No Time To Die, the latest James Bond movie is set to become the second Hollywood film of 2021 to cross the US$500 million threshold this weekend.

The 25th adventure in the lucrative James Bond franchise crossed US$368 million, as Wednesday’s grosses a worldwide tally of US$474 million, according to Deadline. The film is expected to cross the US$500 million milestone this weekend making it the second Hollywood movie to do so following F9.

This is coming at a time when the movie business is still slowly recovering from the lengthy COVID-19 hiatus. No Time To Die has just passed Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong ($467.8 million) to take over the #5 spot at the worldwide box office this year.

Overseas performance

Internationally, No Time To Die continues to do great business, especially in the United Kingdom, which leads all foreign territories. The spy thriller has pulled in US$96.5 million (71 million GBP), which is Universal’s biggest movie ever in the UK, breaking the 13-year record held by Mamma Mia!.

No Time to Die has also out-grossed F9 by over US$100 million in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and is now the highest-grossing film in that region. No Time to Die is the final turn as James Bond for Daniel Craig, who played 007 in five movies – 2006’s Casino Royale, 2008’s Quantum of Solace, 2012’s Skyfall and 2015’s Spectre.

Mail Online reports that the Chinese hit Detective Chinatown 3 is currently the #4 movie worldwide with US$686.2 million with F9 currently at US$716.5 million worldwide ($173 million domestic, $543.5 million worldwide) sitting in the #3 spot. The top two movies worldwide both belong to Chinese hits with The Battle at Lake Changin in second place with US$769 million and Hi, Mom with a whopping US$822 million, both tallies almost exclusively through Chinese audiences. 

No Time To Die, which was distributed globally through MGN, Universal and United Artists Releasing, has earned US$103.9 million at the domestic box office.  It has become the eighth movie to surpass US$100 million this year, joining Jungle Cruise ($116.7 million), Free Guy ($120.8 million), A Quiet Place Part II ($160 million), Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($170.6 million), F9 ($173 million), Black Widow ($183.6 million) and Shang-Chi: The Legend of the Ten Rings ($218.4 million).

Last year, there were only two movies that crossed US$100 million – Bad Boys for Life ($206.3 million) and Sonic the Hedgehog ($148.9 million), both released before theatres were shut down in late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.