BOX OFFICE: 'Beasts' flies lower than expected

LOS ANGELES -- Casting a spell over the box office, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them took the top spot -- besting fellow new releases Bleed for This and The Edge of Seventeen.

Fantastic Beasts pulled in $74.4 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, failing to reach analyst expectations of at least $80 million. The film, however, did meet the studio's projections of $70 million to $75 million. But the true money came in internationally, where the picture grossed an impressive $143.3 million, beating analyst projections of $125 million.

"Magical," said Jeff Goldstein, the studio's distribution chief, about the box-office results. "When you look at the enormous success of Harry Potter and then as the wizarding world moves to its new chapter with Fantastic Beasts, this is exactly what we were hoping for."

It's an impressive start for a film that inhabits the same Potter universe that grossed more than $7.7 billion worldwide throughout its eight-film run. (Not to mention the countless dollars garnered from wizard merchandising and themed amusement parks.) Still, the spinoff did not top any of the openings for Harry Potter movies, coming closest to the 2007 debut of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at $77.1 million.

But the new film has already grossed far more than the $180 million it took to make. And the film has yet to open in the major markets of China and Japan; it opens there today.

Audiences (55 percent female; 55 percent younger than 35) gave the film, the first of a reported five, an A CinemaScore. The flick has a 76 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Fantastic Beasts pulled in more than $8 million from Imax screens, and nine of the Top 10 grossing locations were Imax. This is the third-highest-grossing Imax opening of the Harry Potter franchise, domestically, behind both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

"As for what the future of the Fantastic Beasts franchise might look like," Goldstein said, "the sky is the limit."

Populating the rest of the weekend's top five were holdovers.

Falling to second in its third week, Marvel Studio's Doctor Strange pulled in an additional $17.8 million for a domestic gross to date of about $182 million. The Benedict Cumberbatch-led picture also continues to do well on the international front, with $390 million. Doctor Strange's worldwide gross to date of $571.5 million has surpassed the lifetime grosses of The Incredible Hulk ($263 million), Captain America: The First Avenger ($371 million) and Thor ($449 million).

Fox's Trolls took third in its third week with about $17.5 million. The animated film has grossed about $116.2 million to date.

Arrival, starring Amy Adams, came in fourth in its second week with $12.1 million, for a cumulative domestic total of $43.7 million.

And Universal's Almost Christmas holds the fifth spot with $7.3 million in tickets in its second week. The film, written and directed by David E. Talbert, has pulled in about $26 million to date.

As for the other two new wide releases of the week, The Edge of Seventeen fared the best with about $4.8 million, failing analyst expectations of at least $10 million.

The coming-of-age comedy-drama about a high school girl whose life gets awkward when her best friend starts dating her older brother was written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig. It stars Hailee Steinfeld, Haley Lu Richardson and Kyra Sedgwick. Produced by Oscar-winner James L. Brooks, it cost $9 million to make.

Critics and audiences have responded well to the picture. Seventeen has a 95 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and moviegoers (70 percent female; 75 percent between 17 and 34 years old) gave it an A-minus CinemaScore.

Bleed for This, Open Road's boxing drama starring Miles Teller, also didn't do well, flopping to the tune of about $2.4 million. This is well below analyst projections of $5 million.

Those who saw the Ben Younger-directed picture, though, enjoyed it. Audiences gave it an A-minus CinemaScore. The R-rated picture has a respectable 63 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

But despite the poor performances of Seventeen and Bleed for This, the biggest loser of the week by far is Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, from Columbia, which expanded wide this past weekend. Ang Lee's technologically ambitious wartime drama bombed in its expansion, earning only $901,062 from 1,176 locations for an abysmal $766 per screen average. The picture's gross to date, after opening in limited release the weekend before, is $1.1 million, making it one of the biggest disappointments of the year, considering its $40 million price tag (after tax breaks).

Also expanding this week, into 650 locations, was A24's Moonlight. The Barry Jenkins-directed tale -- already an awards season favorite and indie darling -- garnered about $1.5 million for a gross of about $6.6 million.

On the limited-release front, Focus Features' Nocturnal Animals opened to about $493,000 from 37 screens for a per-screen average of $13,315. Written and directed by Tom Ford, the picture stars Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Also opening, in just four theaters, was Roadside Attractions' Manchester by the Sea, the awards season contender directed by Kenneth Lonergan. Pulling in $241,230 (a $60,308 per-screen average), the R-rated drama stars Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Warner Bros., $74,403,387, 4,144 locations, $17,954 average, $74,403,387, one week.
2. Doctor Strange, Disney, $17,761,060, 3,694 locations, $4,808 average, $181,627,937, three weeks.
3. Trolls, 20th Century Fox, $17,448,673, 3,945 locations, $4,423 average, $116,163,206, three weeks.
4. Arrival, Paramount, $12,138,671, 2,335 locations, $5,199 average, $43,709,470, two weeks.
5. Almost Christmas, Universal, $7,256,950, 2,379 locations, $3,050 average, $25,637,690, two weeks.
6. Hacksaw Ridge, Lionsgate, $6,666,920, 2,883 locations, $2,312 average, $42,771,212, three weeks.
7. The Edge of Seventeen, STX Entertainment, $4,754,215, 1,945 locations, $2,444 average, $4,754,215, one week.
8. Bleed for This, Open Road, $2,366,810, 1,549 locations, $1,528 average, $2,366,810, one week.
9. The Accountant, Warner Bros., $2,156,421, 1,423 locations, $1,515 average, $81,293,439, six weeks.
10. Shut In, EuropaCorp, $1,605,648, 2,006 locations, $800 average, $6,042,293, two weeks.
11. Moonlight, A24, $1,488,740, 650 locations, $2,290 average, $6,644,790, five weeks.
12. Boo! A Madea Halloween, Lionsgate, $1,141,538, 1,171 locations, $975 average, $72,134,359, five weeks.
13. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Paramount, $988,286, 1,110 locations, $890 average, $56,657,471, five weeks.
14. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, Columbia, $901,062, 1,176 locations, $766 average, $1,057,673, two weeks.
15. Loving, Focus Features, $869,430, 137 locations, $6,346 average, $1,752,518, three weeks.
16. Inferno, Columbia, $664,301, 770 locations, $863 average, $33,397,774, four weeks.
17. The Girl on the Train, Universal, $588,440, 492 locations, $1,196 average, $74,469,545, seven weeks.
18. Nocturnal Animals, Focus Features, $492,648, 37 locations, $13,315 average, $492,648, one week.
19. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, 20th Century Fox, $375,818, 464 locations, $810 average, $85,763,459, eight weeks.
20. Ouija: Origin of Evil, Universal, $303,855, 381 locations, $798 average, $34,904,885, five weeks.

MovieStyle on 11/25/2016