After 17 wildly successful days overseas, Daniel Craig’s third chapter in the James Bond series has earned an impressive international total of $428.6 million. Following suit with the overseas totals, the film’s domestic opening has also broken franchise records.
Craig first donned the tuxedo in 2006’s ‘Casino Royale‘, which opened to $40.8 million. When he wore it again in 2008, ‘Quantum of Solace‘ broke all franchise records with a strong $67.5 million debut. ‘Skyfall‘ has now crushed that record with an $87.8 million domestic premiere. When you include the $2.2 million that the movie pulled in from early Thursday screenings in IMAX and other premium theater venues, ‘Skyfall’ has already made $90 million domestically. Although fans first appeared tepid at MGM’s decision to cast Craig as 007, it’s apparent that Bond is more popular now than ever. Without doubt, of the 23 Bond titles in total, ‘Skyfall’ will be the most successful.
Even while Bond pulled in older audiences, there was still plenty of room for Disney’s ‘Wreck-It Ralph‘ to continue drawing in kids and families. Dropping 32.6% from last week, the animated film held onto the #2 spot with another $33 million, which brings its ten-day domestic total to $93.6 million. Robert Zemeckis’ ‘Flight‘ also held strong in its second weekend, dropping only 39%. The addition of 163 screens helped add another $15.1 million to its domestic run. The $31 million movie has earned $47.7 million in its first ten days.
After five and six weekends on the big screen respectively, ‘Argo‘ and ‘Taken 2‘ haven’t yet been pushed out of the Top 5. ‘Argo’ has grossed $85.7 million and ‘Taken 2’ $131.2 million.
Since the Top 5 was so top-heavy this weekend, the #6-10 slots all lie within $200,000 of one another. Expect some of these positions to flip-flop once the weekend actuals are announced later today.
Steven Spielberg’s much-hyped historical drama ‘Lincoln‘ warranted a very strong 11-screen limited opening. With praises for the performances of Daniel Day Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones coming from the New York Film Festival debut, ‘Lincoln’ opened to $900,000. The Hollywood Reporter notes that this $81,818 per-screen average is similar to that of ‘The King’s Speech‘ and ‘Black Swan‘. ‘Lincoln’ expands nationwide this Friday.
Weekend estimates have not been announced for ‘Nature Calls‘ or the Chinese ‘Dangerous Liaisons‘ remake, but the numbers for ‘A Royal Affair‘ were nothing special. On seven screens, the risqué drama pulled in $40,000, for a $5,714 per-screen average.
Top 10:
1. ‘Skyfall’ (Sony) – $87,800,000
2. ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ (Buena Vista) – $33,056,000
3. ‘Flight’ (Paramount) – $15,100,000
4. ‘Argo’ (Warner Bros.) – $6,745,000
5. ‘Taken 2’ (Fox) – $4,000,000
6. ‘Here Comes the Boom’ (Sony) – $2,550,000
7. ‘Cloud Atlas’ (Warner Bros.) – $2,525,000
8. ‘Pitch Perfect’ (Universal) – $2,504,000
9. ‘The Man with the Iron Fists’ (Universal) – $2,490,000
10. ‘Hotel Transylvania’ (Sony) – $2,350,000
