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Bond has definitely gone international and this translated into an estimated $48 million take in China which is a stunning result. To put this frame in perspective, Skyfall took in $59 million in China…over its entire screening run! It also logged the top November opening day in China ever.
| The new James Bond movie, Spectre, just wrapped up another cracking weekend at the box office, taking top honours globally. The movie went wider release, adding 14 new markets (notably China), taking the total to 92 territories around the world and this paid off with a whopping $188 million in box office takings. Spectre’s global cumulative is approaching $550 million only three weeks in.
China is certainly becoming a must-succeed market for films that want to nab a huge global box office and Sony (NYSE: SNE, initial buy $13.64) launched a savvy marketing campaign in the country to promote the movie. The latest actor filling Bond’s shoes (many of which were from Crockett & Jones this time around BTW) Daniel Craig joined Alibaba’s Jack Ma in a live national broadcast to kick off China’s Singles Day, the world’s biggest online shopping day, that was reportedly viewed by over 500 million people. The movie also had several digital partnerships with partners such as Tencent’s (HK: 0700, entry price HK$145.20) messaging app, WeChat and Weibo, an immensely popular microblogging platform. It has also been reported that an entire episode of Day Day Up, a popular Chinese talk show, will be devoted entirely to Spectre on 20 November . It is the first time a foreign movie has been the sole theme of the show and it has a reach of approximately 70 million viewers. The opening box office take in China has been a pleasant surprise and it seems just a matter of time before it blows past Skyfall in that market. The odds of Spectre taking in a $1 billion globally have just shortened. Spectre also surprised positively in the US market as well, with a weekend drop of 50% from it’s opening last weekend. Although this sounds like a lot, in the scheme of big movies it actually represents a strong showing and a lower second weekend drop than that of Skyfall. Spectre took in $35.4 million, taking its domestic cumulative (Brits turn away, its considered a US movie by the tracking firms) to $130.7 million. Although we still don’t think it will end up matching Skyfall in the US market ($304 million), it is now well placed to push well past $200 million. Combined with the strong showing we are seeing internationally, a one billion dollar frame is quite possible and Sony movie executives will be crossing their fingers and toes for just that. For nearly 15 years, Fat Prophets remains UK’s premier equity research and funds management company. Register today to receive our special report Bargain Hunting, and a no obligation free trial to our popular email service |
