The latest offering from the Harry Potter multiverse fell short of the opening of the first film in the Warner Bros. series, 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” which debuted with US$74 million in a similar November release and went on to earn US$234 million in the US and Canada.
But all the Harry Potter films have had a broad international reach, and “Fantastic Beasts” had a hearty worldwide weekend gross, bringing in US$191 million internationally for a total of US$253 million, according to the studio’s estimates.
“Clearly it’s a huge phenomenon globally,” said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros.
Last week’s top film, “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch,” was second with US$38.1 million, bringing its domestic tally to US$126 million for Universal Pictures after two weekends. It took in US$9.4 million more internationally.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” 20th Century Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic, is still rocking, taking third place with US$15.7 million for a total of US$127 million.
It remains a global hit, bringing in an additional US$45.5 million internationally.
“Fantastic Beasts,” the second film in the series of Potter prequels written by JK Rowling and starring Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp and Jude Law, had a budget of US$200 million.
Its reviews were largely lacklustre, with critics saying Rowling’s magical world is wearing thin after 10 films.
Globally the first nine films have earned US$8.5 billion, a total that this one’s worldwide take will inflate.
“This is yet another example of a movie whose opening weekend skewed heavily into the international territories,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “This happens a lot with bigger franchise movies. For many of these blockbusters, it’s the international component that comes in and saves the day.”
In the US, Warner Bros. is hoping young devotees who are out of school will keep “Fantastic Beasts” in flight through Thanksgiving.
“It’s a big week coming up,” Goldstein said. “Friday is one of the biggest movie days of the year.”
It will have a major challenger in Disney’s “Ralph Breaks The Internet,” which opens Wednesday, as does “Creed II.”
“Fantastic Beasts” continues a year of high points and hits for Warner from a diverse string of movies, including “The Meg,” ”Crazy Rich Asians,” ”The Nun” and “A Star is Born.”
“Warner Bros. is on a roll that every studio would envy,” Dergarabedian said.
In this weekend’s smaller-budget openings, “Instant Family” starring Mark Wahlberg brought in US$14.7 million for Paramount Pictures, and “Widows,” the latest from “12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen, earned US$12.3 million domestically and US$2.8 million internationally for 20th Century Fox. “Instant Family” has only opened in North America.
Overall, the weekend was down 14.5% in the US and Canada from the same timeframe a year earlier, when “Justice League” made for a major pre-Thanksgiving weekend.