NO TIME TO DIE opens with $54M and easily takes first place. The 25th Bond Picture and the final outing for Daniel Craig opened at the lower end of his prior 007 performances 007, beating only his first chapter CASINO ROYALE (2006) which opened with $41M, and well back of the $88M taken in by SKYFALL (2012), his best result.
Given the film’s history of release date changes, all concerned should feel satisfied with this box office performance and pleased at the fact that both critics and fans seem to be enjoying the film. Our sense is that ticket sales in subsequent weeks will hold up well and that NO TIME TO DIE will be viewed as a proper send-off for Craig as James Bond.
As expected, the second weekend of VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE came in second place with $32M, a whopping 64% lower than the record-setting results from its debut last weekend. In third place, THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2 grossed $10M, a decline of 42% from its premiere. The combined weekend gross of $108M was strong enough to keep this weekend on fairly sound footing, coming in at 76% of the same weekend in 2019. This result maintains the momentum of October’s surge, a clear sign of recovery.
Next week will bring two new wide openers, HALLOWEEN KILLS, and THE LAST DUEL. HALLOWEEN KILLS in particular has high expectations, with predictions for a $50M+ opening. The bigger question is how far the current crop of wide releases will drop in their follow-on weeks. Universal deviated from its stance on maintaining a 17-day theatrical window and instead will release HALLOWEEN KILLS on Peacock streaming simultaneously, available to all Peacock subscribers at no additional rental charge.
Ever since FREE GUY, the exhibition has had a nice run of major titles being released to theatres exclusively, and the day & date status of HALLOWEEN KILLS could result in lower grosses at the box office, choking off the exhibition’s October comeback.