The last Bond film to open at number one in the States was "Die Another Day", its competition was not as fierce though. "Goldeneye" and "Twine" opened at number 1 as well ("Twine" opened against "Sleepy Hollow", also in its first frame). "Tomorrow Never Dies", on the other hand, opened close second to "Titanic".
Overall the US debut of "Casino" is strong but not that impressive. Four years ago "DAD" opened to $47M, 6M more than "Casino", even though ticket prices are now higher. It will be interesting to see how good the word of mouth is on this one.
Let's not kid ourselves, even though EON and Sony are now very proud of "Casino", if it ends up grossing significantly less than "DAD", reajustments are sure to be in order for "Bond 22" !
No, not a very valid comparison. DAD was an over-the-top, wall-to-wall huge budget flick with an established Bond and an Oscar winning name actress that cost about $50 million more to make than CR (and I don't think that's even counting the $20 million they spent on Brosnan & Berry, vs. the, what, $4 million it cost for Craig & Green?) Of course CR was not expected to match DAD. The 'stripped down' Bond flicks never do as well as the 'spectacular' flicks, e.g. FYEO following MR.
The only real comparison here is comparing the numbers to Goldeneye, and CR, even when adjusted for inflation, has made more money on its opening weekend (it also beats the opening take of TND, the other No.2 opener of recent years). So a 3 day debut that falls in the middle of the Brosnan pack is a great start. I also think the legs for CR are going to be good as word of mouth takes off, so I'm not sure why you're getting all pessimistic when CR has only run the first mile of a marathon.
Overall the US debut of "Casino" is strong but not that impressive. Four years ago "DAD" opened to $47M, 6M more than "Casino", even though ticket prices are now higher. It will be interesting to see how good the word of mouth is on this one.
I'm not sure even that's certain- this site has it at $47 million and Happy Feet at $44:
http://www.showbizdata.com/
Yeah, I'm seeing some really ambiguous numbers here. The 'weekend estimates' are based on PROJECTIONS of how the movies will do on Sunday. The fact is, as of Sunday morning, CR has made more money at the American box office than Happy Feet. They use the Friday to Saturday 'multiplier' to forecast how things will look for Sunday, its not an exact science. Both films increased in business from Fri to Sat, but Sunday's business hasn't even started yet so nobody knows for sure what's going to happen. We might not know the real deal until Tuesday when the actual numbers come in.
From Jeffrey Wells' Hollywood Elsewhere : "Casino Royale also upticked -- its Friday earnings of $14,904,000 increased by $800,000 the following day when it took in $15,779,000. Saturday business for sequels rarely increase -- obviously a sign of unusual strength for the new 007."