By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them wasn’t just Pottering around, with an estimated $74.3 million debut way ahead of the pack. The session’s other new wide openers sputtered, as The Edge of Seventeen enrolled at seventh with $4.6 million and inspirational boxing saga Bleed for This only punched $2.3 million. The expansion of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk crawled to $933,000.
Slow rollouts of Loving and Moonlight maintained momentum for their award prospects. The other big noise was the $237,000 box office of Oscar-touted Manchester By the Sea from a four-screen launch.
Among international day-and-date releases, Tamil Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada had a solid start of $373,000 while Hindi Force 2 struggled at $117,000. Chinese import I Am Not Madame Bovary had upbeat returns of $191,000.
Revenues for the frame pushed to about $160 million for a slim one-percent decline from last weekend. It was further 10% erosion from 2015 when the finale of The Hunger Games franchise bowed to $102.7 million with Spectre in the distance with $15 million. Thanksgiving Wednesday will see the openings of Moana, Allied and Rules Don’t Apply.
The box office clout of J.K. Rowling continued with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them though her international appeal was more potent than domestic. Industry tracking had predicted an opening of $80 million to $85 million along the order of Doctor Strange. But pre-holiday positioning appeared to put a crimp on expectations. The audience tilted 55% female with 65% of viewers aged 25 and older, indicating the Potter fans moving into adulthood rather than an embrace for family viewing.
Internationally, Beasts opened in most major markets save for China and Japan and grossed an estimated $143 million. The UK was the top grosser with $18 million and the film posted record debuts in South Korea, Russia and Brazil. Four more pictures are lined up to continue the adventures of Newt Scamander.
Teen angst comedy The Edge of Seventeen was hoping to get some counter-programming oomph on the strength of positive reviews and finish the weekend with a $7-$8 million report card. Exit demos identified the audience as 70% female with 75% aged between 17 to 34.
It’s been rocky terrain for recent boxing yarns and Bleed for This is no exception. Expectations for the film were low, though better than its eventual performance. Even direr was the fate of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk that divided critics and had its studio slashing expectations to the bone. Still that bone appeared to be in the arena of $2-$2.5 million rather than an outright rejection. Its modest crowd was 54% female with 65% aged 25 and older.
| Weekend (estimates) November 18 – 20, 2016 | ||||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume | |
| Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | WB | 74.3 (17,930) | NEW | 4144 | 74.3 | |
| Doctor Strange | BV | 17.6 (4,760) | -59% | 3694 | 181.5 | |
| Trolls | Fox | 17.3 (4,390) | -51% | 3945 | 116 | |
| Arrival | Par | 11.7 (5,020) | -51% | 2335 | 43.4 | |
| Almost Christmas | Uni | 7.0 (2.950) | -54% | 2379 | 25.4 | |
| Hacksaw Ridge | Lionsgate/Elevation | 6.5 (2,270) | -38% | 2883 | 42.6 | |
| The Edge of Seventeen | STX/VVS | 4.6 (2,380) | NEW | 1945 | 4.6 | |
| Bleed for This | Open Road | 2.3 (1,510) | NEW | 1549 | 2.3 | |
| The Accountant | WB | 2.1 (1,490) | -52% | 1423 | 81.3 | |
| Shut In | Europa/VVS | 1.6 (790) | -56% | 2006 | 6 | |
| Moonlight | A24 | 1.5 (2,340) | 20% | 650 | 6.7 | |
| Boo! A Madea Halloween | Lionsgate | 1.1 (970) | -68% | 1171 | 72.1 | |
| Jack Reacher: Never Go Back | Par | 1.0 (880) | -70% | 1110 | 56.7 | |
| Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk | Sony | .93 (790) | 714% | 1176 | 1.1 | |
| Loving | Focus | .86 (6,300) | 68% | 137 | 1.7 | |
| Inferno | Sony | .63 (810) | -81% | 770 | 33.4 | |
| The Girl on the Train | Uni | .58 (1,170) | -65% | 492 | 74.5 | |
| Nocturnal Animals | Focus | .49 (13,189) | NEW | 37 | 0.49 | |
| Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children | Fox | .38 (820) | -69% | 464 | 85.8 | |
| Ekkadiki Pothavu Chinnavada | Nirvana | .37 (4,050) | NEW | 92 | 0.4 | |
| Ouija: Origin of Evil | Uni | .29 (770) | -83% | 381 | 34.9 | |
| Manchester By the Sea | Roadside Attractions | .23 (59,350) | NEW | 4 | 0.23 | |
| A Man Called Ove | Music Box | .,22 (1,390) | -40% | 157 | 2.8 | |
| The Secret Life of Pets | Uni | .20 (920) | -37% | 214 | 367.5 | |
| I Am Not Madame Bovary | Well Go | .19 (4,900) | NEW | 39 | 0.19 | |
| The Eagle Huntress | Sony Classics | .19 (4,850) | -2% | 39 | 0.55 | |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $152.10 | |||||
| % Change (Last Year) | -10% | |||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -1% | |||||
| Also debuting/expanding | ||||||
| Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise of Banda Singh Bahadur | Eros | .13 (3,190) | -57% | 41 | 0.54 | |
| The Handmaiden | Magnolia | .13 (1,350) | -38% | 95 | 1.5 | |
| Elle | Sony Classics | .12 (5,125) | 141% | 24 | 0.21 | |
| Force 2 | Grand Showbiz | .12 (2,370) | 49 | 0.12 | ||
| The Take | High Top | 39,700 (400) | 100 | 0.04 | ||
| A Street Cat Named Bob | Cleopatra | 33,400 (1,340) | 25 | 0.03 | ||
| Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened | Abramorama | 22,100 (11,050) | 2 | 0.02 | ||
| Daughters of the Dust (reissue) | Cohen Media | 10,300 (10,300) | 1 | 0.01 | ||
| Pays | Seville | 6,900 (1,150) | 6 | 0.01 | ||
| Life on the Line | Lionsgate | 4,500 (410) | 11 | 0.01 | ||
| Blood on the Mountain | Abramorama | 3,200 (1,600) | 2 | 0.01 | ||
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – November 17, 2016) | ||||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | ||||
| Buena Vista (14) | 2319.1 | 23.70% | ||||
| Warner Bros. (23) | 1653.5 | 16.90% | ||||
| 20th Century Fox (21) | 1349.5 | 13.80% | ||||
| Universal (19) | 1229.1 | 12.60% | ||||
| Sony (24) | 852.1 | 8.70% | ||||
| Paramount (14) | 696.6 | 7.10% | ||||
| Lionsgate (26) | 541.2 | 5.50% | ||||
| Focus (12) | 184 | 1.90% | ||||
| STX (6) | 165.6 | 1.70% | ||||
| Open Road (7) | 92.1 | 0.95% | ||||
| Weinstein Co. (9) | 59.6 | 0.60% | ||||
| A24 (11) | 54.5 | 0.60% | ||||
| Other * (365) | 570.1 | 5.90% | ||||
| 9767 | 100.00% | |||||
| * none greater than 0.45% | ||||||
| Top Domestic Grossers (January 1 – November 17, 2016) | ||||||
| Title | Distributor | Box Office | ||||
| Finding Dory | BV | 486,113,416 | ||||
| Captain America: Civil War | BV | 408,084,349 | ||||
| The Secret Life of Pets | Uni | 367,272,980 | ||||
| The Jungle Book | BV | 364,001,123 | ||||
| Deadpool | Fox | 363,070,709 | ||||
| Zootopia | BV | 341,268,248 | ||||
| Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice | WB | 331,123,905 | ||||
| Suicide Squad | WB | 325,363,979 | ||||
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens * | BV | 284,378,657 | ||||
| The Revenant | Fox | 182,765,375 | ||||
| Doctor Strange | BV | 163,866,877 | ||||
| Jason Bourne | Uni | 162,408,364 | ||||
| Star Trek Beyond | Par | 159,279,029 | ||||
| X-Men: Apocalypse | Fox | 155,978,223 | ||||
| Kung Fu Panda 3 | Fox | 143,528,619 | ||||
| Ghostbusters | Sony | 128,350,574 | ||||
| Central Intelligence | WB | 128,135,205 | ||||
| The Legend of Tarzan | WB | 126,993,715 | ||||
| Sully | WB | 123,947,237 | ||||
| Bad Moms | STX/eOne | 113,475,667 | ||||
| * Does not include 2015 box office | ||||||
