Friday, December 13, 2024

Box Office Update: “Fantastic Beasts” Fantastic $75 Mil, Soars Over $200 Mil Worldwide

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Warner Bros. can breathe a sigh of relief.  Where to find “Fantastic Beasts” ?” All over the world. The new Harry Potter movie (number 1 of five prequels) has pocketed $218 million worldwide in one weekend. The US take is $75 million. And off we go! Eddie Redmayne is now very, very, very rich, and the rest of the cast is sitting pretty. Warners has a new franchise that will last them more than a decade.

Two potential Oscar nominees– “Manchester by the Sea” and “Nocturnal Animals”–did very well in limited openings. They’ll build as awards season begins and people become more aware of them. “Manchester” in particular is a possible Best Picture winner. “Bleed for This” also had a very good opening.

On the losing side, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” has walked right off a plank for Sony. Add that to “Inferno” and a serious situation bubbles up. Recently the Hollywood trades revved up stories criticizing Tom Rothman, head of the studio. Executives and filmmakers are talking openly about him in unpleasant ways. This is highly unusual. Things are getting rough over there. “Billy Lynn” is just a mess.

As I noted yesterday, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” proved all too true. It’s RIP at less than $60 million. Paramount can just amortize it into “Mission Impossible” and no one will be the wiser.

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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