All eyes are onFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themthis weekend as Warner Bros. hopes it will have another successful tentpole franchise on its hands, especially since they’ve already announced that there will be four sequels on the way. But right now, the signs are good for theHarry Potterspinoff asTHRreports that the film has earned an A CinemaScore grade to go along with a $29.7 million from 4,144 locations on Friday. The film is currently on track to earn $76 million this weekend, which, while lower than any of theHarry Potterfilms, is still an impressive debut for a semi-new franchise.
News wasn’t quite as good for the weekend’s other newcomers. AlthoughThe Edge of Seventeenis a great little movie (and it got an A- CinemaScore), the film only pulled in $1.7 million on Friday, and it’s looking like its opening weekend will be in the $5-6 million range, well short of the $10 million opening STX Entertainment was looking for. It’s a shame, but I also feel like ifThe Edge of Seventeenever hits Netflix, it’s going to become a cult hit.
Also coming in below expectations is the boxing dramaBleed for This. The film, which starsMiles Telleras boxer Vinny Pazienza, earned an A- CinemaScore, but only pulled in $895,000 on Friday, which puts it on track to earn $2-3 million for the weekend.
There’s also more bad news for Sony, who expandedBilly Lynn’s Long Halftime Walkinto 1,176 theaters but only pulled in $350,000 on Friday. The film is expected to do even worse than last year’sThe Walk, which opened to $1.5 million from 448 theaters. With that kind of lousy box office and poor reception from critics,Ang Lee’s new movie is pretty much out of the Oscar race at this point.
However, all is not lost for indie releases at the box office.Nocturnal AnimalsandManchester by the Seaboth opened in limited release this weekend, and both are doing fairly well.Nocturnal Animalspulled in $163,000 on Friday from 37 locations whileManchesterearned $73,000 from only four locations. It will be interesting to see if these films can continue to earn in the weeks ahead as they try to make their way in the Oscar race.
Come back tomorrow for the full weekend box office numbers. Here’s the Top 5 for Friday:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
$29,700,000
Doctor Strange
$4,779,000
$168,645,877
$3,850,000
$102,564,533
$3,410,000
$34,980,799
Almost Christmas
$1,990,000
$20,370,740
