Casino Royale breaks Bond box office record
Casino Royale has scored the biggest ever opening weekend for a Bond film.
Daniel Craig’s debut as 007 grossed £13.4m (€19.8m) and topped the UK box office.
It smashed the previous record of £9.1m (€13.5m) held by Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day.
It became the third biggest opening weekend of all time, behind Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire and Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Martin G Wilson thanked the British public for backing Craig.
“We are delighted the UK has had record-breaking results over the weekend for Casino Royale, and we are very grateful for the support and goodwill of the British public to the new film and most especially towards Daniel Craig,” they said.
The decision to cast Craig as the first blond Bond was controversial. A website was set up calling on fans to boycott the film. But critics are now hailing him as the best Bond of all time.
Casino Royale is based on Ian Fleming’s first 007 novel and goes back to Bond’s early career.
It made a healthy $42.7m (€33.3m) in its opening weekend in the US – but looks like being beaten to the number one spot by animated film Happy Feet.
