Spectre, the 24th James Bond film, broke box office records, taking in $80.4 million in its opening week, thus becoming the biggest U.K. debut in history.
The Bond franchise shows no signs of slowing down. The super spy took advantage of a launch in his native Great Britain.
Spectre earned a massive $63.8 million in its first seven days of release in the U.K., surpassing the previous record, held by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Spectre opens in the US on November 6, where it is expected to top the box office, earning as much as $80 million.
The film is Daniel Craig’s last time as the martini-swilling secret agent. Craig has been praised for injecting a sense of danger into the series after Pierce Brosnan gave up the part.
Despite the acclaim, Craig said in interviews that he would rather slit his wrists than appear in another sequel, prompting media speculation about possible replacements.
With a budget of $250 million, and millions more spent on marketing, Spectre needs to be a box office juggernaut in order to be profitable.
Skyfall, the previous film in the series, made in 2012, was the highest-grossing 007 chapter in history, nearly doubling “Casino Royale’s $599 million worldwide gross.
Skyfall was also the first film in franchise history to cross $1 billion.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced the picture and is distributing the film with Sony.
Sam Mendes, who previously guided Skyfall, directs a cast that includes Christoph Waltz, Ben Whishaw and Léa Seydoux.
