We all knew No Time to Die was going to be a massive hit overseas, with audiences having waited eighteen months to see the 25th installment in the James Bond franchise. Even then, it looks as though Daniel Craig’s final outing in the tux is on track to perform much better than expected, a week before it hits theaters in the United States.
Cary Joji Fukunaga’s globetrotting espionage epic is set for an international opening weekend of $113 million, which would make it the first pandemic-era release to reach three figures without an assist from China. Not only that, but No Time to Die has also scored the highest-grossing opening day in the United Kingdom since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrived in December 2019, as per Deadline.
The movie was keeping pace with Avengers: Endgame in pre-sale tickets, and it set an all-time one-day September record by bringing in $6.6 million after debuting on the 30th. That puts it 14% ahead of Spectre, an impressive statistic considering the last film didn’t have a global health crisis to deal with, and it’s well-placed for a UK opening weekend well above $25 million.
That’s more than many recent blockbusters have managed Stateside where there are thousands upon thousands more screens, with No Time to Die once again reinforcing the everlasting popularity of James Bond in the country of the character’s birth.