James Bond’s 24th outing continues its dominance by opening to the number one position in the US box office, following on from its record breaking opening here in the UK.
Opening on just under 4,000 theatres, Spectre brought in an estimated $73 million for Sony, which already makes it the eighth biggest Bond movie in the US market. It is, however, a large drop when compared against Skyfall‘s opening of $88 million when it opened on the same weekend three years ago. With a CinemaScore of A-, it is unlikely to top Skyfall‘s domestic total of $304 million (which had a marginally better A score), but it should still reach the $200-$250 million mark.
There is a difference between the two openings though. Skyfall opened against no new competition with only Lincoln being shown in a small release of 95 theatres, meaning the film was going against Disney’s Wreck It Ralph in its second week (though the film held well with $33 million). Spectre on the other hand has gone up against family outing The Peanuts Movie, which brought in an impressive $45 million. Not only that, but The Martian and Goosebumps both held their audiences.
The difficulty for Spectre will come next week, however, when The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is released. With that said, the movie is tracking to be its lowest opening of the franchise.
SEE ALSO: Read our reviews of Spectre here, here, here and here
Spectre sees Sam Mendes (Skyfall) directing Bond veterans Daniel Craig as James Bond, Rory Kinnear as Tanner, Ben Whishaw as Q, Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M and Jesper Christensen as Mr. White, alongside franchise newcomers Andrew Scott (Pride) as Denbigh, Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour) as Madeleine Swann, Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Mr. Hinx, Monica Bellucci (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) as Lucia Sciarra, Stephanie Sigman (The Bridge) as Estrella and Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) as Oberhauser.
