“Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig as 007, drew the biggest U.K. opening weekend box office figures of all time for the franchise and the second-biggest opening the country has ever seen, official data confirmed Monday.”[THR]

Maybe all that social media networking does get people into movie theaters?! Of course, it also helps to have a historic Hollywood franchise and a major movie studio behind you as well, as have found the producing team behind the latest Bond adventure, Skyfall. Though it hasn’t opened in North America yet, the film opened to the biggest response ever for a Bond film in the character’s native United Kingdom where it took in a hefty $32.4 million. For those keeping track, this also qualifies as the second biggest box office opening take in British movie history (the last Harry Potter is still champ).

What will happen at the American box office when Hollywood’s favorite hero descends upon the American populace on November 8? Will he take down Harry Potter and those blue thingies from Avatar? My guess is as good as yours: weigh in and tell us what you think!

If you’re like me, your first thought at watching the trailer for Quartet is that it looks like it should have been called Harry Potter and the Retirement Home for Former Teachers at Hogwarts. I mean, there’s Dumbledore and McGonagall, both duking it out in miserly British fashion in what I assume is supposed to be a heartwarming story about old people being set in their ways and then discovering that they can in fact make fine muggle music together. Directed by Hollywood legend Dustin Hoffman in his first feature behind the camera, Quartet releases December 28, just in time for the Oscar season it was clearly designed to bait.