It’s unusual for a new movie to be released on a Monday, but the decision to put Spectre, the latest James Bond film, into UK cinemas at the start of the week seems to be paying off.

Deadline has reported that Spectre has beaten the first day total of the previous Bond movie–2012’s Skyfall–and set new records for a first day gross in the UK. The film made £6.3 million on Tuesday 27 October, the first full day of screenings, trumping Skyfall‘s £6.2 million. Skyfall remains the most successful film ever released in the UK, and the first to gross over £100 million.

The Monday release was timed to coincide with the start of the school half term, when a maximum number of family audiences would be able to watch the film throughout the week.

In an interview to promote Spectre this week, star Daniel Craig spoke about how he felt now that the film was finally being released. “I love making these films, and as I always say, it’s a massive collaborative process,” he said, via Den of Geek. “It’s nice to have a day like today when the whole team’s here, and we look at each other and go, ‘Well done, everybody. We got to this point.’ The rest of it’s just hard work. But the best things are.”

Craig also addressed the issue of returning as 007 for a fifth movie, something which has been much discussed over the past few weeks. “I don’t know, really,” he admitted. “In spite of what’s been written in the press, it’s what I always say: I have the right to change my mind any time I want to. Sometimes I say things, like I did to the press when I was asked two days after I’d just finished shooting for eight months, ‘Would I do another one?’. I said what was on my mind. That’s the way I’ve always spoken.

“But as I said, I reserve the right to change my mind.”

Spectre will be released in the US on November 6, 2015. It co-stars Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw,