No Time To Die Sets New James Bond Record For Preview Night Box Office

The latest James Bond movie is off to a great start at the box office. No Time to Die earned $6.3 million from Thursday night previews, marking the best US preview night opening for a Bond film ever. No TIme to Die opened at a figure that is 19% higher than Craig's last Bond film, Spectre (2015), which earned $5.25M from preview night; Skyfall earned $4.6M from midnight shows in 2012, and Quantum of Solace pulled in just $2.5M from its preview night showings. In other words: Daniel Craig can feel good about leaving the franchise in a significantly better place than where he started. 

No Time to Die has already pulled in $121M internationally after opening in major overseas markets on September 30th and October 1st. Right now, cautious estimates put No Time to Die on track for a $55-60M opening weekend in the US and Canada, with an additional $150M expected from overseas. All said and done, No Time to Die is looking like it could reach $300M globally by the time the weekend is done. 

Of course, advanced ticket sales for No Time to Die have been hinting that the film's US earnings could be higher than projected. Bond's advanced ticket sales outpaced those of Venom: Let There Be Carnage - even though Venom 2 had a better preview night opening with $11.6M domestically. That could mean that No Time to Die has a bigger crowd set to show up over the weekend, which could significantly boost that opening weekend figure. Spectre opened with $70.4M, Skyfall earned $88.3M, Quantum of Solace made $67.5M, and Casino Royale did $40.8M.

 As fall came in, the surge in COVID Delta cases had Hollywood holding its breath; however, Bond is now building on all the momentum started by Marvel's Shang-Chi, and Sony's Venom: Let There Be Carnage.  Even though No Time to Die could fall short of some of those other films, the context of the Bond helping to bring back the box office after the COVID-19 pandemic means that even at a low $55M, it's still a strong sign of movie theater business getting back to usual, as the coveted holiday movie season approaches. 

James Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter, an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

James Bond: No Time to Die is now in theaters. 

Source: Deadline