After a remarkable international opening, No Time to Die is heading to the domestic Box Office. It was predicted to open to at least $60M domestically, and made a conservative and slightly disappointing $56M, far below the enthusiastic predictions of $100M that were bandied around. Any future success hinges on whether theaters can lure the older adult demographic that Bond plays well to into the theater. How likely is that, given a lackluster opening? Entertainment attorney Brandon Blake analyzes everything for us.
Internationally, we saw the older adult demographic practically stampede to the theater for Daniel Craig’s last Bond outing. Especially in the UK, where ‘Bondmania’ is the strongest. It has, in fact, crossed the $300M mark internationally this weekend.
We can benchmark No Time to Die’s opening against Spectre’s $70.4M, and Venom 2’s remarkable $90M. Why has there been less theatrical traction for No Time to Die? Spectre’s domestic opening stats tell us the audience was 29% over 45 and 15% over 55. 62% were male and 75% over 25. And therein lies the answer.
While all ages have enjoyed Venom 2, the Marvel offerings from Sony and Disney alike have heavy traction in younger demographics and among Hispanic audiences. Those same younger demographic have been eager to return to theaters. The older Caucasian males that traditionally make up Bond audiences? Not so much, at least in the U.S.
All the same, while the film didn’t make its lofty record-breaking predictions, let’s not detract too much from a solid opening. It’s the widest Bond release to date in the U.S and Canada, too. For a much-anticipated film that’s had its release date messed around a lot, and a remarkable global release, it’s doing well. Will it have the pulling power to coax this much-needed demographic back to domestic theaters? That remains to be seen, but it’s got the best chances of anything on the 2021 release slate to date.
Film and Television 