CRAIG, Daniel Craig. Nobody does it better when it comes to James Bond at the box office. “Spectre”, his latest film in the starring role, was released on November 6th in America and took an estimated $73m (£48m) in its opening weekend, making it the third-highest of the Bond franchise there (the top two also star Mr Craig). The previous release, “Skyfall”, took significantly more in 2012, but benefited from publicity marking the 50th anniversary of the first film, “Dr No”.

Bond v Bond: the return of 007

The markets outside America are just as important, combined they account for around 70% of the total ticket sales for Bond films. In Britain, 007’s native home, “Spectre” broke box-office records when it opened on October 26th, taking an eye-popping £41m ($62m) in its first week. Not only was that double the haul taken by “Skyfall”, but it also knocked the all-time record-holding film “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” off its broomstick.

It remains to be seen whether “Spectre” will become another $1bn box-office smash, or leave audiences more stirred than shaken. The American market has become a reasonable global barometer for success; on average the opening US weekend has accounted for about 10% of the final worldwide box-office for Bond films in the past 15 years. By that reckoning, “Spectre” would rank 007th of all Bond films for total takings at today’s prices.