“Skyfall” set the record for the biggest U.K. weekend box office takings of any James Bond film, its producers said on Monday.

The 23rd official cinematic adventure of the suave*, but brutal 007, earned 20.1 million pounds (US$32.36 million) after opening last Friday at 587 cinemas across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“We are absolutely overwhelmed* with the reaction to ‘Skyfall’ this weekend,” producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement. “It is particularly thrilling as the U.K. is home to James Bond and it being the 50th anniversary year.”

The film brings together Daniel Craig on his third outing on Her Majesty’s secret service with British director Sam Mendes making his franchise debut.

The plot also puts veteran actress Judi Dench, 77, at the heart of the action as Bond’s boss M, and introduces Spanish Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as a flamboyant* villain complete with dyed blond hair.

Marking 50 years after the first Bond film “Dr. No” premiered in London in 1962, “Skyfall” has been hailed by the critics as a triumphant return to form after 2008’s tepidly* received “Quantum of Solace.”(SD-Agencies)