Box Office Weekend – ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Slightly Underperforms Domestically, But Soars Overseas
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald‘s domestic box office opening comes in a tad short of expectations, and while it’s nothing to shake a wand at, Warner Bros. may want to consider course-correction for their Harry Potter prequel film series. It’s not quite alone in having a smaller opening weekend than projected, as fellow new releases Instant Family and Widows also made a little less than projected.
Warner Bros. were originally hoping for an opening of $65M or better for the second of five planned Fantastic Beasts movies, but they’ll have to settle with $62M instead. Poor reviews are likely to blame here over word-of-mouth, as audiences generally liked the film with a “B+” CinemaScore (although that’s two notches below the original film’s “A”, and movies that have a score below an “A-” may have issues with their overall legs at the box office). The movie ought to get a boost out of Thanksgiving weekend and the holiday season ahead, even in the face of competition like Ralph Breaks the Internet. Still, Warner Bros. will probably need to ask a few questions about whether the story they’re telling really needs three more movies to complete or if they’d be better off wrapping it up in two (the series was originally proposed as a trilogy, so there’d be no shame in cutting the franchise down by one planned installment). Overseas grosses paint a rosier picture for The Crimes of Grindelwald with a $253.2M take counting the domestic cume – a global box office opening that’s 2.7% better than the original Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. That’s not a huge increase, but it does indicate that interest in the expanded Harry Potter universe is something that’s still there as long as future installments hold. (Protip to WB: the next movies probably needs a lot more of Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore, and a little less of trying to connect everything back to the main Harry Potter narrative.)
Speaking of overseas grosses, Venom has done absolutely insane numbers in China, with its total past $200M. That’s almost on par with how Avengers: Age of Ultron did in the Middle Kingdom. By the time it finishes its run globally, it should be pretty close to the total assembled by the likes of Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man 3 with a total above $800M. Sony ought to be thrilled with how their poorly-reviewed spin-off is doing financially, but it’s not likely going to signal the end of Spider-Man’s involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as I explained here. There’s no indication that Jared Leto’s Morbius (which is set in the same universe) is going to perform anywhere close to those kind of numbers, while the Spider-Man IP had a major turnaround with Homecoming and will likely receive a huge boost from the two Avengers movies that will release before Far From Home.
But back to the domestic side of things: neither Instant Family nor Widows were able to truly break out in spite of favorable reviews. Bad weather on the East Coast should provide an easy scapegoat for their respective studios, but both $40M+-budgeted movies would benefit with stronger starts. Regardless, November continues 2018’s streak of having record months at the box office, and Thanksgiving weekend should be the rising tide that lifts all boats. Who says that traditional moviegoing is dying in the age of streaming?
The Top Twelve box office performances for the three-day weekend can be summarized as follows (bolded titles are new releases):
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Warner Bros.) – $62.2M Total.
- The Grinch (Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment) – $38.165M Weekend/$126.544M Total; 43.5% Drop.
- Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox) – $15.7M Weekend/$127.885M Total; 49.7% Drop.
- Instant Family (Paramount Pictures) – $14.7M Total.
- Widows (20th Century Fox) – $12.3M Total.
- The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Disney) – $4.678M Weekend/$43.87M Total; 53.6% Drop.
- A Star is Born (Warner Bros.) – $4.35M Weekend/$185.84M Total; 46.3% Drop.
- Overlord (Paramount Pictures/Bad Robot) – $3.85M Weekend/$17.742M Total; 62.3% Drop.
- The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Sony Pictures) – $2.5M Weekend/$13.29M Total; 68% Drop.
- Nobody’s Fool (Paramount Pictures) – $2.26M Weekend/$28.887M Total; 65.9% Drop.
- Venom (Sony Pictures) – $1.93M Weekend/$210.031M Total; 60.7% Drop.
- Boy Erased (Universal Pictures/Focus Features) – $1.28M Weekend/$2.633M Total; 68.8% Rise.
Venom, A Star is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Grinch, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald are now playing in theaters.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
