Fantastic Late Box Office Report

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them took the #1 spot as expected with a hefty $74.4 million. While that is a great number it is not 'fantastic' for a long awaited J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter prequel. Some were predicting a $90 million opening, but by release date those predictions numbers were droping. This is easily one of the lowest openings for a Potter franchise, but lets keep in mind it is a different 'beast' since it doesn't feature the beloved Harry & his hogwarths friends. The $180 million budget film will relay heavily on its international grosses to become profitable and establish a new franchise. So far it has grossed $226 million worldwide so it is slowly getting there, but this is not going to the $1 billion club.

Sliding to the distant second spot after 3 weeks is Marvel's Doctor Strange which added $17.7 million to its bank account. Domestically it has grossed so far $181.6 million currently ranking #10 among Marvel titles. It might or might not end up its run matching #09 "Thor: The Dark World" with $206 million. It is unlikely it could reach #8 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' $259.7 million domestic grosses. While that doesn't sound so great for the Sorcerer Supreme, the film has been a surprising bigger hit on the international market with $390 million grosses for a current total of $574 million worldwide. So, yeah, this film will get a sequel, for which I am glad since I want to see more Doctor Strange films (particularly in the dream world!). AND among all the MCU single intro origin films 'Strange' ranks #2 which is awesome for the film many erroneously predicted was going to become Marvel first box office turkey.

In the third spot Trolls took $17.4 million for a current domestic total of $118 million after 3 weeks. Worldwide the animated film has gained $264 million.

The Arrival is holding nicely with $12.1 million for a two weeks total of $43.7 million. Overseas, however, the film isn't performing that well grossing so far $10 million, but it is been released slowly anyway.

In the fifth spot Almost Christmas had $7.2 million grosses for a two weeks total of $25 million (will benefit from this week's holiday so we will see it boost this weekend). Hacksaw Ridge added $6.6 million to is current $43 million gross.

And this week's other two new releases bombed miserably (hey, its 2016...we have a weekly bomb, remember?): the teen comedy The Edge of Seventeen debuted with a 'meh' $4.7 million and the boxing drama Bleed For This took an even worst $2.3 million, proving again that boxing films without Rocky Balboa have no appeal.