The figures are in and it seems Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald, the magical sequel from Warner Bros. and director David Yates, is about to post solid, if unremarkable, numbers at the domestic box office next month.
Per Deadline, the fantastical adventure is said to be tracking for a $65M-$75M opening in North America, which is actually on par with the first Fantastic Beasts movie – itself the lowest three-day debut in Warner’s Wizarding World franchise. Which is to say that all Harry Potter films performed better during their opening weekends.
Nevertheless, excitement for The Crimes of Grindelwald is beginning to reach a fever-pitch, with wizards and muggles alike flocking to Entertainment Weekly to catch the latest high-res stills (and cast interviews!) for the November tentpole. Franchise creator J.K. Rowling has also chimed in, though today we’re more concerned with the bottom line: how much will Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald earn across its box office run?
If early projections hold true, then the second Fantastic Beasts movie will perform just fine, kicking things off with a $65M-plus debut on November 16th. The only real competition of note is Steve McQueen’s Widows, an ensemble heist movie, while the Mark Wahlberg-Rose Byrne starring Instant Family is also due out on the same day. Both movies are looking at the $10M-$16M range, indicating that Fantastic Beasts will dominate the weekend sales figures as expected.
Will it have the necessary mileage to surpass the first film’s global haul of $814 million? That’s the biggest question currently lingering over the Warner Bros. lot.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald opens Stateside on November 16th, and with another three movies coming down the pipeline – most of which will feature Johnny Depp’s brooding dark wizard – there’s still much more story to be told.