Weekend Wrap-Up: Grindelwald Debuts on Top, but Pales Compared to Harry Potter
November 19, 2018
As expected, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald topped the weekend box office chart; however, it failed to meet expectations by about 10%. Additionally, neither Instant Family nor Widows matched expectations and this hurt the overall box office, which fell 2.9% from last weekend to $172 million. More importantly, this is 14% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 has reached $10 billion and now has a running tally of $10.18 billion. This is 11% or $1.01 billion ahead of last year’s pace.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opened with $62.16 million, which isn’t bad by itself. However, this is a film that cost $200 million to make and is the latest in a franchise that had previously set records for biggest opening weekend. Worse still, this film has, by far, the worst reviews and the weakest CinemaScore of the franchise, so even with the holidays ahead, it likely won’t have good legs. That said, it is doing far better internationally, so it will break even sooner rather than later.
Dr Seuss’ The Grinch held on a little better than expected with $38.59 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $126.96 million. Granted, the film does have direct competition starting on Wednesday, but I think the holidays will help it get to $200 million domestically without any real trouble.
Bohemian Rhapsody slipped a spot to third with $16.04 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $128.23 million.
Instant Family only managed fourth place with $14.50 million. Its reviews are nearly 80% positive and it earned an A from CinemaScore; however, this is a weak start for a film that cost $48 million to make. Worse still, films like this tend to struggle when being translated to other languages / cultures, so its international box office likely won’t be as strong relatively speaking.
Widows rounded out the top five with $12.36 million. This is deeply disappointing for a film with award-worthy reviews. It didn’t connect with audiences nearly as well, as it only managed a B from CinemaScore and this will likely hurt its legs. Maybe it will win awards and that will help its home market run, but I don’t think it will break even any time soon.
There were only two films in the sophomore class that didn’t reach the top five, Overlord and The Girl in the Spider’s Web, both of which fell more than 60% at the box office. Overlord held on better down 63% to $3.79 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $17.68 million. I think this film could become a bigger hit on the home market and many people who missed it in theaters will think it is an undiscovered gem. On the other hand, The Girl in the Spider’s Web fell 68% to just $2.50 million over the weekend for a total of $13.29 million. Its theater average was just $854 and it could lose most of its theaters by Wednesday. By the time it reaches the home market, it will be mostly forgotten.
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Comparisons
- Instant Family Comparisons
- Widows Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, Widows, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Ralph Breaks The Internet, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, Bohemian Rhapsody, Instant Family, Overlord, Harry Potter