‘Spectre’ Spies Another Record: Bond Scores Biggest Wednesday At UK Box Office

UPDATE, THURSDAY 12:18 PM PT: EON, MGM and Sony Pictures’ Spectre served up another record at the British box office on Wednesday. With a further $8.8M in its second full day, the running tally since previews began on Monday evening is $24.5M. Yesterday’s takings brought the 24th Bond the biggest Wednesday gross of all time at the UK box office. That’s a tad down from Tuesday’s record-setting $9.2M, but sees 007 getting closer to Skyfall‘s 2012 three-day opening weekend of $32.4M (£20.1M). At this rate, Spectre should blast past that in the next day or so as it heads into its first weekend of play.

UPDATE, WEDNESDAY 9:50 AM PT: If Spectre continues to play throughout the weekend to the kinds of business it’s done in just a day and a bit of previews, 007 just might outdo himself. The 24th James Bond pic set a record on Tuesday, its first full day of screenings, with $9.2M at 647 dates. That’s the biggest Tuesday ever at the UK box office. In local currency, £6.3M, and in ticket sales, it is also bigger than Skyfall‘s opening Friday in 2012. That film kicked off with £6.2M, which was $9.99M at the time. Spectre‘s cume after two days is $15.6M. Not bad, Mr Bond.

As reported below, Monday’s first evening screenings shot off like an Aston Martin DB10, racing to $6.4M. That was doubly impressive given the previews began at 8:15PM. Spectre is benefiting from kids being out of school, increased IMAX plays — 40 versus Skyfall‘s 21 — and strong reviews. Nevertheless, there are still some out there who think the movie could slip a bit at the weekend. It needs a £20.1M FSS to beat Skyfall which went on to be the highest grossing Bond ever and the top-grossing movie of all time in the UK with £103M.

Further international rollout continues on the Sam Mendes-helmed Spectre on November 4 with a Stateside debut on November 6.

PREVIOUS, TUESDAY AM: Sam Mendes’ sophomore outing at the helm of a 007 pic hit a jackpot at the UK box office in its opening previews last night. Spectre loomed large with $6.4M in 647 locations after starting showings at 8:15PM local, just a quarter of an hour after the world premiere began at London’s Royal Albert Hall. That didn’t beat Skyfall‘s opening day in local currency (£4.1M for Spectre, £6.2M for Skyfall), but that 2012 film saw its first shows on a full Friday. Spectre had about two screenings per location yesterday.

This bodes well for Daniel Craig’s Bond which will continue previews this week while kids are off from school. The bar to hit at the weekend will be £20.1M which Skyfall achieved in its initial Friday-Saturday-Sunday rollout three years ago.

Rival distributors have been predicting that Spectre will have an overall take in the range of £35M ($54M) after the first full Monday through Sunday. Many believe Spectre could dip at the coming weekend making that Skyfall number hard to beat for the FSS. But this superspy-sized Monday number portends a strong week with full days’ worth of showings.

Every Bond movie is an event and there’s precious little else in the market to distract as others have steered clear. Although rival distribs believe Spectre won’t end its run in the same final £103M stratosphere as Skyfall, one today revised their stance on the opening frame, telling me, “It’s going to be huge.”