Stunt doubles film a fight scene in Mexico City for Spectre. Photograph: Carlos Tischler/ REX A small business organisation in Mexico City has claimed that the city will suffer over m in losses as a result of the new James Bond thriller Spectre being filmed there. With segments in the likes of Rome and the Austrian Alps already in the can, the Spectre team are working on the film’s opening scenes in the city, described by Bond producer Michael G Wilson as the “biggest opening sequence we’ve ever done”. It involves 1,500 extras in Day of the Dead costumes, along with a helicopter fight and a chase through a festival parade. All this action has meant streets have had to be closed for a number of days. “ The closure of streets and pedestrian malls (in the historic old town) is directly and indirectly affecting (for the worse) more than 6,627 businesses,” claims Canacope, the chamber of commerce for small businesses in the city. Businesses were paid up to 0 a day for the inconvenience, but Canacope has said the sums are too small to properly compensate them. There have already been a couple of controversies around the Mexico shoot. The film’s crew were accused of antisocial behaviour on the flight to the country, including smoking cigarettes, vomiting and urinating in the aisles, and tampering with the cabin doors – producers Eon said they were investigating the claims and couldn’t yet comment on them. There was also the suggestion that Mexico threatened to pull its incentives for filming unless certain script demands were met, but Wilson denied the country had a say in the creative direction of the film. The Spectre production was offered m in tax incentives to film in the country, and the film features a ‘ Bond girl’ role for Mexican actor Stephanie Sigman.
The long awaited quasi-final chapter in the Harry Potter film franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is finally in theaters. While the film is sure to take in enormous box office dollars this weekend, Deathly Hallows also managed to secure million in midnight release money. Despite the dedication of all those muggles who braved the long lines, and late hours, the million wasn’t enough to steal the midnight box office release record from the other young-adult fantasy book series-turned film franchise, Twilight. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse previously racked up million in midnight release money – and went on to gross over 0 million domestically. However, Potter fanatics do have reason to smile, the film’s .4 million in midnight IMAX tickets did eclipse the previous record holder, pun intended. The previous midnight IMAX record was million – held by, that’s right, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 should also have little problem burying Eclipse for the long haul – as The Twilight Saga, while certainly a phenomenon, still has significantly less appeal internationally. The prior Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince scored around 0 million domestically – racking up another 2 million internationally for a total take just under billion. By comparison, Twilight: Eclipse also made around 0 million domestically – but only added 0 million from international audiences for a total run around 0 million. Eclipse made less money than its predecessor, New Moon (which scored a 9 million total haul) but don’t mistake that for an indication that Twilight is losing steam – the Harry Potter films have seen similar fluctuations from movie to movie. It’ll still be interesting to see if Potter fans can secure other box office records with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 –.
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