Having opened this Monday, the latest James Bond instalment, Spectre (2015) – the 24th in the series – has surpassed its predecessor and accrued a record-breaking £6.3m gross in the UK. This is the biggest gross ever for a Tuesday, its first full day of box-office takings.
2012’s critically praised Skyfall fared slightly lower, having amassed £6.2m on the Friday it opened. That film, however, retains its position as the UK’s highest-grossing film of all time with a total of £102m, a gross Spectre has a long way to matching.
Initially scoring positive and sometimes five-star reviews, Spectre hasn’t met the near-universal acclaim of Skyfall. It currently sits on a 79% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, who note that despite its action-driven narrative, the film relies on the established formula of the original films.
Spectre is the long-awaited follow up to the high-grossing Skyfall (2012). The story sees a secret from Bond’s past coming back to haunt him, and is a direct continuation of the previous three installments. Daniel Craig returns for the fourth time as the 00 agent, and is joined by Ralph Fiennes as M, Ben Whishaw as Q and Rory Kinnear as Tanner, with Naomi Harris returning as Moneypenny. Andrew Scott. Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci and Christoph Waltz as chief antagonist Franz Oberhauser also round out the cast.
Official synopsis:
A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond (Daniel Craig) on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal. Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE.
Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond’s actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot.
As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, played by Christoph Waltz.
Spectre is on general UK release now
Sources: ScreenDaily, The Guardian
