'Crimes Of Grindelwald' Falls Short Stateside With $62M Debut, Celebrates Overseas Win As 'Fantastic Beasts' Series Hits $1 Billion-Plus
Warner Bros. is celebrating the overseas win for J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and the Crimes of Grindelwald after the movie came in lower than expected in U.S./Canada with a studio-reported $62.2M after a $21.5M Saturday that was down -16% from Friday's (+previews) $25.7M. Overseas took in $191M for a $253M global debut. This easily gets Fantastic Beasts franchise past the $1 billion mark (the first chapter repping over 80% of that number to date). Given the global win for Grindelwald, for Warners it's about the further extension of their Potter/Rowling universe which trickles down into the veins of consumer products and other ancillaries; what princesses are for Disney, Rowling characters are for Warner Bros. The global start for this pic is higher than FB1 which was close to $220M, with foreign repping 71% of its final $814M WW tally.
We dissected what went amiss here with the sequel in the previous update. Critics think that Rowling and David Yates threw everything and the kitchen sink in this Part 2 which runs two hours and 14 minutes, the same length as the first installment. Obviously there's not a lot of fervor from Potter fans to show up to these Beasts spinoffs in U.S./Canada and this time they took their CinemaScore down from an A to a B+, though in Screen Engine/ComScore audience exits they're not that far off going from 4 1/2 stars on Part 1 to 4 stars on Grindelwald. Demo range on the film was comprised of 54% Caucasian, 18% Hispanic, 19% Asian, & 9% African American. Kids enjoyed it more than parents 89% to 83%. Updated exits show that the crowd was 52% female with 52% over 25. Imax hubs in U.S./Canada grossed $7.5M, repping 12% of the pic's opening weekend. All together through two days, PLF, Imax and 3D accounted for 42% of Grindelwald's business. There were a number of pre-sales we hear on Thursday and Friday, but much more walk-up business on Saturday. The anticipation is that continues into today.
Paramount's Instant Family's grosses grew from Friday to what we're seeing this morning which is a $14.7M opening. Saturday spiked 29% with $5.8M over Friday which means all these glowing audience scores (A CinemaScore, 83% overall PosTrak postivie score) are in effect, impacting word of mouth. The opening versus its $48M production cost isn't spectacular, but there's hope that this film could leg out and be the fourth choice in a crowded family-product marquee over Thanksgiving. The pic played best in West where 9 of the top 10 runs came from with the Midwest & Southwest over-indexing. Based on ComScore PostTrack polling throughout the weekend, the pic's composition of General, Parents and Kids was three quarters general audiences (77%) and the rest split equally between parents and kids (12%, 11%), a balance per Paramount that's nearly identical to Daddy's Home and its sequel. CinemaScore exits on Friday night showed 65% females, 61% over 35 with close to half the audience women over 25. Demo breakdown showed 56% Caucasian, 23% Hispanic, 13% African American, 5% Asian and 4% other. In terms of ratings, PostTrack also shows audiences are loving the movie with excellent ratings at 47%, and definite recommendations at 61%, well above the PostTrack PG13 Comedy and Family Comedy Norms (38%/54% for pg-13 Comedy and 42%/55% for Family Norms)
20th Century Fox/New Regency/See-Saw's Widows still not so hot in regards to its $42M production cost with a $12.3M opening in 5th place. Business was +18% Saturday over Friday with $4.97M. There was a disconnect between critics and audiences here with the pic receiving a 91% certified fresh score, but a B CinemaScore. Fox Searchlight platformed Steve McQueen's fare in the past with Shame and 12 Years a Slave, and that might have been the best tee-up here as this film heads into the aorta of awards season in mid-December, however, the director sought to make a socially conscious film inside of a popular genre. The fact that it's a hybrid film isn't it's shortcoming. Here is a film which speaks to the #MeToo and Time's Up era and knocks our inflammatory rhetoric-ridden leading political officials. Why isn't selling? Our sources believe that there wasn't any urgency in the marketing campaign, and it's a note to all of those with awards contenders that you can't sell a film on its reviews alone. The female ensemble which stars Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo drew 55% females, 55% under 35 years old with 49% Caucasian, 23% African American, 15% Hispanic, & 13% Asian. We hear that Widows played best in the East and Southeast where seven of the top ten runs came from.
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