Battle at the Box Office 11/19
Shocking no one, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald took the top spot at the box office over the weekend but it was the lowest opening ever, at least in the US, for the Harry Potter franchise.
Grindelwald took in $62.2 million for the weekend, which is down about $11 million from the first Fantastic Beasts and $15 million off from the lowest opening proper entry in the Harry Potter series. The movie did better internationally, making $191.5 million and having record openings in 18 countries and opening higher than Fantastic Beasts 1 in 43 countries. It has opened in most major markets, including China where it took in $37.5 million, down about $3 million from Fantastic Beasts 1’s Chinese opening. The only major market it hasn’t hit yet is Japan, where it arrives this coming Friday.
The Grinch dropped about 43% to second place with another $38.2 million, bringing it to over $126 million for its two weeks out. It’s going head to head with Ralph Breaks the Internet, so it could see some dramatic fall off next weekend.
Bohemian Rhapsody remained strong in third place, dropping about 50% from last weekend and making another $15.7 million, bringing it to $127.8 million domestic and a worldwide total of over $384 million.
The weekend’s other two releases did not fare well against Fantastic Beasts. Instant Family took fourth with $14.7 million, which is on the lower end of openings for both Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg and well below their respective Neighbors and Daddy’s Home movies. It was higher than late summer’s Mile 22 for Wahlberg. Widows, despite an all-star cast and rapturous reviews, took in $12.3 million. That’s way below summer’s Ocean’s 8, which made just over $40 million its opening weekend and it was even below the much sleazier Den of Thieves, which made $15 million opening weekend back in January.
Further down the list, Overlord and Girl in the Spider’s Web both took massive tumbles, both falling almost 70% from last weekend’s already low openings with Overlord just edging out Girl with $3.8 million to $2.5 million. In tenth place on 621 screens, the special concert event Burn the Stage: The Movie, a performance by the Korean boy band sensation, took in $2.4 million and broke One Direction’s record for special event cinema admissions with 1.4 million around the world.
The Per Theater average went to At Eternity’s Gate, a film about Vincent Van Gogh starring Willem Dafoe that made $23,000 on each of the four screens it debuted on.