Box Office: ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Aims for $40 Million Domestic Debut

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s Culture Minister Enrico Franceschini has announced plans to widen the window between a movie’s theatrical release date and the time it can drop locally on a streaming platform.The move comes after producers and distributors sounded alarm bells about their struggle to get audiences back into movie theaters.Speaking to the Italian industry gathered in Rome’s presidential Quirinale Palace ahead of the David di Donatello Awards — the country’s top prizes being held on Tuesday — the minister vowed to put in place new windowing regulations that will replace the current 90-day window established in March.He did not specify how wide Italy’s new window will be. RAI Cinema chief Paolo Del Brocco and Giampaolo Letta, who heads Mediaset’s Medusa film unit, over the weekend launched a joint appeal in newspaper Corriere della Sera lamenting that Italy lags behind other top European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office recovery and urging the government to come to the rescue.The two top Italian industry execs noted that Italy is the only major European territory where box office in 2021 was was down, compared with 2020.The Italian industry has been contending with the harsh fact that the county’s box office in 2021 plunged more than 50%, compared to the average annual recent pre-pandemic intake, to €170 million ($192 million) in grosses for the year and 25 million admissions.

Johnny Depp has gathered unlikely support from the fringes of cyberspace where a recent cryptocurrency community has rallied behind their "hero" with a new crypto-project whose price has gone parabolic in the last week. The crypto-project is now one week old and has gone from zero to hundreds of members in this time.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterAnother weekend, another new Liam Neeson action-thriller in theaters.“Memory,” the actor’s nth COVID-era caper to play on the big screen, debuted over the weekend to $3.1 million from 2,555 North American cinemas. Its eighth-place finish is a weak result, but one that’s close to Neeson’s recent theatrical releases like “Blacklight” ($3.6 million debut), “Honest Thief” ($3.6 million debut) and “The Marksman” ($3.1 million debut).Since Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment’s “Memory” is the only new nationwide release, last weekend’s champion “The Bad Guys” topped the box office again.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe general counsel of the ACLU testified on Thursday that Amber Heard’s op-ed in the Washington Post about domestic violence was timed to capitalize on the release of “Aquaman.”The op-ed alluded to Heard’s allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp, though Depp was not named. Depp is now suing Heard for defamation, claiming that the op-ed destroyed his career and cost him a sixth installment in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.The American Civil Liberties Union was involved in conceiving, drafting and placing the op-ed, which used Heard’s experiences to address issues including the Violence Against Women Act and sexual assault on college campuses. At the trial on Thursday, Depp’s attorneys played a video deposition of Terence Dougherty, the ACLU’s general counsel.

Aquaman 2 has now reached over two million signatures.The campaign on Change.org has been building for some time with the film’s producer Peter Safran previously dismissing it, saying that it would never influenced the team’s casting choices.“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” Safran said last summer.“You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“The Northman,” a blood-drenched viking epic from director Robert Eggers, pillaged $1.35 million in Thursday previews, while “The Bad Guys,” a kid-friendly spin on the heist genre, earned $1.15.Those aren’t the only new wide releases in town; they will also have to fend off “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” a very meta exercise in which Nicolas Cage stars as himself. It picked up $835,000 in Thursday previews.Universal’s indie label Focus released “The Northman,” which is projected to earn $10 million to $15 million in its first three days of release.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” welcomed a boost in ticket sales at the international box office, though the third installment in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series already seems to be running out of steam.Over the weekend, “Fantastic Beasts 3” added $71.7 million from 66 foreign markets, taking the film’s international tally to $150.4 million. After debuting to a less-than-enchanting $43 million in North America, “The Secrets of Dumbledore” has collected $193.4 million to date.Along with United States and Canada, the Warner Bros.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” grossed $20.1 million on April 15, its opening night, according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo database.Warner Bros.

passionate opinions as the release of “Fantastic Beasts” came months after Amber Heard filed for divorce from Depp alleging that he was “verbally and physically abusive” in their relationship.Rowling and the “Fantastic Beasts” filmmakers defended Depp’s casting as Grindelwald, as the actor was primed to take a leading role in the second film “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” The author released a statement in 2017 expressing support for Depp, saying, “Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies.”The reaction to Depp’s casting was the first but far from the last worry the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise would face.Reviews for the first film were pleasant enough, and while the $800 million gross worldwide was a few hundred million lower than the recent “Harry Potter” films, there was room for growth as the franchise continued. After all, Rowling and director David Yates had made clear their plan was to tell this “Fantastic Beasts” story in a planned five-film franchise.But when “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” was released in 2019, the film received the worst reviews in the history of the “Potter” franchise and grossed only $159 million domestic – lower than the $234 million domestic gross of the first film, and a franchise low for the Wizarding World overall.

J.K. Rowling’s magical series took off from there, and it wasn’t until 2007 that all seven books in the series could be read consecutively without waiting for the next release.This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first film released in 2002, and the “Fantastic Beasts” film franchise has taken the timeline even further, serving as a prequel to Harry’s time at Hogwarts. Focusing on big names in Harry’s world like Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore, the “Fantastic Beasts” movies develop some backstory to Voldemort’s predecessor Gellert Grindelwald as well.The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is not finished yet! The third “Fantastic Beasts” film will appear in theaters very soon, and apparently, the plan is for there to be five films, so here’s how to watch “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”When Does “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” Premiere?This third “Fantastic Beasts” film swoops into theaters Friday, April 15.Will “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” Be Streaming?“The Secrets of Dumbledore” will release exclusively in theaters, heading to HBO Max at some point since they are the sole home for the “Fantastic Beasts” films.Who Is in the “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” Cast?Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the latest film in the Wizarding World universe and the third movie as part of the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, brought in $6 million in its Thursday box office previews from over 3,350 screens. While “Fantastic Beasts” looked to be a once promising franchise when it launched in 2016, the third film, “The Secrets of Dumbledore,” has been dogged by off screen controversy and is following up some tepid reviews for the previous film “The Crimes of Grindelwald.” And while independent trackers say that “Secrets of Dumbledore” could climb to between $47-50 million this weekend, that would be below the prior installment.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the latest attempt to expand J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world beyond Harry Potter, earned $6 million from Thursday previews.The production is on track to earn roughly $40 million in its opening weekend, which would be the weakest start for a Potter-adjacent movie. 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” launched to $74 million in North America, while the 2018 follow-up “The Crimes of Grindelwald” bowed to  $62 million.

Jude Law) past entanglements with the dangerous dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen taking over for Johnny Depp) in a new adventure you won't want to miss. Die hard and new fans alike will love the slew of new terrifying and awe-inspiring beasts in this epic film, as Dumbledore enlists the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his intrepid team of wizards and witches.Directed by David Yates in his seventh film in the franchise, and co-written by J.K.

Warner Bros. which has traditionally ruled the Easter weekend box office is back, now a year later after Godzilla vs. Kong brought bread to reopening cinemas during the pandemic, with J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. The pic’s stateside opening, and further expansion abroad into 44 markets, arrives days after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger went public.

Mads Mikkelsen says there is a “very deliberate” reason why Gellert Grindelwald’s change in appearance won’t be mentioned in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore”.