The new James Bond film Skyfall opens at the US Box Office this weekend and there’s only one question on everybody’s lips – just how much money is it going to make? The battle for the top spot this weekend would seem to be a foregone conclusion, with huge critical success worldwide even giving rise to suggestions that it might finally break the Academy’s perceived snootiness towards the franchise and find itself in the running for an Oscar or two.

If it’s current standing in the UK is anything to go by, it could be looking at a bumper weekend when it eventually gets to America. British paper The Guardian points out that in its 10 days on general release there it has so far taken more than $85.5 million in sales; just to that in some context, it is already the 13th biggest grossing film in the UK of all time, with only The Dark Knight Rises having taken more over the same time frame this year. Compared to the previous Bond outing Quantum of Solace it’s performed better too; Quantum… fell 40% in takings on its second weekend in the UK but Skyfall has only dropped 20%, suggesting that its likely to be hanging around the upper echelons of the box office charts there for a while.

The feel-good factor that seems to emanating from last night’s US election could be a good thing for Skyfall, with people enthused to get out of the house over the coming weekend. A smash hit could be on the cards.