LOS ANGELES — (CNN) After a few slow weeks at the box office, this weekend looks to have a license to kill thanks to Bond, James Bond, returning to theaters.
“Spectre,” the 24th installment in the spy franchise, hits U.S. theaters this weekend and has already shot through the box office making $5.2 million for its preview showings on Thursday night.
The film, starring Daniel Craig as the suave British spy, has already had a record-breaking opening in the United Kingdom. It looks be taking aim on possibly breaking records here in the states.
Hollywood analysts are projecting the film to bring in $80 million to $85 million for its opening in North America. If the film lands on the higher end of that forecast it could have a chance to become the biggest Bond opening ever passing the $88.3 million that “Skyfall” made in 2012.
The studios distributing the film, Sony and MGM, are being more conservative with expectations predicting a U.S. opening closer to $65 million.
“Coming off of ‘Skyfall’ the property is as popular as it has ever been,” said Phil Contrino, chief box office analyst at BoxOffice.com. “The marketing campaign is strong and the trailers have been action packed.”
Contrino also made that point that the James Bond franchise is a series that thrives off of its unique villains and the addition of Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz represents “a perfect Bond villain” that could help bring more people to the theater.
The box office of “Spectre” may also see a boost seeing that it could be the final film in which Craig plays 007.
This is fourth time that Craig has played Bond since 2006’s “Casino Royale,” and for many fans he’s rivaled only by the Sean Connery.
The box office would seemingly agree seeing that Craig’s three films have averaged $240 million at the U.S. box office when accounting for inflation. This is only second to Connery whose six films have averaged $345 million.
Craig was quoted as saying that he’d “rather break this glass and slash my wrists” than play Bond again, but he clarified those comments on NBC’s Today on Thursday saying that he had a “massive amount of fun” making “Spectre.”
While no one is sure if we’ll see Craig in the bow tie and tux once more, Contrino feels that if Craig moves on that James Bond, a prolific billion dollar movie franchise, shouldn’t be too shaken or stirred.
“The franchise is in great shape, and if they find a new actor with a new take on it then I think James Bond fans would still be more than receptive to the series,” Contrino said.
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