UPDATE, SATURDAY AM PT: Climbing by $27.4M in 67 offshore markets yesterday, Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them has cumed $227.1M at the international box office through Friday. China came in at a confirmed $11.1M debut yesterday (including sneaks) from over 11,600 screens. The opening ranks No. 1 among all films hailing from JK Rowling’s Wizarding World in that market. The overall Friday number in 67 hubs is a little less than 9% down week-on-week.
In the Middle Kingdom, the top title in the Harry Potter franchise is Deathly Hallows Part 2. The finale of the series made nearly $61M, before the blockbuster box office era hit PROC turnstiles. Stars Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston recently made headlines during their promotional tour in Beijing. Unofficial numbers show that China jumped by about 4% on Saturday. (Disney’s Moana, which also released there this weekend, too saw a nice Friday-to-Saturday bump.)
Japan, which has jockeyed with the UK as the top ex-North America market on all Potter movies, opened Wednesday this week. The Wed-Fri cume is $8.2M at No. 1. In the UK, Newt Scamander and the gang have held onto the No. 1 slot with a cume through Friday of $29M.
The UK is currently the best offshore play, with Korea following at $19.3M. Rounding out the Top 10 are: Germany ($14.3M), Russia ($13.6M), France ($13.3M), China ($11.1M), Australia ($11M), Mexico ($9.3M), Italy ($9.2M) and Brazil ($9.1M).
There were no wide overseas releases this weekend. Disney surfed Moana into China and some smaller plays; Paramount’s Allied landed in the UK and France, notably. Beasts continues to dominate offshore where all markets are now in release. We’ll have a full update tomorrow.
UPDATE, THURSDAY, 3:08 PM PT: Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them had an opening day of $11.2M in China, besting Disney’s animated musical Moana, the studio says, by five times the gross. With China’s tally added in, Friday morning will see the film push past the $200M mark as its cume through Thursday is $199.3M. The studio’s J.K. Rowling adaptation got its coveted China date last month. Stateside, Fantastic Beasts is behind opener Moana this weekend. It’s in its second weekend and in about 270 more theaters than the Disney film.
PREVIOUSLY, Wednesday, 11:36 AM: Warner Bros’ new take on JK Rowling’s Wizarding World has continued to conjure magical numbers at the international box office this week. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, directed by David Yates off of Rowling’s first film screenplay and produced by the Harry Potter movies’ David Heyman, had an opening weekend of $145.5 million overseas. On Monday and Tuesday, Newt Scamander and his creatures added $12.5M and $12M, respectively, maintaining No. 1s and large market share everywhere. The offshore cume is now $170.7M.
Domestically, as my colleague Anthony D’Alessandro has reported, the movie is on its way to $100M with a five-day tally of $90.5M. The Thanksgiving frame goes whole-turkey starting tonight, but that’s solely an American celebration. The rest of the world is business as usual.
However, and importantly, Japan unlocks the Beasts today. That has traditionally been a lead market on the related Potter pics. China follows Friday with star Eddie Redmayne and co-stars recently visiting the Middle Kingdom which is keyed up for the movie.
Currently the best ex-North America play is, natch, the UK with $23.1M through Tuesday. That’s followed by Korea at $16.3M; Germany at $11.7M; Russia’s $11.6M; and France’s $11.4M.
By industry accounts after the opening weekend on these Fantastic Beasts, the film is performing to and beyond expectations and is seen as a strong start to Rowling’s new franchise which will include at least five films total.
