Turns out people still like James Bond as No Time To Die presales outpace Venom

The name’s B.O. Boffo B.O.

Daniel Craig, his fancy cars, and well-tailored suits still have box office pull, apparently. The fifth and final Craig-led Bond film, No Time To Die, is tracking very well in pre-sales, Fandango says, outpacing even Venom: Let Their Be Carnage, which had the added benefit of weirdos on Tumblr being horny for Venom. Moreover, No Time To Die tickets are selling faster than previous Bond films, including Skyfall, meaning that it’s on track to be Bond’s most lucrative outing to date.

No Time To Die, which experienced years of delays due to the pandemic, will finally hit theaters in the U.S. on Friday. Originally, MGM planned to release the movie in November 2019, then pushed it to March 2020, and, well, you probably know where we’re going with this; the film got moved again.

Currently, analysts believe that No Time is on track to be one of the COVID era’s biggest hits, selling more tickets F9: The Fast Saga and Venom: Let Their Be Carnage at the same point in their respective cycles. Some believe that it will surpass $100 million at the domestic box office opening weekend and top the current record holder, Venom. Last weekend, Venom lapped up $90 million in ticket sales with that tongue of his.

It’s no secret that ticket sales have been down since the start of the pandemic. However, since the release of F9: The Fast Saga, along with the availability of safe and reliable vaccines, moviegoers have begun returning, especially for films that don’t follow the day-and-date release model.

The box office bump would be nice because No Time To Die certainly did nothing to inspire us at The A.V. Club. Our film editor A.A. Dowd gave the film a C, placing the film at the bottom of Craig’s run. Dowd writes, “No Time To Die is forgettable in all the places that usually count—it’s a Bond movie with little excitement or panache. ”

[via CNBC]