What you need to know:

• Bond: No Time to Die has delivered the strongest weekend in cinemas for five months and is the highest selling film since Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019.
• The film drove admissions up 30 per cent on the previous weekend and boosted a total audience of 873,000 across Australian cinemas.

Daniel Craig’s last portrayal as James Bond, No Time to Die, is the biggest cinematic release since before the pandemic, luring 475,000 viewers to the big screen on its opening weekend.

The film is the biggest since Jumanji: The Next Level, which was released on Boxing Day 2019, and has beaten 2021 blockbusters Godzilla vs Kong and Fast & Furious 9.

Over the Thursday to Sunday weekend, Bond: No Time to Die drove the biggest weekend for cinema since July, with 873,000 tickets sold across the country.  

It took in $11.2m in its first four days, which is comparable to Craig’s last outing as James Bond in Spectre in 2015.

“In the wake of restrictions finally lifting across the entire nation, Australians are officially returning to the biggest screen of all, with admit figures sitting strong, up almost 30% on last weekend’s result, and well above the same weekend in 2019,” Val Morgan’s Managing Director Guy Burbidge said.

“It’s clear that there is no loss of appetite for the cinema as high-value audiences have rushed back to see a true cultural media moment that is Bond.”

Upcoming films include Dune, Spiderman No Way Home, The Matrix: Resurrections, Venom: Let There Be Carnage.