Warner Bros. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” cashed in on “Harry Potter” fever, hauling in $8.75 million in Thursday previews across approximately 3,900 locations.
That should put the spinoff of the film series based on J.K. Rowling’s novels about a boy wizard in good shape to hit the higher end of predictions, which have the movie opening north of $80 million this weekend, as it debuts in 4,144 theaters. Warner Bros. is taking a more conservative approach, expecting the film to come in comfortably above $70 million. The film has a solid 79 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The last “Harry Potter” movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” set the all-time record for Thursday night showings, grossing $43.5 million when it hit theaters in July 2011. That mark held up until “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” reeled in a monster $57 million when it premiered in December. “Deathly Hallows Part 2” went on to make $381 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide.
“Fantastic Beasts” should also dethrone Disney-Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” from the top of the weekend box office, where it has sat for the last two weeks. The superhero flick starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character has already made more than $500 million worldwide.
“Fantastic Beasts” is set in the same magical universe as “Harry Potter” and stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a British “magizoologist” who travels to 1920s New York to hunt magical creatures. The film includes several fan favorite “Harry Potter” characters, including Aldus Dumbledore, Grendel and Gellert Grindelwald.
Colin Farrell co-stars as Percival Graves, and the film also features Katherine Waterston, Jon Voight, Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, Samantha Morton, Dan Fogler and Alison Sudol. David Yates, who directed the last four “Harry Potter” films, is at the helm of “Fantastic Beasts.”
“Fantastic Beasts” is based on the Rowling book of the same name, written as a mock textbook about magical creatures. The text is required reading for Hogwarts students in the “Harry Potter” novels.
Last month, Rowling — who also wrote the screenplay for “Fantastic Beasts” — announced that the latest film will be the first in a five-movie franchise. The second film, which has already been green-lit, will take place in a different major metropolis.
To ramp up the anticipation prior to “Fantastic Beasts,” all eight “Harry Potter” films were screened in IMAX during the week of Oct. 13.
None of the weekend’s other debutants, including Open Road’s boxing flick “Bleed for This” and STX’s “The Edge of Seventeen,” had Thursday night previews.
All 9 JK Rowling Movie Adaptations Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)
With the new Harry Potter prequel "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" set to expand the wizarding world's mythos, take a moment to gaze into the Pensieve and remind yourself of the series so far.
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
The franchise didn't put its best foot forward, but Chris Columbus' "Sorcerer's Stone" -- which both detractors and admirers point to as being more faithful to its source material than any other Harry Potter movie, hence the protracted running time -- was only a momentary stumble. In hindsight, it's also something of a relief: The series gets so dark that starting off on a syrupy-sweet note feels like a small gift.
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8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 (2010)
Almost every Harry Potter film works better as part of a series than it does on its own, "Deathly Hallows — Part 1" especially. The first half of the finale has some of the franchise's most moving moments -- Hedwig, he hardly knew ye; you were a good elf, Dobby — but it simply doesn't function as a standalone film. It's also responsible for the unfortunate trend of splitting books into two or more movies, which has since been mimicked by "Twilight," "The Hunger Games" and "The Hobbit."
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7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
In some senses, "Order of the Phoenix" is a victim of its own success: Much of it revolves around Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), who's far and away the most hateable character in the franchise. David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter movies, occasionally lags on his way to the third act of his first outing. But that finale gives perhaps the most moving, complete sense of the life-and-death stakes of Harry and Voldemort's conflict.
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6. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
The spinoff remains true to the spirit of its source material while also differentiating itself. Though we still don't know much about either our new hero, Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander, the film itself marks a welcome return to an immersive fictional world. Set in a time (the 1920s) and place (America) that Harry Potter never explored, "Fantastic Beasts" is worth seeking out.
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5. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
What's sometimes forgotten about the sentimental first two films is that, unlike later entries, they feel like complete stories. "Chamber of Secrets" suffers from some of the same problems as its predecessor, but it also has the advantage of a more compelling, puzzle-like story. Voldemort takes on many forms throughout the series, and here, as a 16-year-old preserved in memory, he shows his most human face.
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4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
The true turning point in the series, "Goblet of Fire" makes good on the promise of "Sorcerer's Stone" that the innocent are the first victims. There were always signs that this is a darker world than it initially appears to be, but until the fourth book (and Mike Newell's film) the forces of evil are held at bay. Once loosed, things change forever.
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3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 (2011)
That coda (which, to be fair, is lifted directly from the book) needs to go, and it makes little sense that a two-part film based on one book can't find the time to give three significant characters onscreen deaths. Even so, the final film expands the series' narrative frame and ties its threads together with true elegance — especially regarding Alan Rickman's Snape, who emerges here as Rowling's best, most tragic character.
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2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
The dynamic between Harry and Dumbledore finally moves to the fore in "Half-Blood Prince," a movie that enriches its own present-tense narrative by looking into the past and showing how it came to be. Tonally similar to the other late entries but narratively superior, it manages to come across as a self-contained work.
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1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Positioned between the sentimental entries directed by Chris Columbus and the bleaker chapters that followed, "Prisoner of Azkaban" achieves a near-perfect balance between light and dark, good and evil. It helps that the source material is so strong -- the arrival of Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and the Patronus charm are all highlights -- as does the fact that Alfonso Cuarón graced the series with his singular vision before directing "Children of Men" and "Gravity." It's the entire Harry Potter phenomenon in microcosm: coming of age but not yet fully grown, dark but not despairing, and a needed reminder that, even in trying times, a sense of wonderment is as powerful as any spell.
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How does ”Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them“ stack up to the rest of the Harry Potter onscreen saga?
With the new Harry Potter prequel "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" set to expand the wizarding world's mythos, take a moment to gaze into the Pensieve and remind yourself of the series so far.
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