Fantastic Beasts’ $75 million bow was less than that of any of the Potter films, which is telling since Beasts’ totals were aided by ticket price inflation and a 3D bump. More troubling perhaps was the demographic shift from the Potter films where, even for the last entries in the series (in 2010 & 2011), only 55% of the audience was over 25, compared with 65% for Fantastic Beasts. Only 18% of opening weekend audiences for Fantastic Beasts were under 18, and 45% was over the age of 35, which means that a solid 37% was between 18 and 35, signaling the emergence of “older Harry Potter fans,” who got hooked fairly early on the saga of “the boy who lived,” which debuted in 1997 with the release of the first of the Potter novels, and emerged in the early years of this century as a worldwide YA phenomenon.
The good news for Warner Bros. is that opening weekend audiences, which skewed female (55%) gave Fantastic Beasts a solid “A” CinemaScore, which should provide the film with some legs here in North America—and, even more importantly, the $180 million production is doing better overseas where it opened with a smashing $143 million, giving the film a debut of $218.3 million. Fantastic Beasts is yet to open in China, but appears to operating more on a par with the Potter films overseas.
Fantastic Beasts definitely damaged the box office of Marvel Studio’s Doctor Strange, which tumbled 58.9% and landed in a virtual tie for second place with Dreamworks’ animated feature Trolls. Doctor Strange earned an estimated $17.7 million to bring its domestic total to $181.5 million, and brought in $26 million more overseas to drive its worldwide total to $571.5 million, making it currently the ninth biggest release of 2016 so far.
With no new direct competition, Trolls slipped just 50% as it earned an estimated $17.5 million and crossed the $100 million mark, the 22nd film of 2016 to surpass $100 million. Trolls will likely take it on the chin next weekend when Disney’s heavily-hyped animated feature Moana debuts.
Denis Villeneuve’s cerebral science fiction thriller The Arrival dropped 51% in its second weekend, finishing with $11.8 million for a North American total of $43.4 million, while the ensemble comedy Almost Christmas slipped 53.5% to $7 million. Mel Gibson’s bloody war drama Hacksaw Ridge suffered the smallest decline in the top ten (36.5%), but the movie, now in its third weekend, earned just $6.8 million for a domestic total of $42.9 million.
The R-rated teen drama, The Edge of Seventeen, had the best critical notices of any new film (95% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), but it largely failed to find an audience, debuting in seventh place with $4.8 million. The film did attract its target demographic—the audience was 70% female 75% between the ages of 17 and 34—just not enough of them, though they did give the film an “A-“ CinemaScore, which does provide some hope that it can remain in theaters during the busy holiday season.
The boxing drama, Bleed for This, which stars the youthful Miles Teller, proved to be even more of a bomb, debuting with just $2.5 million from almost 1,500 theaters (a pitiful $1,522 average). Boxing films have often been among the most consistent box office performers (and artistically promising) sports films, but it appears that, like the western, the boxing movie (unless it has some connection to the Rocky franchise) is quickly becoming an endangered species.
Several awards-targeting “adult” films debuted this weekend. The downbeat Manchester By the Sea, which stars Casey Affleck did well as it opened in just 4 theaters, while Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals opened in 37 venues and did just OK (averaging $13,351). Meanwhile Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk expanded to 1,176 theaters and promptly bombed, averaging just $791 per venue.
Since next week includes Thanksgiving, a trio of movies including Disney’s Moana, the romantic World War II thriller Allied starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cottilard, and the Warren Beatty-starring comedy drama Rules Don’t Apply will debut on Wednesday.