Bond opening 'breaks UK records'

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The new Bond film has broken box office records on its opening day in the UK taking £4.9m, says studio Sony.

Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig, smashed the previous record for a Friday opening of £4.025m, held by Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Princes William and Harry attended the film's world premiere in London on Wednesday ahead of its general release.

Opening day numbers also surpassed the 2006 Bond film, Casino Royale, which took £2.9m on its first day of release.

However, Casino Royale, which marked Craig's debut in the Bond role, won almost unanimous acclaim among critics and fans alike.

It went on to becomes the most popular film overall in the UK in 2006, taking more than £50m at the British box office.

Mixed reviews

By contrast, reviews for Quantum of Solace - which sees Bond seeking revenge for his murdered lover Vesper Lynd - have been mixed.

"See it for Craig's fully-formed Bond: angry, icily unsentimental, and fleetingly borderline psychotic at the close," wrote Mark Monahan in the Daily Telegraph.

Olga Kurylenko plays Bond's sidekick Camille

But he added: "The expository dialogue scenes can be dull, and cram in so many machinations and double-crossings that it's easy to lose track of who's duping whom."

James Christopher in the Times called it "an intriguing watch". "Really, nobody does it better than the new 007," he wrote.

But Anthony Quinn, writing in the Independent, commented: "There's nothing so fatiguing as a movie that won't stop trying to excite you the whole time.

"We all know what it is to be bored to death, but have you ever been entertained to death?"

The film, Bond's 22nd outing, is directed by The Kite Runner's Marc Foster.