You could forgive James Bond – if he were real, of course – for downing a few celebratory vodka martinis right now (shaken, not stirred), for the 22nd Bond movie, Quantum Of Solace, has just smashed a few records at the US box office.
The Marc Forster-directed movie, which opened in the UK two weeks ago (take that, Johnny Yank!), grossed an estimated $70.4 million over the weekend, making it by some distance the biggest opening for a Bond movie.
Previously, Die Another Day had held that record, with its $47.1 million, while Daniel Craig’s first stab at 007, Casino Royale, raked in just $40.8 million two years ago. That went on to gross $167.4 million in the States, and $426.8 million worldwide. Quantum Of Solace is now expected to beat those figures with some ease, especially given that it’s already pulled in over $250 million in the rest of the world.
If the estimate holds, Quantum Of Solace will also have beaten The Bourne Ultimatum to the much-coveted title of biggest spy movie opening ever. Someone has to get Bond and Bourne into a room to sort it out, once and for all.
Bond wasn’t the only film opening this weekend, although it was the only new entry in the top 10. Still, hats off to Danny Boyle’s wonderful Slumdog Millionaire, which pulled in $350,000 from just ten locations across America. Its $418,000 per screen average is one of the highest of the year, and bodes well for expansion and then Oscar potential.
Back to the top ten, though, and last week’s number one, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa held up pretty well, posting an estimated gross of $36.1 million for a total of $118 million so far. A franchise, it seems, is born.
In third place is the raucous comedy Role Models, which has at long last given Paul Rudd a hit he can call his own. That fell just 38.9% from last week, and now has $38 million after ten days. It’s a good time to be an R-rated comedy at the moment, with Zack And Miri Make A Porno on course to become Kevin Smith’s biggest film of all time. So far, it’s got $26 million, and should end up around the $35 million mark. For Smith, that’s like Star Wars.
High School Musical 3: Senior Year remains in the top 5, but the Disney musical is still struggling to get near the hundred million dollar mark, with $84 million after four weeks. It took in around $5.8 million this week, and will have to show impressive legs to hit the nine figure mark.
No such worries for Shia LaBeouf’s Eagle Eye. Although it fell out of the top 10 this week, the thriller is now on $98 million and should make the push to the Big One (Hundred Million) over the next ten days.
Next week is going to be interesting. Very interesting. Disney’s 3D CG comedy, Bolt, is opening, and should deflect money away from Madagascar 2. How much, though, is open to question, but look for a $50 million+ opening, with kids lured in by the presence of Miley Cyrus.
But we’ll be keeping an eye on the vampire flick Twilight which, if its army of fervent and mostly female fans turn up in droves (again and again and again), could be huge. Then again, they might turn up only once, it might pass other cinemagoers by and become the next Snakes On A Plane. We’re guessing that the former is more likely, but with Summit Entertainment having already greenlit sequels, finding out for sure is going to be mighty interesting.
And don’t, of course, underestimate Bond’s second weekend. 007 seen off by a bunch of emo vamps? Stranger things have happened…