By Michael White and James Callan
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The James Bond thriller "Quantum of Solace'' opened in first place in U.S. and Canadian theaters with ticket sales of $70.4 million for Sony Corp. and Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., the best-ever debut for the spy franchise.
"Quantum of Solace'' is the second Bond movie to star Daniel Craig as the British super spy and its sales highlight the popularity of edgier updates to aging movie franchises. "Quantum of Solace'' surpassed 2006's "Casino Royale,'' which debuted with $40.8 million in receipts. "Quantum,'' which has premiered abroad already, has made more than $231 million in worldwide sales, according to researcher Box Office Mojo LLC.
"The numbers are amazing,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers, in an interview."'Casino Royale' ushered in a whole new era of Bond and 'Quantum of Solace' definitely capitalized on that. The re-imaging of the franchise has really worked.''
In "Quantum,'' Bond -- played by Daniel Craig -- seeks to unravel the conspiracy that led to the death of his love, Vesper Lynd, in "Casino Royale.'' In both films, the producers did away with the campy one-liners featured in earlier Bond movies, along with the focus on gadgets designed to aid Bond on his missions.
Judi Dench returns in "Quantum" as British intelligence chief "M." Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko co-star.
The following table has figures provided by studios to Media By Numbers. The amounts are based on gross ticket sales from Nov. 21, yesterday and estimates for today.
Movie Rev. Theaters Wks Avg./ Pct. Total
(mln) Theater Chg. (mln)
1. Quantum Solace $70.4 3,451 1 $20,400 -- $70.4
2. Madagascar 2 36.1 4,065 2 8,888 -43 118
3. Role Models 11.7 2,798 2 4,185 -39 38.1
4. High School 3 5.88 3,202 4 1,836 -36 84.4
5. Changeling 4.25 1,896 4 2,240 -41 27.6
6. Zack and Miri 3.2 2,210 3 1,448 -49 26.5
7. Soul Men 2.43 2,048 2 1,186 -55 9.4
8. Life of Bees 2.4 1,149 5 1,656 -22 33.6
9. Saw V 1.79 2,002 4 894 -56 55.4
10. Molly Hartley 1.65 1,587 3 1,039 -50 12.7
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