It looks like No Time to Die, star Daniel Craig’s last film as the iconic British spy James Bond, wasn't blessed with a bump in box office numbers you'd normally associate with a closing chapter. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, No Time to Die made $23.3 million on Friday, including $6.3 million in Thursday previews, and is estimated to open at $60 million in its opening weekend at the U.S. box office. The film has netted over $100 million from international territories already.
The $60 million debut from 4,407 theaters falls short of the opening weekends of other Craig Bonds such as Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre, which opened at $67.5, $88.4, and $70 million, respectively. That’s not great, if you note that Quantum of Solace opened 13 years ago. The pandemic can no longer be blamed either, especially considering Venom: Let There be Carnage’s unexpectedly strong $90 million debut just last week and the fact that No Time to Die has been released exclusively in theaters. It should be noted that the film was outpacing Venom 2 in advance ticket sales leading up to its release.
Possible reasons for the film’s unremarkable three-day opening could be because Bond movies skew older, and therefore don’t always attract viewers in droves immediately. It also runs at over two-and-a-half hours long, making it the longest movie in the franchise, thereby reducing showtimes. But those that showed up seemed to enjoy Craig’s swan song as Bond; opening day audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore.
Coming in at the number two spot, Venom 2 dropped a hefty 64% for an estimated second-weekend bow of $31.1 million, after its record-setting opening for the pandemic era last week. Directed by Andy Serkis and starring Tom Hardy, the Marvel antihero film’s running domestic total is $140 million.
The Addams Family 2 came in at the number three spot with $9.8 million in its second weekend, taking its domestic total to $31 million. Unlike No Time to Die and Venom 2, the animated sequel is available to watch at home via On-Demand retailers, including Amazon, Redbox, AMC Theaters On Demand, and more. The first movie, released in 2019, made over $200 million worldwide.
Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings came in at number four, with a $4.2 million weekend haul, taking its domestic total to $212 million. Shang-Chi held on to the top spot for four weekends in a row after its Labor Day debut, and is currently the top-grossing film of the year domestically.
Rounding out the top five was The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, which has all but evaporated from the box office with a $400,000 haul on Friday for a $1.5 million second weekend, which is nearly a 70% drop. Directed by Alan Taylor, the film debuted day-and-date on the HBO Max streaming service, like every Warner Bros. title this year.
Next weekend will see the release of director David Gordon Green’s horror sequel Halloween Kills, and director Ridley Scott’s return to medieval drama, The Last Duel.