James Bond’s latest outing, Quantum of Solace, will need to take more than £13 million this weekend in Britain if it is to stand a chance of becoming the top-grossing Bond movie.

The Daniel Craig film, which takes its title from an Ian Fleming short story, is being released in Britain first. Sony Pictures, its distributor, will be looking closely at the UK figures as an indicator for its performance globally.

James Bond’s appeal in his home country is a key element in the series’ global box-office receipts. Casino Royale, the record holder, took $594 million (£374.5 million) worldwide, with £55 million coming from Britons.

Quantum of Solace’s plot follows on immediately from where Casino Royale ends, and Sony will be hoping for a similar box-office performance too. The Hollywood studio’s first indicator will be the opening weekend in the UK, where it will be compared with the £13.4 million achieved by Craig’s first Bond film.

The world premiere of the film will be in Leicester Square on Wednesday, before its general release in Britain two days later. Reviews for the film have been mixed, but that is unlikely to affect cinemagoers — blockbuster movies are largely critic-proof.

It will be the 23rd Bond movie, since Dr No was released in 1963, and the franchise as a whole is estimated to have generated $1.4 billion in the United States according to data collected by BoxOfficeMojo. Dr No took just short of $60 million worldwide.

The highest grossing Bonds have been the past five released, although the switch from Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig resulted in a significant step up. Casino Royale took 38 per cent more than Die Another Day.

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts