{"id":190220,"date":"2018-11-18T21:27:32","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T02:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=190220"},"modified":"2018-11-18T21:27:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T02:27:32","slug":"fantastic-beasts-flies-to-top-of-weekend-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/11\/18\/fantastic-beasts-flies-to-top-of-weekend-box-office\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fantastic Beasts’ flies to top of weekend box office"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cFantastic Beasts,\u201d the second film in the series of Potter prequels written by J.K. Rowling and starring Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp and Jude Law, had a budget of $200 million. Its reviews were largely lacklustre, with critics saying Rowling’s magical world is wearing thin after 10 films. (File Photo<\/a>: @fantasticbeastsmovie\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 \u201cFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald\u201d crawled, slithered and flew its way to the top of the weekend box office with a $62.2 million opening in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday.<\/p>\n

The latest offering from the Harry Potter multiverse fell short of the opening of the first film in the Warner Bros. series, 2016’s \u201cFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,\u201d which debuted with $74 million in a similar November release and went on to earn $234 million in the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n

But all the Harry Potter films have had a broad international reach, and \u201cFantastic Beasts\u201d had a hearty worldwide weekend gross, bringing in $191 million internationally for a total of $253 million, according to the studio’s estimates.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly it’s a huge phenomenon globally,\u201d said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

Last week’s top film, \u201cDr. Seuss’ The Grinch,\u201d was second with $38.1 million, bringing its domestic tally to $126 million for Universal Pictures after two weekends. It took in $9.4 million more internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cBohemian Rhapsody,\u201d 20th Century Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic, is still rocking, taking third place with $15.7 million for a total of $127 million. It remains a global hit, bringing in an additional $45.5 million internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cFantastic Beasts,\u201d the second film in the series of Potter prequels written by J.K. Rowling and starring Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp and Jude Law, had a budget of $200 million. Its reviews were largely lacklustre, with critics saying Rowling’s magical world is wearing thin after 10 films.<\/p>\n

Globally the first nine films have earned $8.5 billion, a total that this one’s worldwide take will inflate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is yet another example of a movie whose opening weekend skewed heavily into the international territories,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. \u201cThis happens a lot with bigger franchise movies. For many of these blockbusters, it’s the international component that comes in and saves the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the U.S., Warner Bros. is hoping young devotees who are out of school will keep \u201cFantastic Beasts\u201d in flight through Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a big week coming up,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cFriday is one of the biggest movie days of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will have a major challenger in Disney’s \u201cRalph Breaks The Internet,\u201d which opens Wednesday, as does \u201cCreed II.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFantastic Beasts\u201d continues a year of high points and hits for Warner from a diverse string of movies, including \u201cThe Meg,\u201d \u201cCrazy Rich Asians,\u201d \u201cThe Nun\u201d and \u201cA Star is Born.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWarner Bros. is on a roll that every studio would envy,\u201d Dergarabedian said.<\/p>\n

In this weekend’s smaller-budget openings, \u201cInstant Family\u201d starring Mark Wahlberg brought in $14.7 million for Paramount Pictures, and \u201cWidows,\u201d the latest from \u201c12 Years a Slave\u201d director Steve McQueen, earned $12.3 million domestically and $2.8 million internationally for 20th Century Fox. \u201cInstant Family\u201d has only opened in North America.<\/p>\n

Overall, the weekend was down 14.5 per cent in the U.S. and Canada from the same timeframe a year earlier, when \u201cJustice League\u201d made for a major pre-Thanksgiving weekend.<\/p>\n

Here are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,\u201d $62.2 million ($191 million international).<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cDr Seuss’ The Grinch,\u201d $38.1 million ($9.4 million international).<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cBohemian Rhapsody,\u201d $15.7 million ($45.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cInstant Family,\u201d $14.7 million.<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cWidows,\u201d $12.3 million ($2.8 million international).<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cThe Nutcracker and the Four Realms,\u201d $4.7 million ($6.7 million international).<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cA Star Is Born,\u201d $4.3 million ($5.5 million international).<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cOverlord,\u201d $3.8 million ($2.6 million international).<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cThe Girl in the Spider’s Web,\u201d $2.5 million ($2.8 million international).<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cBurn The Stage: The Movie,\u201d $2.3 million ($5.2 million international).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

    Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cFantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald,\u201d $191 million.<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cVenom,\u201d $55 million.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cBohemian Rhapsody,\u201d $45.5 million.<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cDr Seuss’ The Grinch,\u201d $9.4 million.<\/li>\n
    5. \u201cA Cool Fish,\u201d $8.1 million.<\/li>\n
    6. \u201cThe Nutcracker and the Four Realms,\u201d $6.7 million.<\/li>\n
    7. \u201cA Star Is Born,\u201d $5.5 million.<\/li>\n
    8. \u201cBurn The Stage: The Movie,\u201d $5.2 million.<\/li>\n
    9. \u201cIntimate Strangers,\u201d $4.6 million.<\/li>\n
    10. \u201cDetective Conan: Zero the Enforcer,\u201d $2.8 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      LOS ANGELES \u2014 \u201cFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald\u201d crawled, slithered and flew its way to the top of the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":190222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-andrew-dalton","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}