Boston Globe investigation into the Catholic Church has grossed $1.8 million domestically.

Bridge of Spies stayed strong in its fifth weekend, down two to #7 with $4.3 million. That’s a bigger drop than the 38% of last year’s Big Hero 6 and the 33% of 2012’s Wreck-it Ralph. That works out to $9,544 per screen. It should be able to top $75 million stateside with several markets left to open in overseas. Its cume has hit US$1.8 million.

Hotel Transylvania 2 was down three weeks in its eighth weekend to #9 with $2.4 million. The film should finish off with $173 million by the time its done in the US.

There was little love for this weekend’s newcomers, leaving last weekend’s big earners at the top of the list.

The raunchy holiday comedy The Night Before and the thriller The Secret In Their Eyes join Mockingjay Part Two next weekend at cinemas nationwide.