The 25th James Bond film No Time To Die, featuring some dazzling ILM VFX, has blown away the cobwebs of the post-lockdown box office, opening to $119.1m in 54 international markets ahead of its US domestic release next Friday.
The film claimed the top opening weekend of the “pandemic and post-pandemic” era in 21 countries.
The U.K. and Ireland led all overseas markets with $34.8M, which would be the territory’s sixth-largest opening ever and the biggest for a James Bond installment. It registered the highest single-day gross of the pandemic in the territory, and the highest single-day gross since Avengers: Endgame dating back to April 2019. No Time to Die became the highest-grossing title of 2021 in the U.K. and Ireland in its first three days of release.
Elsewhere in Europe, the film tallied the biggest opening weekend of the pandemic in Germany ($14.7M from 1,300 locations), Denmark ($5.3M), Sweden ($4.1M), Switzerland ($3.2M), Italy ($2.9M), Finland ($2.8M), Norway ($2.8M), and Poland ($2.2M).
In Asia, the film is expected to enjoy an opening weekend of $5.8 million in Japan, $4.6 million in South Korea, and $2.9 million in Hong Kong. It is scheduled to open in China on October 29.
Mexico had an early start for LatAm markets with a $2.4 million bow, outperforming Skyfall. Markets in the Middle East tallied a combined $6.3 million, including a $2 million debut in the United Arab Emirates and registering the second biggest opening weekend of all time in Saudi Arabia with $1.8 million.
No Time to Die expands to an additional 15 overseas markets next weekend, including France (October 6) and Russia (October 7).
Industrial Light & Magic were one of seven VFX houses to work on the show, including DNEG, Framestore, Cinesite, Blind LTD, Territory Studio and TPO VFX.
