The World Is Not Enough has already scooped $300m worldwide and now lies just $40m away from becoming the most successful Bond film ever at the global box office. Just two months after its debut in Singapore and Malaysia - a day before its release in the US - Bond 19 is the eighth film to cross $300m in the last 12 months.

Its latest opening in Italy scored $1.9m over the weekend (Jan 14-16) fuelled by a whitewash of publicity including a premiere in Rome attended by Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta (who plays the cigar girl) and Sophie Marceau. The World Is Not Enough almost doubled the box office opening of the Italian comedy Io Amo Andrea starring the well-known talent of Francesco Nuti and Francesca Neri. It continues the track record of being the highest Bond opening ever similar to other major territories including North America and the UK.

The most successful international territory to-date is unsurprisingly the UK/Ireland where the formula has turned in $44.8m and counting. Still at number four in the weekend chart after two months, The World Is Not Enough is expected to challenge the third highest grossing film of last year A Bug's Life which tallies $48m.

German audiences have found more favour with the latest in the spy thriller series attracting almost 5 million people compared to 3.4 million in neighbouring France after the same time period. However one of the most unusual but significant box office successes has been in Switzerland where the 007 has scooped a huge $7.1m since its December 1 release.

Major openings still to come are Taiwan on January 29 and in Japan on February 5.