No Time to Die is Daniel Craig's final James Bond movie, and that appears to be driving people to theaters in a bigger way than expected. The franchise has always done well in North America, but never quite in the same way it frequently breaks records in 007's home, the UK.
However, this latest effort is definitely exceeding expectations as Variety reports that it opened to $6.3 million during Thursday previews. That number is well ahead of Spectre's $5.3 million in 2015 and Skyfall's $4.6 million from advance showing way back in 2012.
We'll have updated numbers a little later today, but current estimates point to No Time to Die earning between $60 million - $70 million for its opening weekend. Considering Spectre debuted to $70 million six years ago, it's definitely beginning to feel like the box office is slowly returning to normal in what's become known as the "pandemic era."
The pandemic has definitely hurt the latest James Bond movie; the budget was already a whopping $250 million, but marketing costs have far exceeded $100 million due to all those release date delays.
In our review of the movie, we said that "No Time to Die is the perfect James Bond movie; action-packed, satisfying, and surprisingly heartfelt, Cary Joji Fukunaga proves an ideal fit for this franchise and helps make sure Daniel Craig, who is phenomenal here, ends his tenure as 007 in style."
Keep checking back here for updates on No Time to Die's U.S. opening weekend.
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.