LOS ANGELES (AP) –James Bond’s quantum of the weekend box office: $70.4 million.

“Quantum of Solace,” with Daniel Craig returning as Bond for the first direct sequel in the spy franchise, pulled in nearly $30 million more over opening weekend than its predecessor, 2006’s “Casino Royale,” according to studio estimates Sunday.

The debut also topped the previous opening-weekend record for a Bond flick, $47 million for 2002’s “Die Another Day.”

Adjusting for inflation, Sony’s “Quantum of Solace” easily drew a bigger audience than that installment, the last Bond adventure featuring Pierce Brosnan. Based on 2002 admission prices, about 8.1 million tickets were sold for “Die Another Day” in the first weekend, compared to 9.8 million for “Quantum of Solace.”

“Quantum of Solace” began rolling out overseas two weekends before its U.S. debut, and its worldwide total now stands at $322 million.

DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” which debuted at No. 1 the previous weekend, slipped to second place with $36.1 million, raising its 10-day total to $118 million.

“Quantum of Solace” gave a huge boost to overall revenues as Hollywood heads toward Thanksgiving, one of the year’s busiest weekends at theaters. The top 12 movies took in $142.9 million, up 54 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when “Beowulf” led the box office with $27.5 million.

Movie revenue is running 1 percent ahead of 2007’s record pace, when the industry took in $9.7 billion, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. Factoring in inflation, the number of tickets sold this year is 3.5 percent behind 2007’s, though.

The next two weekends will bring more likely hits, including the vampire romance “Twilight,” John Travolta and Miley Cyrus’ animated comedy “Bolt” and Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn’s holiday romp “Four Christmases.”


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