Spectre Starts North American Assault with $5.25 Million Thursday Night

November 6, 2015

Burnt

Bond is, as they say, back. And looking very spritely for a 52-year-old, it has to be said. The latest entry from the world’s most durable franchise launched in North American theaters at 7pm on Thursday with $5.25 million from 3,221 locations, easily a best for the franchise from preview shows, beating the $2.2 million picked up by Skyfall back in 2012. It’s a great start—among the top 50 of all time for Thursday previews—and bodes well for the weekend as a whole; but is it enough to set the film on a path for a franchise-best opening weekend?

The consensus is that Spectre will fall short of the $88.4 million earned by Skyfall, with tracking suggesting something around $75 million. Projecting Thursday night receipts to the full weekend is a challenge, because there are so many factors influencing the Thursday numbers (the time of year, fan fervor etc.) that don’t necessarily translate into box office dollars for the weekend as a whole. Some recent films that picked up $5 million or so on Thursday can give some sort of guide though. Straight Outta Compton posted $4.96 million on Thursday on its way to a $60.2 million opening weekend. 22 Jump Street turned $5.5 million on Thursday into a $57 million debut. Both of those comparisons suggest that $75 million is a generous estimate for the weekend for Spectre. However, perhaps the best comparable film is American Sniper, which earned $5.3 million from its Thursday previews and ended its first weekend in wide release with $89.3 million.

Can Spectre deliver that kind of Thursday-to-weekend multiplier? Probably not. But an $80 million debut looks more likely this morning than it did yesterday, and there’s still a slight chance that Skyfall’s record could fall.

- Spectre comps
- James Bond franchise history

Bruce Nash,

Filed under: Skyfall, Spectre, Straight Outta Compton, James Bond