Spectre, the latest 007 adventure, took first place, debuting to $73 million from 3,929 theatres - a hefty figure and the second highest in series history, but one that nevertheless trails the launch of Skyfall.
The previous film in the long-running franchise bowed to $88.4 million, but had better reviews and benefited from being the only new wide-release in its opening weekend. Going into the weekend, tracking suggested that the film would debut to $80 million, but the strength of The Peanuts Movie and some critical grousing may have depressed ticket sales slightly.
Internationally, however, Spectre remains a juggernaut, pulling in $200 million and pushing its worldwide total to more than $300 million after two weeks in release. With a production budget of $250 million and millions more in marketing costs, Spectre has to pull in $650 million globally to break even.
