Box Office: ‘The Bad Guys’ Topples ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ With $24 Million Debut

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the newest timeline-altering tentpole in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, captured a huge $265 million in its international box office debut.Those mighty ticket sales represent the second-biggest opening weekend overseas in pandemic times. Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still stands as the highest-grossing COVID-era debut with $340 million internationally.The second “Doctor Strange” film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the goatee-rocking sorcerer, generated $185 million in North America over the weekend, bringing its global tally to a massive $450 million.

despite poor reviews.The star-studded flick, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, is now projected to top $200 million in US sales through Sunday, well ahead of the $160 million to $180 million previously expected, according to Variety.“Dr.

Sister, the independent studio founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone, has entered into a first look deal with Wychwood Media, a new production company from Lewis Taylor and “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” director David Yates.Under the pact, Yates and Taylor will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted film, television, and documentary content for Sister for both its U.S. and UK offices.

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.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is a hit!

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.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterHollywood is often skewered for no longer making large-scale original epics like “The Northman,” director Robert Eggers’ bloody Viking tale about a warrior’s quest to avenge his father’s death.Yet Focus Features, Universal’s indie label, took a gamble, not only backing “The Northman” but releasing the film in theaters nationwide. Driven by positive reviews, the movie generated $12 million from 3,865 North American theaters over the weekend, enough to secure the No. 4 spot on domestic box office charts.

J. Kim Murphy In a crowded weekend at the domestic box office that includes northmen and fantastic beasts and Nicolas Cage — oh my! — “The Bad Guys” has risen above the competition.

“The Northman,” Focus Features’ Viking revenge epic from acclaimed director Robert Eggers, made $1.35 million in its Thursday preview screenings at the box office across 2,700 theaters with previews that began at 7 p.m. “The Northman” opens on 3,214 screens this weekend.Universal’s animated family film “The Bad Guys,” which is expected to lead the box office, made $1.15 million Thursday from preview screenings beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterNicolas Cage is back… not that he went anywhere.The actor’s latest movie “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” a meta comedy in which he plays a fictionalized version of himself, is one of several films opening nationwide over the weekend. It’ll compete against director Robert Eggers’ Viking epic “The Northman” and Universal and DreamWorks’ animated family film “The Bad Guys,” as well as last weekend’s champion “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”Unless ticket sales crash in week two, “The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the third chapter in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, should retain the domestic box office crown.

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.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the third chapter in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, collected a muted $43 million in its domestic box office debut.In pandemic times, those ticket sales were enough to lead this weekend’s box office charts and land one of the biggest North American openings in 2022. But it’s also a sign that magic is in short supply for J.K. Rowling’s lucrative and ever-expanding Wizarding World.

Though that result is on par with the $41 million opening of fellow Warner release “Dune” last October and the $44 million opening of Sony’s “Uncharted” in February, it is down 31% from the $62 million opening of the last “Fantastic Beasts” film, the ill-received “Crimes of Grindelwald” in 2018. Audience metrics for “Secrets of Dumbledore” have been somewhat better than for “Grindelwald” with a B+ on CinemaScore to go with a 4/5 from general audiences on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak and an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

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.

While industry estimates have the film potentially stretching to $44 million, which would equal what Sony’s “Uncharted” opened to in February, “Fantastic Beasts 3” had double the reported production budget at around $200 million. More importantly, the estimated opening is substantially down from the $62 million opening of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ in 2018, which itself was down from the $74 million launch of the first “Fantastic Beasts” in 2016.

“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.

It is looking like the “Fantastic Beasts” movies are putting Warner Bros. in a difficult position.