Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal breaks down the opening weekend box office results for the highly anticipated James Bond film 'No Time to Die.'

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: We saw the latest Bond film making its debut on the big screen over the weekend after a year long delay. But box office numbers for "No Time to Die" coming in a little below expectations. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's Allie Canal, who's tracking this for us. Allie, did you go out and see the movie?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I didn't. I didn't have a chance to. I had a wedding this weekend, so I wasn't able to get out there. But I really, really wanted to see it. Did you, Akiko? Did you get a chance?

AKIKO FUJITA: I have not watched it yet. And I think, you know, the numbers here, I mean, let's talk about the expectations game. Because the thinking was that this is the kind of big franchise that will get people going back into the theaters. How disappointing was that 56 million number?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: It was pretty disappointing. There were some analysts that thought this film would debut at north of 100 million, especially after the success of "Venom," which opened at above 90 million. In addition to the fact that presale and advance tickets for "No Time to Die" were outpacing expectations, even outpacing previous Bond films at that same point in the sales cycle.

However, this film just couldn't quite get there at the box office. 57-- 56 million-- that marks the second lowest start out of the five Bond films starring Daniel Craig and significantly behind 2012's smashhit "Skyfall," which premiered at 88 million, as well as 2015's "Specter," which opened at 70 million, which you can see on your screens now.

Now, I think a large part of this had to do with the fact that Bond historically has a much older audience, especially when you compare that with some of those Marvel films like "Venom," "Shang-Chi." And I think that's part of the reason why they had such successful opening debuts. Now, for a little more context here, 57% of ticket buyers for Bond were over the age of 35, including 36% over 45 years old.

Now, if we compare that to "Venom," only 9% of ticket buyers were 45 and older. So that was a headwind. Also the fact that this film is almost three hours long, that does have an impact on showtimes. This was the longest film of the franchise. So I think that sort of affected the ticket sales as well.

So I kind of think this film brought us back to Earth a little bit. Yes, we're still in a pandemic. And yeah, people aren't fully convinced to go out there and do some of those pre-pandemic activities. And that's a reality that I think these box office theaters, as well as analysts, need to understand.

Now, all that being said, I do think that this film has a momentum to continue. I did have a chance to speak with box office pro analyst Shawn Robbins last week, and he told me that Bond has a much more casual audience. This film doesn't necessarily have to have a monster debut in order to eventually reach those blockbuster figures that we know this film is capable of. Perhaps people want to wait. I know for me, personally, I wasn't able to go out and see it this weekend. However, I do want to go to the theater and see this film. I have been waiting to see it, and I want that theatrical experience.

And then if we take a look overseas, this film has just continued to crush it. It brought in an additional 257 million from international markets so far. And that brings that worldwide tally to over 313 million. And that is without China. Obviously, China, very, very huge market and very important to these films, like Bond.

But this isn't going to even land in Chinese theaters until the very end of October, October 29. So I think we can see those global box office receipts tick higher in the coming weeks and months as well. So I don't think this is the end of "No Time to Die." Double 007 doesn't go down without a fight. And I do think that there is more room to run here.

AKIKO FUJITA: So, Allie, don't want to make too much of one weekend, but you mentioned the concerns around COVID potentially keeping a lot of theatergoers or moviegoers, you know, at home. But how much of this is also about this transition that we have seen happen during the pandemic, where the expectation is that movies are released not just in theaters, but on streaming sites?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: I think that has something to do with it as well. We've seen this hybrid release strategy be successful for films like "Black Widow." And for Bond, this was a movie that they wanted to keep in theaters. There were some rumors that maybe they could send this film to a streaming service. But the producers, the actors behind it, they really wanted this to debut in the theater.

But for me personally, I remember when I went to go see "A Quiet Place 2" in the theater, there was a group of teenagers behind me. And they would not stop talking throughout the entire film. And it did impact that experience for me. And it was sort of a light bulb moment when I thought, OK, maybe there are instances where sitting at home and watching a film through a streaming service is a lot more enjoyable.

And I think since we've been so long in this pandemic, I don't think anyone expected us to still be where we are today. I do think that has an impact on things and an impact on ticket sales. So yeah, I do think the hybrid release plan, coupled with COVID, has impacted James Bond and that performance overall.

AKIKO FUJITA: Allie Canal, staying on top of that for us, thanks so much.