The latest James Bond film No Time To Die has grossed a record-breaking £26m in its opening four days in cinemas, the UK’s biggest cinema sales house DCM has revealed.
DCM reported over two million admissions across its client roster of cinema chains: Odeon, Cineworld, Vue, Picturehouse, Curzon and over 160 independent cinemas, which represents 80% of the cinema ads market.
No Time To Die also had a record number of forward bookings from advertisers, DCM added. All premium spots were sold out nearly two months ahead of the movie’s premiere and the full ad reel sold out two weeks before release. Sky, Google, Pokerstars, Peroni and Lloyds took prime spots.
The latest Bond outing also enticed other older audience members who had not previously come back to the big screen, while 40% of the returning cinema audience were 16- to 34-year-olds, higher than 34% pre-pandemic.
No Time To Die compares favourably with other Bond cinema releases, with its box office takings at £21m more than previous films Skyfall and SPECTRE in their opening weekends.
The movie, starring Daniel Craig in his final appearance as James Bond, was originally due for release in March 2020 before being pushed back three times as the Covid-19 pandemic forced UK cinemas to close for several months.
The film is now predicted to get 2.8 million admissions in its full opening week, which is more than the expectation for a pre-pandemic full week at 2.5 million admissions.
Karen Stacey, CEO of DCM said: “This is a watershed moment for the cinema industry. The medium has continued to thrive alongside TV, home videos and, most recently, streaming platforms. There has always been a reason to return to the Big Screen and we’re only just getting started with this next, golden age for the industry.”
