Massive press interest aside, current Bond films have far less mainstream appeal than they did in the 20th century. One statistic to explain what 007 is up against: 36 percent of its domestic audience was over 45, and 57 percent was over 35. For “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” last weekend, more than two-thirds of its audience was under 35. In a release announcing its Bond results, United Artists indicated that 25 percent of its audience returned to theaters for the first time since before the pandemic. That’s a big boost, but a larger pool of prime Bond fans are still hesitant. Add that to the normal franchise film-to-film drop: The opening weekend for “No Time to Die” represented a 20 percent fall from “Spectre,” which represented a 20 percent drop from “Skyfall.”

With “Carnage” taking in an additional $32 million (already over $141 million in 10 days), this was the first weekend since Christmas week 2019 to have two titles over $30 million. Unlike earlier top openings this year, “No Time” had competition, and this likely cost it millions in initial gross. Worldwide, most countries are now in their second week (with China and Australia to come). Including domestic, it has taken in $313 million. Major territories like the U.K./Ireland, Germany, and Japan dropped under 30 percent, though several fell more than 40 percent. With most of the world open, it looks that this will fall short of the $881 million “Spectre” total. That is not a mark against “No Time.” The sole non-Chinese film to gross over $500 million this year is “F9” at $717 million. In 2015, “Furious 7” grossed over $1.5 billion, with “Spectre” grossing about 60 percent of that total. “No Time” will likely end up with a better relative share. Sony “Carnage” dropped 64 percent, slightly less than “Black Widow” and “F9,” more than “Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Figure that Bond was a factor; other titles did not have similar strong competition. Last week’s other two openings, both with home availability, had different trajectories. “The Addams Family 2” followed its surprisingly strong debut with a 42 percent drop. The initially weak “The Many Saints of Newark” (Warner Bros.) fell 67 percent.

The total for the weekend will come in around $109 million. That’s down $20 million from last weekend but is only the fourth weekend this year over $100 million. This is 76 percent of the same dates in 2019. Our ongoing four-week rolling figure is 60 percent from 2018. Combined with last week’s 85 percent, October looks headed for at least the hoped-for 75 percent total compared to 2019. Two new titles entered the top 10. “Lamb,” A24’s Icelandic genre drama, is tied for #7 with $1 million in 583 theaters. That’s close to double what the similarly edgy/young audience-oriented Cannes-premiere “Titane” did last week in almost as many theaters. That’s a decent result for a specialized foreign-language release, although the sub-$2,000 per-theater average suggests the strongest benefit will be elevating attention for future Premium VOD play. “Doctor” (Hamsini), a Tamil-language Indian film, is #10 in with $220,000 estimated in 111 theaters. NatGeo “The Rescue” (Greenwich), National Geographic’s documentary about the Thai cave rescue, had a rare decent initial platform result. Five theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago grossed about $70,000. A $14,000 PTA in October for a prime specialized total used to be mid-level at best, but it is a strong number among recent efforts for an initial limited release. It expands to over 400 next week nationwide. “Mass,” out of Sundance this year, with Martha Plimpton and Ann Dowd leading the ensemble cast, managed over $14,000 in four New York/Los Angeles dates. “Ascension” did $7,500 in three in the same two cities, although its $6,000 result for the documentary on contemporary China was one of the better openings at the IFC Center this year. The Top Ten

  1. No Time to Die (United Artists) NEW – Cinemascore: A-; Metacritic: 69; Est. budget: $275 million $56,007,000 in 4,407 theaters; PTA: $12,709; Cumulative: $56,007,000
  2. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) Week 2; Last weekend #1 $32,000,000 (-64%) in 4,225 (no change) theaters; PTA: $7,574; Cumulative: $141,666,000
  3. The Addams Family 2 (United Artists) Week 2; Last weekend #2; also on Premium VOD $10,109,000 (-42%) in 4,207 (no change) theaters; PTA: $2,382; Cumulative: $31,141,000
  4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney) Week 6; Last weekend #3 $4,200,000 (-31%) in 2,800 (-655) theaters; PTA: $1,500; Cumulative: $212,457,000
  5. The Many Saints of Newark (Warner Bros.) Week 2; Last weekend #4; also on HBO Max $1,450,000 (-69%) in 3,181 (no change) theaters; PTA: $456; Cumulative: $7,407,000
  6. Free Guy (Disney) Week 9; Last weekend #6; also on Premium VOD $1,300,000 (-43%) in 1,495 (-1,050) theaters; PTA: $; Cumulative: $119,681,000
  7. (tie) Lamb (A24) NEW – Metacritic: 71; Festivals include: Cannes 2021 $1,000,000 in 583 theaters; PTA: $1,715; Cumulative: $1,000,000 7.  (tie) Dear Evan Hansen (Universal) Week 3; Last weekend #5 $1,000,000 (-43%) in 1,927 (-1,427) theaters; PTA: $519; Cumulative: $13,706,000
  8. Candyman (Universal) Week 7; Last weekend #7; also on Premium VOD

$700,000 (-45%) in 1,153 (-692) theaters; PTA: $607; Cumulative: $60,007,000 10. Doctor (Hamsini) NEW $(est.) 220,000 in 119 theaters; PTA: $1,849; Cumulative: $(est.) 220,000 Additional specialized/limited/independent releases The Rescue (Greenwich) NEW – Metacritic: 86; Festivals include: Toronto 2021 $69,662 in 5 theaters; PTA: $69,662 Mass (Bleecker Street) NEW – Metacritic: 79; Festivals include: Sundance 2021 $14,457 in 4 theaters; PTA: $3,614 Ascension (MTV Documentary) NEW – Metacritic: 82; Festivals include: Tribeca 2021 $7,500 in 3 theaters; PTA: $2,500 Titane (Neon) Week 2 $200,836 in 474 (-88) theaters; Cumulative: $1,013,000 The Jesus Music (Lionsgate) Week 2 $150,000 in 270 (+21); Cumulative: $858,000 I’m Your Man (Bleecker Street) Week 4 $50,470 in 122 (+61) theaters; Cumulative: $169,165 The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Searchlight) Week 5 $42,000 in 125  (-760) theaters; Cumulative: $2,308,000 The Alpinist (Roadside Attractions) Week 6   58 $10,365 in 26 (-32) theaters; Cumulative: $806,879 Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.