Sony’s latest James Bond adventure movie “Spectre” got an easy first-place spot at the box office with an estimated $73 million, making it the second biggest Bond opening of all time.
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The great numbers in the states and across the pond are good news for the studios distributing the film, MGM and Sony.
“There’s something to say about a Bond film”, said Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of worldwide distribution.
But the movie more than made up its ground internationally, as the spy flick earned $117.8 million from 76 markets, bringing its foreign total to $190.8 million and taking its worldwide total north of $300 million.
The weekend’s other new film playing nationwide was “The Peanuts Movie”, an animated return to the screen for Charlie Brown and his friends. In last week’s recap I suggested that it would finish with $65 million, while The Peanuts Movie would make around $50 million.
The film cost at least $250-M to produce after incentives and rebates, so will need to do sizable business at the global box office, or $900-M+ by a few estimates. Adjusting for ticket price inflation, “Spectre” actually opened below 2008’s “Quantum of Solace”, ($78.1 million at 2015 prices), a movie that most Bond fans found disappointing.
Goosebumps, the feature film adaptation of the popular children’s horror book series by acclaimed youth author R.L. Stine, came in fourth place bringing in just under $7 million. Luckily for Spectre it did top the worldwide box office as well over the weekend. In agreeing to hand over the film rights the Schulz Family was insistent on retaining a certain amount of creative control.
Peanuts enjoys strong reviews, as well as boasting an A CinemaScore.
There were also numerous award-season hopefuls hitting the theaters this weekend, too.
The total domestic weekend box office was $164 million, according to Rentrak, the industry’s highest total since mid-July and a much-needed boost after what had been a quiet fall. According to Box Office Mojo, total domestic box office sales for October 2015 were down 49 per cent compared to October 2014 and the Halloween weekend was the worst since 2000.
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“Spotlight”, director Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, was the strongest of the pack, opening to $302,276 from only five theaters.
