Bond Expected To Create Box-Office Record In India

The delayed India release of the 24th edition of James Bond franchisee, Spectre is expected to do brisk collections as the film has been awaited for some time. Adding to its publicity is the news that the Indian Censor Board has chopped a kissing scene between Daniel Craig and Monica Bellucci.

Released across United Kingdom last month, this global franchisee has already generated over $ 545 million or Rs 3,600 crore which is about one-third of the total business the Bollywood films do in a year.

Spectre is still doing strong business around the world which was first released in the United Kingdom on October 26, 2015 and in the United States of America on November 06, 2015.

The India release of Spectre was pushed by its distributors Sony Pictures from November 02 to November 20 in order to avoid any clash with the Diwali season releases in both Bollywood and Southern India. While Salman Khan starrer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo released by Bollywood in this period, in South Ajith's 'Vedalam' released on November 10. Both films have been breaking the box-office collections record.

But going by the collections figures, all recent James Bond releases in India have done brisk business. Spectre, the latest edition of James Bond played by Daniel Craig is the fourth in the row. The last three James Bond films - Skyfall, Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale - together made over Rs 150 crore from Indian theatres.

In India, Spectre releases in four languages - English, Hindi, Tamil and Telegu and is expected to cross the Rs 100-crore box-office collection mark within the first week or 10 days of its India release.

The last James Bond release in 2012, Skyfall, had collected over Rs 60 crore in India while Quantum of Solace, released in 2008, saw an all-time collection of Rs 45 crore. The figures for Casino Royale, Craig's first film as James Bond which opened in 2006 stands at Rs 42 crore say film trade analysts.

Bond - the global franchise
Spectre follows the release of Skyfall, the biggest Bond film of all time, which took in $1.1 billion worldwide. So far, Spectre has managed to rake in $545 million from its worldwide collections of which $121 million were generated from the UK market and $129 million from North America. As of the weekend ending 15 November, the film is playing across 91 markets worldwide, opening at the top across 69 markets.

Spectre has already broken records in United Kingdom. In the film's first seven days it grossed $63.8 million breaking the UK record for highest first-week opening, set by Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban's $36.9 million in 2004.

Elsewhere in Europe too Spectre has emerged as the top grosser. In Germany, the film opened with $22.45 million while in France too it has grossed over $ 14 million despite the November 13 Paris attacks that saw theatres remaining closed during that weekend. Between Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden too Spectre has reportedly grossed over $10.5 million collectively.

In the United States the film opened on 6 November 2015, and in its opening weekend was originally projected to gross $70-75 million from 3,927 screens, the widest release for any Bond film.

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