'Spectre' Has Biggest U.K. Opening Ever, Breaking Harry Potter's Spell

Accio, "Spectre" tickets! The 24th James Bond movie has the box office shaken and stirred overseas, setting a new record for the biggest opening in United Kingdom history.

Leave it to 007 to save the day, at least in the U.K., when the U.S. box office was in total crisis mode. We don't get "Spectre" until this Friday, November 6, but British audiences ate up the Daniel Craig spy thriller, giving it $63.8 million in its opening week, breaking the spell held by "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." According to Variety, the movie made a total of $80.4 million in its first week -- including $3.9 million from Netherlands and $12.7 million from the Nordic region -- setting more records in Finland, Norway, and Denmark.

Still more records were set for IMAX, Variety added, with "Spectre" making $5 million so far, and earning the highest per-location average in company history with $105,000 in 47 theaters.

Box office prognosticators expect "Spectre" to top the U.S. box office next week, taking in around $80 million. We'll see. The last movie, "Skyfall," -- also starring Daniel Craig and directed by Sam Mendes -- was the highest-grossing Bond film ever, and the first in the franchise to cross the $1 billion milestone. So far, "Spectre" has a respectable 77 percent "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, from 44 reviews. (Let's just hope it doesn't drop in the next few days.)

Are you planning to get tickets to "Spectre" this weekend?

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