It seems that James Bond has the Midas Touch after all. No Time to Die, Daniel Craig's final outing as 007, has breathed new life into the cinematic box office with a huge opening weekend haul in international markets.
Per Variety, No Time to Die raked in $119 million across 54 countries during the first weekend of October. In doing so, it becomes the first Hollywood blockbuster to surpass $100 million, during the pandemic era, without receiving a significant box office boost from China.
No Time to Die appears to be performing as well as two previous Daniel Craig Bond movies, too. According to Variety, Craig's fifth Bond flick was just $4 million shy of equalling Spectre's £123 million international opening haul, and was $10 million higher than Skyfall's box office takings during its 2012 weekend debut.
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Unsurprisingly, No Time to Die was a major hit with UK and Irish audiences, taking $25.6 million over its three-day opening weekend on British shores. Meanwhile, the film took $14.7 million in Germany, $2.9 million in Hong Kong, and $6.8 million in ticket sales from 284 IMAX screens.
Hailing No Time to Die's box office performance, Universal's president of international distribution Veronika Kwan Vanderberg said: “This was a huge team effort by all. The filmmakers delivered an outstanding film and we are very proud to play a part in this result with MGM and EON. Barbara Broccoli has been a huge supporter of the theatrical experience, and it’s very gratifying to see the film achieve such heights during the pandemic.”
No Time to Die is off to a stellar start, but it'll need to increase its box office haul if it wants to make a profit. The movie cost a reported $250 million to make and $100 million to promote globally. Given its impressive opening, though, No Time to Die should surpass those figures with ease.
Analysis: Bond-ed to the box office
No Time to Die's box office performance has been a big relief for the movie industry.
Despite economies reopening up across the globe, audiences have been largely hesitant to return to theaters to catch the latest film releases. That is, outside of other tentpole flicks including Marvel's Shang-Chi. Add in the fact that some studios, such as Disney and Warner Bros, have simultaneously released movies on their streaming platforms, and cinemas have been hit hard over sluggish ticket sales.
No Time to Die's display in international markets, however, provides some hope that the box office may start to recover at a faster rate.
For some industry analysts, No Time to Die was seen as the saviour of the theatrical experience. If Craig's final Bond outing proved to be successful, audiences may be more inclined to start watching films on the big screen again. Should it fail to do so, though, many would have sounded the cinematic death knell.
So No Time to Die's international box office performance is promising. It's already recouped a third of its costs, and that's before it's opened in the US and China on October 8 and 29 respectively. Add France (October 6) and Russia (October 7) to those countries, and No Time to Die has plenty of other nations that it's yet to open in, too.
If it can coax these countries' film fans back to the cinema, No Time to Die will make a tidy profit for Universal and MGM. It's got a long way to go to match the worst-performing Bond film of the Craig era – Quantum of Solace amassed $591 million despite mixed reviews.
But, perhaps more importantly, it'll be the catalyst for people to start heading to theaters on a regular basis again. And that can only be a good thing for cinemas and the theatrical experience as a whole.
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