SATURDAY UPDATE: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald took in $43M at the international box office on Friday, casting spells in 79 markets, 24 of which were added yesterday. The Warner Bros sequel/spinoff is currently running 14% higher than Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them at the same point in play and in like-for-likes. The offshore cume through Friday is $74.3M and while there’s been an ease in domestic projections, the global running tally through yesterday is $100M.

The previous movie opened to about $180M in the comparable offshore suite with overseas the magical force for the JK Rowling-penned series. This one is projected to come in higher than its predecessor. The range industry sources had pegged ahead of the weekend was $188M-$205M.

FB2 opened on Wednesday in select markets, expanding through Friday when it apparated into China. The confirmed Middle Kingdom gross yesterday was $12.3M (RMB 86M), including sneaks, on approximately 22,545 screens. That’s a bit lower than yesterday’s flash estimate (see earlier post below), but remains the biggest opening day in China for the Wizarding World, and is 13% ahead of FB1. The flash estimate for Saturday (which is not included in the Friday overseas cume above) is $15.8M (RMB 110M).

For the Middle Kingdom three-day, Newt Scamander is expected to come in behind holdover play from a voracious Venom which is crossing $200M there tomorrow. China should land around the $40M mark for Newt & crew this session.

In other new play on Friday, the UK bowed to $4.5M (£3.5M) on 1,823 screens to capture 66% of the Top 5 films. This is WB’s biggest opening day of 2018 and, including sneaks, lifts the cume to $4.9M (£3.8M). Using the local currency as comparison, FB1 opened to £4.3M on its first Friday in 2016 making this one of the key offshore majors that’s seen a dip thus far. That’s notable given the property’s provenance, but we’ll see what Saturday and Sunday have in store. Overall, the UK and Japan have typically been the biggest offshore homes for Harry Potter, and on FB1 finaled behind China. Japan releases next weekend.

Mexico hopped on the case with $1.9M (Ps 38.8M), including sneaks, on 3,695 screens yesterday. The results are worth 72% of the Top 5 and 4% above FB1. Spain launched to $1.5M (1.3M euros) on 626 screens. That’s good for a 68% share of the Top 5 and is on par with the previous movie.

In holdover play, Germany has grossed $5.3M for 28% higher than FB1; fast-burn Russia (with a magical 84% share of the Top 5) has grossed $4.2M across two days and is tracking 34% above FB1; and Korea has lifted to $5.4M since Wednesday, roughly on par with the earlier movie.

France is above FB1 by 37% at $5.2M from Wednesday-Friday (NB: nationwide road blockages to protest rising fuel costs could impact today, however); Australia is on par at $3M; Brazil is a crazy 78% bigger than FB1 with $4.1M over two days (including a national holiday); and Italy is up 17% with $2.4M.

We’ll have a full weekend update tomorrow.

PREVIOUS FRIDAY: Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald apparated in another 45 markets yesterday and conjured $18.4M to bring the international box office cume to $31M after two days.

Playing on 24,350 screens, the David Yates-directed film is No. in 54 of the 55 markets that released Wednesday and Thursday, and is tracking ahead of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Not included in the $31M above is the first flash estimate out of China which opened today. The $12.8M (RMB 89M) tallied on 22,545 screens there makes FB2 the biggest opening day in the Wizarding World and tops FB1 by 15%. The sequel is also No. 1 for the day when including midnight sneaks.

Expected to hit a $40M-$45M range over the FSS in China, the Eddie Redmayne/Johnny Depp/Jude Law-starrer has a 7.6 rating on Douban and will battle it out with the second frame of Venom for No. 1 this weekend. Overall for the total 79 offshore markets going this weekend, pre-release projections were at $188M-$205M, with some sources expecting it even higher. In like-for-likes, the first FB movie had an opening weekend of about $180M.

Of the markets that bowed Thursday, Russia leads with $2.1M (RUR 140M) from 3,554 screens. Grindelwald is dominating the market with an 87% share of the Top 5 films. The result is the Wizarding World’s best and WB’s 2nd best ever.



Brazil debuted to an estimated $2M (Rs 7.4M) on 1,474 screens, taking 60% of the Top 5 share. This is another record for the Wizard-verse, WB’s best of 2018 and its 3rd biggest ever. Including previews, the local tally is $2.9M.



Germany opened with $1.4M (1.3M euros) on 1,461 screens, for 73% of the Top 5. Opening day results are 30% ahead of FB1. Including Wednesday’s strong sneaks, the cume through Thursday is $2.7M.



Australia was also new on Thursday with $1M (A$1.4) on 699 screens, capturing nearly 60% of the Top 5 films. The running cume including sneaks is $1.7M, which is 7% higher than FB1 and the biggest WB opening of 2018.



Italy grabbed $882K (783K euros) on 825 with a big 82% of the Top 5 and tracking on par with the opening day of the previous film. Including sneaks, the running cume is now $1.3M.

In holdover play from Wednesday, Korea and France have both grossed $3.6M to date. In the Nordics, the continuation of JK Rowling’s mythology is at a collective $2.1M.

Another 24 markets look to make magic today including China, Spain, the UK and Mexico. We’ll be updating throughout the weekend.



PREVIOUS, THURSDAY: Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is off to a magical start at the international box office. Opening in 10 markets on Wednesday, it cast a $10.1M spell on roughly 9,000 screens (including continuing sneaks in select hubs). France and Korea are the majors in that mix with scores higher than the previous David Yates-directed Harry Potter spinoff. Korea set new benchmarks for both WB and the Wizarding World.

The second Fantastic Beasts movie inspired by the fictitious textbook in JK Rowling’s mythology stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston and Ezra Miller. It also expands Johnny Depp’s Gellert Grindelwald villain role while adding Jude Law as a young Albus Dumbledore. Rowling wrote the screenplay and produces with David Heyman, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.

Pre-release projections for the total 79 offshore markets going this weekend are at $188M-$205M, with some sources calling it even higher. In like-for-likes, the first FB movie had an opening weekend of about $180M.

France debuted Wednesday to $2.6M (2.3M euros) with 322K admissions on 903 screens, including sneaks from Tuesday night. FB2 has a dominant 64% of the Top 5 films in the market, and came in 54% ahead of the debut of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. France was the No. 6 market on FB1, and the world premiere for Grindelwald was held in Paris on Nov. 8 as part of the movie takes place there.

Korea opened to $2M (KRW 2.3B) on 1,560 screens to score the highest day one launch for the entire Wizarding World, exceeding FB1 by 15%. The result is also WB’s biggest opening day in 2018.

Holland bowed to $619K (550K euros) on 266 screens with a 71% share of the Top 5 films, coming in 67% ahead of FB1. This is the biggest opening day of the year in the market.

Indonesia is also a No. 1 launch with 78% of the Top 5. This is also the best score for the Wizarding World and topped FB1 by 31% at $560K (IDR 8B) from 919.

Previews and openings in the Nordics took in a collective $1.4M for the day, which is 48% ahead of FB1.

There were also some notable No. 1s in limited previews from Wednesday in Germany ($1.2M) and Australia ($622K). In the latter, the sneaks began at just 6:30PM.

There are another 45 markets getting their Newt Scamander fix today, including Germany, Italy, Russia, Brazil and Australia. Friday adds 24 more, including the UK, Spain, China and Mexico. We’ll continue updating throughout the coming days.