Box Office Report: With a 'Wingardium Leviosa' Grindelwald Takes the Top Spot

It’s another good weekend for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Meanwhile, some of the other new releases struggled against box office champions of the last few weeks. So let’s jump into the weekend results.

The box office winner was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (review) which put together a very strong weekend with $62.1 million. However, while that seems likes a good weekend, just below with Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch’s opening box office, it represents a new low for the Wizarding World franchise. This comes just two years after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them brought in a franchise low. However, this one is more cause for concern. First, Crimes came in $12 million lower than Fantastic Beasts. Second, it scored a B+ according to CinemaScore. For reference, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms also received a B+ score and it is already less than $5 million this weekend in its 3rd weekend.

It will still crack $100 million, but with the upcoming weekend bringing Creed II and Ralph Breaks the Internet into theaters, it could quickly dry up. A lot of films with this kind of opening weekend end around $160 million (Kong: Skull Island; Clash of the Titans) which would be $40 million short of the $200 million production budget. This could be the start of a problem for the new franchise from J.K. Rowling.

In 2nd place, The Grinch held strong, only dropping 42% to $38 million. It’s now up to $126 domestically. It’s now well above it’s $75 million budget and seems likely to continue to hold strong into the holidays. That said, it will face much tough competition moving forward, with Ralph Breaks the Internet entering the box office on Wednesday. Even as that audience eats into the box office, The Grinch is undeniably a success.

Now in 3rd place is another former box office champ, Bohemian Rhapsody. The story of Queen and Freddie Mercury is chugging along, raking in another $16 million. That puts the film over $128 million, well on its way to a $175 million total by the end of its run. With a budget of only $52 million, this one looks like a big win.

Instant Family, the new feel-good movie starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne opened to a decent $14 million box office. It’s not an amazing number that studio was likely expecting from the Wahlberg and Byrne pairing, but it is good enough against tough competition. With an A CinemaScore, they are hoping for a strong hold over the next few weeks to make the budget back on this one.

The most disappointing result of the weekend was Widows from director Steve McQueen. The film features an all-star ensemble, led by Viola Davis, but barely cracked $12 Million for the weekend. While Widows enjoyed a lower budget of $42 million, audiences only gave it a B CinemaScore. The potential Oscar contender certainly hoped to have a better weekend than that. Still, with strong reviews, it could rally. However, the “heist-movie” label it’s been tagged with might be a disservice. It is a drama first that happens to revolve around a heist, making the hunt for the money an excellent We Bought a Cabin buzzword, a McGuffin.