As a huge James Bond fanboy – we call ourselves Bondage Enthusiasts – I thoroughly enjoyed Skyfall for a number of reasons, from Javier Bardem’s insane genius villain to Judi Dench’s hot ass. But there was one particular little nugget of Bondage that jumped out at me during the intense standoff at Skyfall in the film’s final act, and that was the vintage Aston Martin DB5 that Daniel Craig’s Bond used in his trap for Bardem’s gang of killers. That car is simply one of the most iconic vehicles in movie history, and now I could actually own it!
Skyfall earned $87 million in its first weekend here in the US, far and away the biggest opening weekend ever for a Sam Mendes movie (second best: Jarhead, $27 million) and the best ever for a James Bond film. Knowing that old poon hound, I bet he celebrated with a Heineken. An ice cold Heineken and an exotic broad to shave him.
Skyfall‘s opening crushed Quantum of Solace’s $67.5 million, which was the previous Bond record. It was also double Casino Royale‘s $40.8 million debut, which was star Daniel Craig’s first outing as the infamous spy. The debut ranks fourth on the year behind The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games, and it ranks seventh all-time in November behind two Twilight movies and four Harry Potter flicks. Including $2.2 million from Thursday’s IMAX/premium-large-format showings, the movie has already earned $90 million total.
It was a pretty good weekend for movies overall, with none of last week’s top five dropping more than 40 percent and Lincoln cleaning up in limited release. Ben Affleck’s Ahhhhgo is in its fifth weekend with its highest week-to-week drop just 34 percent.
In 15th place, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln debuted to an estimated $900,000 at 11 locations. That translates to an $81,818 per-theater average, which is second-best ever for a movie in more than 10 locations (behind Precious).
Really, Precious? Man, not even a beloved dead president can compete with Oprah.
It’s also third-highest in 2012 behind The Master and Moonrise Kingdom. The historical drama’s audience skewed male (55 percent) and much older (67 percent over the age of 35), and they awarded the movie a great “A” CinemaScore. The real test, though, comes next weekend when Lincoln attempts to reach mainstream crowds in at least 1,500 theaters. [BoxOfficeMojo]
In retrospect, it was probably a smart move of Spielberg to cut out that opening scene where Abraham Lincoln walks by the camera with his huge dong hanging out and it shows him peeing for five minutes. Getting that PG-13 really helped.
In this new clip from Skyfall, which premieres in London tomorrow but won’t hit North America until November 9th, James Bond meets with his snot-nosed gadget man, Q (short for Quartermaster), previously played by Peter Burton, Desmond Llewelyn, Geoffrey Bayldon, Alec McCowen, and John Cleese, here portrayed by Ben Whishaw. He and James Bond have a meet-cute in an art gallery and basically just rip on each other about age the whole time.
BOND: You must be joking.
Q: Why, because I’m not wearing a lab coat?
BOND: Because you still have spots! [that's British talk for pimples]
Q: My complexion is hardly relevant.
BOND: Your competence is.
Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency.
BOND: And youth is no guarantee of innovation.
You know, just your basic, good old-fashioned boner measuring. For the record, Ben Whishaw is a snot-nosed young brat of 32. Also, how come in movies, when field agents meet their new computer-whiz partners, they’re never like, “Hey! Pleased to meet you! I sure can’t wait for you to help me not die! Wanna be best friends?”
Instead, they’re always pissed it’s some young kid. “This dick-fisted whippersnapper thinks he can help me? He smells like dirty diapers and his momma’s sour breast milk! Kids! Make yourself useful and fetch my diapers and BenGay!”
“Cracking tits, wouldn’t you say, Bond?” “Too right, Q, too right.”
So far, the buzz behind the latest James Bond installment, Skyfall, is pretty positive. That’s good for two reasons: 1) We almost never got this movie because MGM is run by the same kind of people who rent furniture; and 2) Most people hated Quantum of Solace. As a huge 007 fan, I didn’t hate Quantum as much as I was a little underwhelmed, but that’s why I have hope that it was perhaps the Empire Strikes Back of Daniel Craig’s run as the British secret agent.
Regardless, between the film’s trailers, Adele’s spectacular Skyfall theme, and just the fact that we get Javier Bardem as a villain again, there’s really no reason that Craig’s third and possibly final turn as Bond won’t be great. And now, to add some Viagra to our nerd boners, Yahoo! has released an exclusive new clip, which is really just a longer version of the train scene from the trailer. But I’m not complaining at all.
Today, October 5th, is the 50th anniversary of the world seeing Ursula Andress walk out of the ocean in a bikini for the first time, which is to say that it’s the 50th anniversary of the first James Bond film, Dr. No. The first martini’s on us, 007, then you can buy the rest. We, um, forgot our wallet. [It's a vodka martini! A martini has gin, dammit! -Vince]
To celebrate the occasion, a swell documentary was made by Epix. It’s called Everything or Nothing, and it focuses on the three men who brought James Bond to the screen: producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and Bond author Ian Fleming.
Last night, Vanity Fair and Epix teamed up for a screening of Everything or Nothing (which airs on Epix tomorrow night at 8 p.m.), and UPROXX was there for the red carpet premiere to ask questions to famous people about their favorite Bond film and, more importantly, their favorite Bond Girl (Claudine Auger or GTFO). Yes, Kate Upton was there, and yes, she’s pretty and nice in real life, and no, I didn’t give her your number. Sorry.
(All photos courtesy of our wonderful photographer, Nadia Chaudhury.)
