The latest James Bond film, ‘Spectre’, has fallen behind its predecessors in terms of box office success. Despite the fact that Spectre was released on the same day as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it is estimated that Spectre will only make $200 million worldwide by the end of this week.
James Bond is a British secret agent created by Ian Fleming in 1953. The latest film, Spectre, has been criticized for falling behind its predecessors as well as other films in the series.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Bond finally squared up against an adversary he couldn’t seem to defeat at the box office, and the outcome was a tie.
After being delayed for more than a year owing to Covid-19, the 25th chapter in the Bond series, “No Time to Die,” premiered to an estimated $56 million in the United States and Canada. Despite the fact that theaters across the globe have mostly reopened, the pandemic’s residual effects seem to have harmed the film’s performance, which is lagging behind its predecessors in the series.
For example, “Spectre” grossed $70 million in 2015, but “Skyfall” grossed $88 million in 2012. “No Time to Die” is the second-slowest start of the five Bond films featuring Daniel Craig as the secret agent.
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Covid-19 seems to share some of the responsibility. In recent years, Bond films have drawn an older audience than Marvel Studios blockbusters or films based on other franchise-generating characters. That older group has been the least likely to return to cinemas, which may explain why recent films such as “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” have exceeded predictions and drew large audiences.
After a year of postponements and closures, “No Time to Die” has acted as yet another barometer of where the country’s theatre industry is. As Covid-19 ravaged the world in March 2020, “No Time to Die” was one of the first films to be postponed, and its many subsequent scheduling adjustments indicated that the pandemic would continue longer than many had anticipated. Now, as big-budget movies that depend on sales from all kinds of moviegoers only see specific groups returning to theaters in pre-pandemic proportions, its performance shows the growing pains yet to come.
United Artists Releasing, which distributes Bond films for MGM Holdings Inc., performed a study of opening-weekend crowds in six cities and discovered that almost a quarter of those who saw “No Time to Die” this weekend had not seen a movie in over 18 months.
Erik Lomis, president of distribution at United Artists Releasing, stated, “You have to get them accustomed to coming back.” “The 18- to 34-year-olds are now driving the box office,” he added, noting that 57 percent of the Bond crowd this weekend was over 35.
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In comparison, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which has attracted a younger audience, grossed $32 million in its second week, increasing its total to a healthy $142 million. Sony Group Corp.’s SONY 1.33 percent Sony Pictures Entertainment published it.
The box office for “No Time to Die” was better in other countries. So far, the film has grossed an extra $257 million in foreign countries, where MGM shares distribution responsibilities with Universal Pictures of Comcast Corp.
Mr. Craig reprises his role as 007 in “No Time to Die.” Since his appearance in 2006’s “Casino Royale,” the actor has been praised with reviving the series.
James Bond is still one of the flagship assets in franchise-obsessed Hollywood, and the character was one of the crown jewels of Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN -0.42 percent purchase of MGM, which was revealed earlier this year. The internet giant is paying $6.5 billion for the historic studio, which is best known for blockbusters from Hollywood’s “Golden Era,” such as “Singin’ in the Rain,” as well as more contemporary masterpieces like “The Silence of the Lambs.”
However, Amazon will not have authority over Bond, which is mainly handled by Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, stepsiblings who acquired the character’s rights from Ms. Broccoli’s father in 1995.
The pair has a lot of creative control over the series, including choosing who would take over as 007’s successor. Despite the fact that Amazon’s acquisition of MGM was viewed as a doubling down on its streaming plan, the producers have said that James Bond films would continue to be released on the big screen.
During the months of delays caused by the coronavirus, rumors circulated in Hollywood that MGM would sell “No Time to Die” to a streaming service, allowing it to be shown in theaters, as other companies had done with big releases.
Mr. Lomis said, “We kept this movie for a long time so we could distribute it where it was meant to be viewed.”
Erich Schwartzel can be reached at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com.
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James Bond is one of the most popular and recognizable characters in film history. The latest James Bond film, Spectre, has been met with mixed reviews. Reference: james bond imdb.
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