Beating all estimates.
63% under 25 is the magic number Sony wants. Royale as I recall had a higher percent male and less of the younger set. More in line with the old audience who were already attending."The majority of audiences we polled liked this one better than the first two," Bruer added, while opening night moviegoer pollster CinemaScore's grade was "B+." Sony's polling further indicated that the audience was 54 percent male and 63 percent under 25 years old.
Right now it is ludicrous to ascribe this kind of performance to Bond 22 (the no name story). Spider-man is a juggernaut, one that will make more than Royale in less than a weeks time.
The Spider-man and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises built themselves up to this level with record braking performance each installment, including DVD and tie-ins.
Where as Royale kept pace with itself, meaning the fiercest competition was from the last installment and not the overall market.
In the United States the performance was below the last film, there were a few hot spots in Europe, however worldwide there plenty of places besides where the Americans impose where Royal should have preformed a little better. All of this keeping in mind the new markets that were now available, not to mention the sheer number of new theater screens.(December 11, 2006) Casino Royale retreated 41 percent to $8.9 million for $129 million in 24 days. The drop was in line with the last four James Bond movies at the same point.
As I said before the proof will be Bond 22.
If 2008 is competitive market, there is a possibility of a weak Bond draw. I would imagine Bond 22 should be close to Royale’s, a testament to James Bond popularity. However there is LTK precedent, the idea of Daniel's Bond might lose its novelty by late 2008.
