The Sweeney wrote:
I said all along a few factors will make Skyfall the biggest Bond in years at the BO, and one of them was Adele.
Another is the 50th anniversary, of which the marketing campaign is really starting to kick in now here in the UK, with Sky TV running a dedicated 24/7 Bond channel, with constant Bond merchandise adverts and all.
And another was the Olympic boost featuring the Queen.
These will be the 3 main factors for Skyfall's BO success. I also feel the critics will be kinder to this film than they were with Quark, as Skyfall will most likely be a vast improvement on QoS, so the critics will compare and look at Skyfall as a vast improvement. The reason the critics were so harsh on QoS is because it didn't measure up to CR, whereas this time round the benchmark is a lot lower for the critics.
Pollyannaish assessment one I'm sure the studio PR department will reinforce for you shortly.The mechanics of the marketplace is a little more grounded/grinding than the ethereal metrics being used as a weathervane. Great PR, greases the skids but does not completely overcome the entropy involved in filling seats.
I seriously doubt ticket purchase decisions will be swayed by Adele, I doubt any song had real impact besides visibility which by itself is worth it.
Skyfall will reach number one in most if not all territories it is released, studio scheduling practically guarantees this. What will not be mentioned is ticket inflation and screen and/or market growth, records can and will be set selling fewer tickets it's magnificent PR fodder (not just for Bond).
I've looked over Bond market data if it is one it's constant.The hard realities for Skyfall is $700m neighborhood is the extreme high end, and not a real improvement, I'd imagine the studio in house projections are closer to the $640 neighborhood, my expectations are softer for several reasons.
We won't know for sure for several weeks in the meantime you'll be reassured by skilled manipulators applying the science of this business to great effect.
As for the critics who knows. I expect more positive than last time however just improving over Quark isn't much of an improvement and may not be as compelling as you think. QOS had problem not just from a poor director and short cuts taken in the story, they expanded the non-Bondness of the main character in a way most found unpalatable. Given what we know for sure are part of the story it's conceivable there could be backlash from those who might not appreciate the gritty turn Bond on it's head take. I think there will be those who will say this is not what Bond does and not who Bond is, I expect others to say this is why Bond is Bond.. blah.. blah.. blah..
Because it is the 50th I think more attention will be paid to the history of Bond and what made it enjoyable, also being Danny's third and the hype time could be ripe for a critical review of his tenure.
Still there may be more who will want to be part of the crowd and crow about what a unparallelled achievement this is. Basically take every review you disliked about DAD and multiply it
