James Bond and Charlie Brown dominated the Hollywood box office for a second straight weekend.
Spectre, the 24th installment of the James Bond franchise, cruised to another box office victory with $35.4 million in domestic ticket sales in the film’s second week in U.S. theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. The Sony (SNE) film, which pulled in more than $70 million in its first weekend in the U.S., is close to grossing $550 million worldwide after also setting a record for U.K. box office gross in its first week in theaters in that country.
Meanwhile, the animated adaptation of the classic Peanuts comic strip continued to fare well at the box office as it remained firmly in second-place behind Spectre for another week with $24.2 million in U.S. ticket sales. Fox’s (FOX) The Peanuts Movie made $44 million in its first weekend in theaters and has now raked in more than $90 million in global ticket sales.
Both Spectre and Peanuts have helped the U.S. box office pivot from an October to forget, when a series of cinematic flops and disappointments led to one of the year’s lowest-grossing movie months. And, the two box office leaders easily staved off a handful of new releases this past weekend, including the family holiday comedy Love the Coopers, released by CBS’ (CBS) film division, which pulled in a modest $8.4 million in its weekend debut.
Spectre will have its hands full staying atop the box office rankings again this weekend when the latest installment of the Hunger Games franchise hits theaters. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 is expected to be one of the year’s highest-grossing movies after its predecessor raked in more than $755 million worldwide last year.
The new James Bond film also has a long way to go just to outpace its own immediate predecessor at the box office. The previous Bond film, 2012’s Skyfall, was the series’ highest-grossing film ever with $304 million in U.S. ticket sales and $1.1 billion worldwide. Spectre is off to a stronger start, especially overseas, where the film hauled in an estimated $48 million in its weekend debut in China this week, which marks a record opening weekend for any non-3D film in a country that is growing to challenge the U.S. as the biggest movie market in the world.
