All the box office needed to wake up was James Bond and Snoopy. Spectre and The Peanuts Movie both had huge openings this weekend.
Spectre started its run Thursday night with $5.3 million and went on to gross $73 million domestically. That’s the second-best opening ever for a Bond film, following Skyfall’s $88.3 million debut in 2012. The movie, which was also directed by Sam Mendes and stars Daniel Craig as 007, also grossed $117.8 million from 77 other territories. That brings its worldwide total to a whopping $296.1 million already.
Despite the fast start, Sony’s Spectre will probably not be able to reach Skyfall’s $1.1 billion worldwide mark. The film has struggled with critics, although Box Office Mojo notes that audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore grade. Spectre will also have to deal with a little movie called The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 later this month.
The No. 2 movie was 20th Century Fox’s The Peanuts Movie, which grossed an impressive $45 million. It also started its international rollout with $4.6 million from 11 other territories. Fox took advantage of the world’s familiarity with Charles M. Schulz’s characters and the fact that Peanuts had so little family competition.
The Martian remained in the top 5 again with $9.3 million, bringing its domestic total to $197 million. Goosebumps added $7 million and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies added $6 million.
Another big story on the weekend was Spotlight’s impressive limited opening, grossing $302,276 from just five theaters. Brooklyn also did well with $181,000 from five theaters.