Wizarding World Casts ‘Fantastic’ Spell on Weekend Box Office

LOS ANGELES-Harry Potter spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” debuted atop the North American box office, industry data showed Monday, taking a satisfactory but far from spellbinding $74.4 million.

Despite taking $75 million (£60 million) in America the film did very well in Europe especially here in the United Kingdom where it took $18 million (£14 million). “Fantastic Beasts”, focused on a “magizoologist” named Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), received an overall A grade in CinemaScore exit polls, with attendees under 18 years old giving it an A-plus.

Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore, attributes the solid turnout to the goodwill amassed by the Harry Potter films. This news story is related to Latest/166398-Box-Office-Fantastic-Beasts-debuts-to-magical-75-million/ – breaking news, latest news, pakistan ne. But those original movies were based on a set of best selling books, whereas this series is building the audience, and the story, from scratch. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban banked the least with $249 million. Luckily for us, Eddie Redmayne and J.K. Rowling have another four films to get everything just right. Warner Bros. spent $180 million to produce the film and tens of millions more to market it. The movie doesn’t slowly explain the origins of magic or how the wizarding world works, which makes it less friendly to new, younger audience.

Harry Potter fans have given the boy wizard’s creator J.K. Rowling another number one at the US box office.

The animated Trolls is hanging tough in its third week of release — good enough for third place. Worldwide, this brings Strange’s total to $571 million. Let’s dive into the Fantastic Beasts Obscurus connection to the Harry Potter series after the jump, but beware of some major spoilers for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.