Casino Royale became the best box office Bond in history today, taking in $451.8 million in ticket sales. That’s the solid $146.3 million US takings plus $305.4 million from overseas. The second highest grossing bond was Die Another Day which took $431 million in 2002.

Everyone who complained about Daniel Craig and Bond going blonde hang your heads. You know who you are, and you were officially wrong. This is a great payoff for a smart gamble by MGM/Colombia. Another standard gadgets-and-all Bond movie would still have made money, but the grittier back to basics Bond seems to have reignited audience interest.

Best case scenario is that other studios will take note and be braver with their precious franchises in future. Maybe a more violent X-Men or a less violent Saw sequel. And maybe just less altogether from everyone with the Scary Movie franchise.

Popularity: 1% [?]