Bond leaves box office shaken and stirred

'Casino Royale' has a massive opening weekend in London.

Nov 21 2006

Bond battered the box office competition over the weekend, taking a hugely impressive £931,980 and proving that the filmmakers were right to cast Daniel Craig in the role.

Playing on 23 screens, there was barely a cinema in London that wasn't screening 'Casino Royale', but that's a huge haul under any circumstances and, combined with the film's international gross, should assure the franchise has a future for many years to come.

Dropping to two, 'Borat' continues to offend and amuse in equal measure, while just below the cheekie chappie from Kazakhstan, 'The Prestige', 'Breaking and Entering', 'The Departed' and 'Starter for Ten' all fell a place.

At number seven, it was a welcome return for 'Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas', this time in 3-D, while the only other new entry was former Time Out film of the week 'Gabrielle', which did well to debut at number ten considering it was playing at just three screens.

Next week, I'll have my fingers, toes and everything else crossed that 'Pan's Labyrinth' does big business, though Bond should continue to dominate at the top.