This weekend’s box office was up about 4% from previous year. Still, they will likely be praised for overperforming while Spectre is accused of underperfoming, at least in America. However, Bond also faced tough competition in the U.S. from The Peanuts Movie, which opened strongly with $45m in second place. That’s the second-best opening ever for a Bond film, following Skyfall’s $88.3 million debut in 2012.
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Spectre, which reunites Skyfall director Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig as 007, also snagged an A- CinemaScore, despite so-so reviews, which suggests that positive word-of-mouth could help give it long legs. Spectre played heavily male (62%) and older, with 75% of ticket buyers over the age of 25. The latest installment in the Bond franchise, “Spectre” opened to impressive numbers with more than $73 million. The film has since then generated a total of $73m in revenues. Sony’s deal to distribute the Bond films expires with “Spectre”, and though the studio is expected to make a bid to keep the series, other suitors, such as Warner Bros. and Paramount, will aggressively pursue the rights to the franchise.
“There’s something to say about a Bond film”, said Rory Bruer, a Sony distribution executive. Internationally, it has grossed $223.1 million so far, and it has done better than Skyfall has in many worldwide markets.
Goosebumps ($6.9 million) and Bridge of Spies ($6.0 million) rounded out the top five. Even in the wake of Spectre and Peanuts and having been out for a while the film still made another $9 million this weekend. This overtook the original film Hotel Transylvania which made $358.4 million globally. It’s grossed an estimated $197 million since its October 2 release date.
The box office as a whole remains up 5 percent compared with 2014, and big titles are on the horizon: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2” arrives November 20, followed by Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” on November 25 and Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” on December 18.
In limited release, Spotlight starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams enjoyed a solid start banking $302,000 from five theaters in NY, Los Angeles and Boston.
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Much has been made of the evolution of the Bond girl in recent films and Harris said the female characters would continue to move with the times: “I think it will continue to reflect changes in society”.
