James Bond to break Box Office records?
October 4, 2021
William Hill has cut the price from 10-1 to 7-1 that the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die becomes the highest grossing UK film of all-time.
The UK’s “widest theatrical release of all time” opened in 772 cinemas in the UK and Ireland on September 30th and box office expectations are high, as the 25th instalment of the spy franchise will be looking to recoup initial production costs, revenue share with MGM and interest payments on investment totaling $900 million.
No Time To Die’s producers – Universal – has said it took somewhere between £4.5 -£5 million on the first day. But the film, which has faced a series of delays owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, faces external pressures too, with many suggesting it carries the hopes of the industry and its returning to pre-Covid revenues. It could also prove that such a thing as a ‘box office hit’ still exists.
It would be no mean feat for a film which has crept into the top 10 most expensive movies of all time (at number nine), having cost $314 million. The most expensive was 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Previous Bond films Skyfall (£103.2m) and Spectre (£95.2m) are second and third respectively in the all-time UK and Irish box office earnings; both starring Daniel Craig and both trailing 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens (£123.2m).
Meanwhile, the outgoing Craig is 100-1 to win Best Actor, while No Time To Die is 66-1 to land Best Picture at next year’s Academy Awards.