Bond 25 questions: What’s up with the U.S.?

No Time to Die poster

No Time to Die is the No. 1 box office movie among non-Chinese-made films. Happy days are here again, right? Well, there may be one nagging concern, the (relative) gap between international and the U.S.

The U.S., even with China emerging as the world’s largest market, remains a pretty big market for movies. Yet, relatively speaking, James Bond’s support in Britain’s former colonies appears to be eroding.

Naturally, the blog has questions.

What do you mean by eroding support?

Here is are the figures during the Daniel Craig era, according to Box Office Mojo:

Casino Royale, $167.4 million, 27.2 percent of the global total

Quantum of Solace, $168.4 million, 28.6 percent of the global total

Skyfall, $304.4 million, 27.5 percent of the global total

SPECTRE, $200.1 million, 22.7 percent of the global total

No Time to Die, $158.1 million, 20.9 percent of the global total.

So?

Some British fans attribute that to Brits having better taste than Americans. These same fans dismiss the importance of the American market at all.

Are you being serious?

Mostly not (though such fans as described above do exist). Rather, it raises the question whether there should be more changes for U.S. Bond marketing versus international Bond marketing.

With No Time to Time, U.S. trailers were different than international trailers. But is that enough?

Remember, Michael G. Wilson of Eon Productions said in 2015 that Eon controls the marketing and that studios just execute that plan.

If anybody at Eon is disappointed with the U.S. box office — and no one has said so publicly — they should perhaps look in the mirror.

Anything else?

For better or worse, the U.S. market likes superhero movies more than international markets The No. 1 U.S. movie in 2021 is Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at $224.6 million. It’s based on a lesser-known Marvel Comics title from the 1970s.

Still, $158.1 million in the U.S. for No Time to Die, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, is nothing to sneeze at and not a flop. Many movies would love that size of box office.

Going forward, though, Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Amazon (which has agreed to buy MGM) may want to ponder Bond’s position in the U.S.

NTTD passes $758M in global box office

No Time to Die has surpassed the $758 million mark in worldwide box office as the 25th James Bond film’s theatrical rollout begins to wind down.

The Bond movie was at $758.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That included $600 million outside the U.S. It is the No. 1 global film among non-Chinese-made movies.

No Time to Die debuted in late September in the U.K. and came out in Australia earlier this month. The international release, handled by Universal, accounts for 79.1 percent of the total box office. The U.K. alone has generated $127.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

In the U.S., No Time to Die was No. 9 for the Nov. 26-28 weekend at $1.7 million. The movie’s U.S. total is an estimated $158.1 million. That puts No Time to Die at No. 6 in the U.S. so far in 2021. That accounts for 20.9 percent of the global total.

No Time to Die already is available on premium video on demand. The movie’s home video debut is scheduled for next month.

The Bond film is the fifth, and final, to feature Daniel Craig as James Bond.