SPECTRE has $73 million opening in U.S.-Canada

SPECTRE promotional art

SPECTRE generated estimated box office of $73 million for the Nov. 6-8 weekend in the U.S. and Canada, according to BOX OFFICE MOJO

The 24th James Bond film was the No. 1 film for the weekend, which also includes Thursday night ticket sales. SPECTRE, despite higher ticket prices, was 17 percent lower than the $88.4 million opening of 2012’s Skyfall.

Three years ago, Skyfall was the only new movie in general release in the U.S. and Canada. Other new films out that weekend, such as Lincoln, were available only in limited release in a few cities. Skyfall also was the 50th anniversary 007 movie, and it enjoyed a big promotion from the 2012 Olympics, where the Opening Ceremonies included an elaborate James Bond skit, featuring Daniel Craig and Queen Elizabeth.

This time around, SPECTRE had more competition in the form of The Peanuts Movie, an animated film based on the comic strip, which had an estimated $45 million weekend.

Final figures for the weekend will be released on Monday.

Meanwhile, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reported that SPECTRE had a global weekend of “nearly $200 million” and its global box office so far is “north of $300 million.” The movie debuted late last month in the U.K.

Skyfall was the first Bond film to crack the billion-dollar-mark, with worldwide box office of $1.11 billion.