‘Fantastic Beasts’ flies to top of weekend box office


November 18, 2018 at 4:42p.m.

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” 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.

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 $74 million in a similar November release and went on to earn $234 million in the U.S. 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 $191 million internationally for a total of $253 million, according to the studio’s estimates.

Last week’s top film, “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch,” 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.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” 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.

“Fantastic Beasts,” 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 lackluster, with critics saying Rowling’s magical world is wearing thin after 10 films.

Overall, the weekend was down 14.5 percent in the U.S. and Canada from the same timeframe a year earlier, when “Justice League” made for a major pre-Thanksgiving weekend.

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

  1. “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” $62.2 million ($191 million international).

  2. “Dr Seuss’ The Grinch,” $38.1 million ($9.4 million international).

  3. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” $15.7 million ($45.5 million international).

  4. “Instant Family,” $14.7 million.

  5. “Widows,” $12.3 million ($2.8 million international).

  6. “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” $4.7 million ($6.7 million international).

  7. “A Star Is Born,” $4.3 million ($5.5 million international).

  8. “Overlord,” $3.8 million ($2.6 million international).

  9. “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” $2.5 million ($2.8 million international).

  10. “Burn The Stage: The Movie,” $2.3 million ($5.2 million international).