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No Time to Die set to be biggest Bond ever

Daniel Craig's last 007 film is breaking box office records on the suave superspy's home soil.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
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Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas bond over a drink.

Nicola Dove/MGM

No Time to Die has taken no time at all to blow up the box office. The final outing for Daniel Craig as superspy James Bond 007 took $121.3 million in its first weekend at the European box office, and that's before opening in the US on Friday.

Back in March 2020, the 25th Bond film was the first blockbuster to postpone its release date due to the COVID pandemic, setting off a cascade of movie delays. Even now, when theaters are reopened in many parts of the world, the Delta variant still looms large and threatens more than just Hollywood box office receipts.

But despite COVID concerns, No Time to Die had the biggest opening weekend in the long history of the series on Bond's home soil. In the UK it made £25.9 million ($35.3 million) this weekend, according to box office trackers Comscore, beating Skyfall's £20.2 million ($27.2 million) and Spectre's £19.8 million. 

Craig's "epic, explosive and emotional swan song", directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, is a "genuinely unique entry in the series," according to CNET's No Time to Die review. If you've seen it, relive the shocking ending or explore 007 history, Greek mythology and more in our spoiler-filled deep dive into the movie.

No Time to Die opens Oct. 8 in the US, where Venom: Let There Be Carnage took a pandemic-era record $90.1 million this past weekend.

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