UPDATE: Refresh for latest… Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them expanded into 38 additional overseas markets on Thursday, and added $16.6 million in a total of 47 territories. JK Rowlîng’s wizards and witches have conjured $23.5M at the international box office in two days and are No. 1 everywhere.
Day 2 of the Harry Potter spinoff’s rollout overseas came as the new franchise-starter opened in the U.S. to $8.75M last night.
On the international side, Newt Scamander and his exotic pals scored bigger numbers than many of the Harry Potter films in some key offshore openings Thursday including Russia, Brazil and Thailand. Among new plays, Russia was tops with a $1.7M flick of the wand. On 2602 screens, it had 77% of the top 5 share. The results surpass the first seven Wizarding World movies and land only slightly behind the Harry Potter finale Deathly Hallows 2.
Australia got off to a $1.6M launch. Although it isn’t a direct comp, Warner Bros is using Doctor Strange to highlight Beasts‘ performance in some markets. The Oz start is 65% higher than that Disney/Marvel title.
More to come.
PREVIOUS, THURSDAY, 8:46 AM: Unleashed in nine markets on Wednesday as it began offshore release, Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them conjured up $6.9M. From director David Yates and first-time film screenwriter JK Rowling, the continuation of the Harry Potter creator’s Wizarding World played on 5,070 screens yesterday and ranks No. 1 in all of its openings which include majors Korea and France.
In notable bows, the Korea opening (on a non-traditional Wednesday) commanded 65% of the Top 5 market share as the Beasts put $1.7M in Newt Scamander’s case on roughly 1,090 screens. That more than tripled local opener Vanishing Time and gives FB the biggest launch day ever for the Wizarding World in this market, surpassing all eight of the previous Harry Potter films.
France debuted to $1.8M with 209K admissions on 805 screens, including sneaks from Tuesday night. Market share of the Top 5 was 70% — with box office coming in 6% higher than the recent opening of Doctor Strange.
Indonesia scored a similar phenomenon to Korea. The $480K start on 690 screens (75% share) is the best opening for a Wizarding World movie save for Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2.
The Sweden lift-off was worth $446K from 300 screens.
The Beasts are zooming to 38 more markets today, including big plays like Germany, Italy, Russia, Brazil and Australia. Friday adds a further 16, notably the UK, Spain and Mexico. In total, this frame will put Eddie Redmayne’s Scamander and pals in 63 markets.
In terms of the Potter franchise, the UK and Japan were traditionally the lead overseas hubs. Reviews have been glowing in the UK where the European premiere was held on Tuesday with a live simulcast to such faraway cities as Kiev, Helsinki and Madrid.
Comps outside the Potter movies include derivative works like The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Maleficent. Industry projections on Beasts before launch were ranging from $90M-$125M in international box office by weekend’s end.
