“Spectre,” the latest James Bond (Daniel Craig) film, has opened with a roar at the U.K. box office.

On its opening day on Monday, it collected US$ 6.4million (nearly AU$ 8.9 million) from 647 venues across the U.K, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The premiere of “Spectre” was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall. In addition to film’s star cast, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry attended the premiere night event.

The film was also released across the U.K. on its premiere day, a week before its Nov. 6 release in North America. It is the first time that a Bond film opened in cinema theatres on the same day as its premiere. Speaking about it, director Sam Mendes told BBC, “I love the idea that cinemas around the country will be full tonight at the same time as we are doing the royal premiere."

“Spectre” is the 24th Bond movie and the second to be directed by Mendes. The previous film, “Skyfall,” reportedly grossed US $9.5 million (AU$ 13.3 million) on its opening day in 2012.

And “Spectre” has managed to get closer to the opening day collection of “Skyfall,” although it released in the evening.

THR reported that U.K. distributor Vue Entertainment has said that the ticket sales for “Spectre” are outpacing “Skyfall,” with 105,000 people watching the movie on the opening night itself. And 9,942 shows have already been scheduled for the next two and half weeks.

And the industry experts believe that “Spectre” can beat “Skyfall’s” performance at the box office and expect that the film would earn around US$54 million (AU$ 75 million) in its first week, Deadline reported.

“Spectre” opens in Australia on Nov. 12.

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