'Fantastic Beasts 2' Disappoints In The U.S. But Is Magical Overseas In Its Box Office Debut

As expected, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” easily topped the box office chart this weekend. However, as expected, the film did so while simultaneously posting the worst domestic opening for a Wizarding World film (which includes the hugely popular ‘Harry Potter’ franchise). So, while the news is good for Warner Bros., there is a slight cause for alarm.

It’s rare that a film can debut with a $62.2 million domestic box office total and be deemed a bit of a disappointment. But that’s exactly the magical land that ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ finds itself in. For perspective, let’s take a look at how ‘Grindelwald’ fared against other ‘Harry Potter’ debuts. The previous ‘Fantastic Beasts’ film (a spin-off/prequel to the previous 8 ‘Potter’ films) had a domestic opening of just over $74 million, which fell $3 million below the worst ‘Potter debuts (‘Half-Blood Prince’ and ‘Order of the Phoenix’ both debuted with $77 million). However, when you take into consideration that those films 9 and 11 years old, respectively, those totals are vastly superior to these spin-offs.

However, comparing ‘FB2’ to the original ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is a much more apt example. ‘Grindelwald’ not only debuted $12 million under the first film, but also found it’s CinemaScore and critical reception suffer as well. ‘Fantastic Beasts’ earned an A CinemaScore, while the sequel dropped to a B+, which shows that fans are starting to lose interest, ever so slightly. The critical reception has been even more startling, with the sequel posting a staggering 40% (Rotten) RottenTomatoes score, while the first film enjoyed a 74%.

Luckily for WB, it appears that international interest is at an all-time high for the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ sequel. Earning $191 million overseas, the global total for ‘FB2’ currently sits at $253 million, which tops the first film’s worldwide opening of $220 million. So, while the North American interest in the franchise seems to be waning, ‘Grindelwald’ should have no problem turning a profit (the film reportedly carries a $200 million price tag) thanks to its strong global appeal.

There were two other major debuts this weekend, both fighting for the #4 weekend position. Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne combine forces in the new comedy “Instant Family,” which finished at #4 with an estimated total of $14.7 million in its opening weekend. This isn’t a strong three-day total for the $48 million-budgeted comedy. With the amount of competition, especially with strong holds from “The Grinch” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Paramount is probably wishing they would have held this comedy a little while longer. Families (which are the people that the studio was hoping to attract to this PG-13 comedy about adoption) are just presented with too many choices at the multiplex, and there’s not much that Wahlberg and Byrne can do to compete with the aforementioned competition.

Attempting to play as “counter-programming” this weekend is Steve McQueen’s awards-contending thriller “Widows.” While family-fare is dominating the top of the charts, “Widows” debuted at #5 with a soft $12.3 million this weekend. Much like “Instant Family,” the budget for “Widows” (a reported $42 million) is such that a low debut like this means that the adult-thriller has an incredibly steep uphill battle for profitability. Sadly, despite the all-star cast, an Oscar-nominated director, a superstar writer (Gillian Flynn), and strong critical buzz (91% on RT), “Widows” just failed to impress at the box office. With the competition only heating up in the coming weeks, “Widows” looks to follow in the footsteps of “First Man” as an awards contender that disappoints during its theatrical run.

As alluded to before, “The Grinch” only dropped -44% this weekend to land at #2 with $38 million and a domestic total of $126.5 million after 10 days. However, as impressive as that is, the Christmas film is going to need help braving the coming onslaught of “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” arriving in theaters on Thanksgiving.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is also enjoying another strong weekend, with a #3 showing and a $15.7 million domestic total. The Freddie Mercury biopic now sits at $128 million domestically after its third weekend. The same can’t be said about “Overlord” and “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.” The J.J. Abrams-produced WWII horror film dropped -62% in its second weekend to land at #8 and $3.85 million ($17.7 million domestic total). However, that terrible drop is overshadowed by the freefall experienced by “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.” In its second weekend, the film dropped -68% for a weekend total of $2.5 million and a #9 showing. That brings the thriller to only $13 million after 10 days. Not good, at all.

As for the limited releases, “Green Book” debuted in 25 theaters and earned a ‘meh’ $12,480 average. For a film that’s been heavily marketed and some say a clear Oscar Best Picture contender, Universal would have probably hoped for a much larger per-theater-average. We’ll just have to see what happens as the film expands next weekend. Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate” fared a little better with a per-theater-average of $23,000 in only 4 locations. However, the Vincent Van Gogh biopic is considerably less-hyped than “Green Book” and is not thought to be the major contender that the other film is. So, this is a respectable opening.

Next weekend is a little different, with the Thanksgiving holiday greatly affecting the films. That being said, “Green Book” expands to over 1,000 screens, but is going up against a murderer’s row of films debuting such as “Ralph Breaks the Internet” (expected to easily win the long weekend), “Creed II,” and “Robin Hood” all hitting theaters. And in limited release, we see the minor expansion of “The Front Runner” and the debut of “The Favourite.”

Here’s the entire top 10 for November 16 to November 18:
1. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — $62.2M (Debut)
2. The Grinch — $38M ($126.5M Overall)
3. Bohemian Rhapsody — $15.7M ($127.8M)
4. Instant Family — $14.7M (Debut)
5. Widows — $12.3M (Debut)
6. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms — $4.7M ($44M)
7. A Star is Born — $4.35M ($186M)
8. Overlord — $3.85M ($17.7M)
9. The Girl in the Spider’s Web — $2.5M ($13M)
10. Nobody’s Fool — $2.3M ($29M)