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 It confirms Warner Bros.' high hopes for the property and its
decision to back five installments in the fantasy series.
"Fantastic Beasts" is a spinoff of the Harry Potter films, but
instead of Hogwarts, it unfolds in 1920s New York City and
features an entirely new cast of wizards and mythical creatures.
The studio spent $180 million to make the picture, enlisting
Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling to write the screenplay and
bringing back David Yates, the director of several previous boy
wizard outings. Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander, a
textbook writer and collector of the titular beasts.
"This is dead on what we were looking for," said Jeff Goldstein,
president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. "Jo Rowling
brilliantly told a story that inspired her fanbase to come out
in a big way."
It was a softer opening than any of the previous Potter films,
but Warner Bros. argues that comparisons aren't fair. Those
movies were based on global best-sellers, whereas "Fantastic
Beasts" is largely an original work.
"It's not the same," said Goldstein. "It's apples and kumquats."
Audiences may have embraced the return to Potter-dom, but they
gave the cold shoulder to several new films, among them the
boxing drama "Bleed for This" and the Iraq War drama "Billy
Lynn's Long Halftime Walk." Both pictures bombed, with "Bleed
for This" eking out $2.4 million and "Billy Lynn's" mustering
$930,000 after expanding from four to 1,176 theaters. It has
earned $1.1 million since opening in limited release a week ago,
a disastrous result for a film that was expected to be a major
Oscar contender.
Open Road is distributing "Bleed for This," which chronicles
Vinny Pazienza's efforts to get back into the ring after a car
accident. It has a $6 million budget, which cushions the box
office blow.
Sony is backing "Billy Lynn's" along with Bona Film Group,
Film4, and Studio 8. The $40 million is a technological gamble.
Ang Lee shot the picture so it could be exhibited at 120 frames
per second in 3D at 4K HD resolution in order to achieve greater
clarity and realism. Critics have been divided about the look of
the picture, with some faulting it for looking too much like a
telenovela. It's something of a moot point, as only a handful of
theaters have the ability to exhibit the film at the higher
speeds.
STX's "Edge of Seventeen" didn't fare much better than the other
struggling new releases. The teen dramedy with Hailee Steinfeld
only managed to pull in $4.8 million for a seventh place finish.
Heading into the weekend, it was expected to gross $10 million.
The film is one of the year's best-reviewed comedies. It centers
on a high school girl grappling with the fact that her best
friend is dating her brother. "Edge of Seventeen" cost $9
million to make, and was positioned as counter-programming for
women between the ages of 17 and 39.
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"I wish to god it had started better," said Adam Fogelson, STX
Entertainment Motion Picture Group chairman. "We hope that the love
the critics have shown for it, and that audiences have for it, leads
to it being seen now and going forward."
The failures of "Edge of Seventeen," "Bleed for This," and "Billy
Lynn's" are signs of the difficulties that adult dramas and comedies
face when they compete against big franchise films.
"A lot of these great little films are going the way of Netflix,"
said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. "The audience
is not there anymore and they're withering on the vine."
Second place went to Marvel's "Doctor Strange," which brought in
$17.5 million to push its domestic gross to $181.5 million after
three weeks in theaters. DreamWorks Animation's "Trolls" took third,
earning $17.5 million to bring its haul to $116.2 million.
Paramount's "Arrival," a science-fiction thriller with Amy Adams,
nabbed fourth place, picking up $11.8 million to bring its stateside
gross to $43.4 million. Universal's "Almost Christmas" rounded out
the top five, picking up $7 million to push its domestic total to
$25.4 million.
In limited release, "Manchester by the Sea" capitalized on glowing
reviews and Oscar heat to open to $241,230 with a robust $60,308
per-screen average. Amazon bought the film out of Sundance for $10
million and is releasing it in conjunction with Roadside
Attractions. Casey Affleck stars as a janitor trying to come to
terms with a personal tragedy.
Focus Features also debuted "Nocturnal Animals," Tom Ford's noir-ish
thriller, in 37 theaters where it made $493,000.
Weekend ticket sales were down more than 10% year-over-year, owing
to a difficult comparison to "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part
2," which opened to $102.7 million during the same period in 2015.
Many analysts expect a rebound. Next week brings the Thanksgiving
holiday, which is traditionally one of the busiest periods for
movie-going, and Disney is debuting "Moana."
"We can handle one down weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior
media analyst at comScore. "Next week could be one of the biggest
Thanksgivings ever."
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