Arriving with a bang.
We’re waiting for two things here in the U.S.–the arrival of Hurricane Sandy (just come and go already!) and the debut of the former Bond 23, now known as “Skyfall.” The rest of the world does not have to wait for either of those, and from the box office returns, it looks like many people literally did not wait for the chance to see Bond, James Bond again. The film earned $77.7 million from 25 markets, with its home country, the UK, leading the charge with a stellar $32.4 million .
Here are some of the feats accomplished by “Skyfall” in the UK over the weekend:
- broke the all-time Saturday attendance record
- biggest opening of 2012
- biggest 2D Friday to Sunday opening weekend in history
- 2nd biggest Friday to Sunday opening weekend in history (first place is the 3D “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″)
- 76% bigger opening than “Casino Royale” (first Craig Bond film)
- 30% bigger opening than “Quantum of Solace” (second Craig Bond film)
And out of the worldwide $77.7 million, $3.5 million came from IMAX showings in fifteen markets.
Whew! So now here’s the big question: what will “Skyfall” earn on its opening weekend in the US when it arrives here on November 9th? I’ll just throw a number out there–$60 million, provided there aren’t any weird weather events. Now let’s see what happens…
