British actor Daniel Craig and his partner Satsuki Mitchell arrive for the German premiere of the latest James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" in Berlin, November 3. - Xinhua/Reuters

The latest James Bond film "Quantum Of Solace" opened this weekend at the top of box office in North America with an estimated US$70 million over the three-day period, a record for the globally popular spy series, according to preliminary figures released yesterday.

The 22nd film about Agent 007 of British's MI5 secret service, jointly produced by Sony and MGM, had the highest-grossing opening for a James Bond movie ever in the United States and Canada, with a take that is 73 percent larger than its predecessor "Casino Royale," which opened two years ago.

Previous record-holder for best Bond opening in North America was "Die Another Day," which opened with US$47 million.

The film's performance in North America extended its dominance at the worldwide box office, as it opened overseas in advanced and had earned more than US$250 million in foreign markets in last two weeks.

DreamWorks Animation's cartoon sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" had a minimal drop in attendance in its second week, slipping to No. 2 with US$36.1 million. The animal comedy has so far grossed 118 million dollars in North America. Universal's comedy "Role Models" was in third place this week with an estimated US$11.7 million, followed by Disney's "High School Musical 3" and Angelina Jolie-starred "Changeling" with US$5.9 million and US$4.2 million respectively.

Meanwhile, "Quantum of Solace" continued to dominate overseas box office this weekend, with a collective take of US$56.1 million in 67 markets, lifting its worldwide total to US$322 million.

The film also contributed to a jump in Hollywood's domestic revenues this weekend, as top-selling 12 films took in US$142.9 million, 54 percent bigger than the same weekend last year.