How Bond's Billion Will Be Shared

6:00 AM PST 11/13/2012 by Stephen Galloway

MGM, the Broccoli family and Sony each have fingers in the pie as the extraordinary worldwide grosses come just in time for a flashy IPO.

The numbers have left Hollywood shaken and a little bit stirred. Skyfall, the 23rd installment of the 50-year-old James Bond franchise, has become a global phenomenon. Its opening-weekend haul in the U.S. was $88.4 million -- almost $21 million more than the last Bond, 2008's Quantum of Solace. Even adjusting for inflation, that's a big leap. (Quantum's $67.5 million would be $72.5 million in today's dollars.) And overseas, the numbers are even more impressive, with $427.8 million in grosses outside the U.S. as of Nov. 11. Many Hollywood observers now believe the Sam Mendes-directed picture could be the first Bond to pass the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.