The Crimes of Grindelwald Conjures a Magical $250 Million Worldwide Debut

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald failed to break the Gringott's Bank at home for Warner Bros., but conjured a magical $191 million from 79 overseas markets for a worldwide debut of over $250 million. In the U.S. and Canada, FB2 opened with $62 million on 4,163 screens, down $13 million from the first film, which launched during the same pre-Thanksgiving period in 2016. Grindelwald has been largely savaged by critics (currently 40% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), and received a so-so audience score of B+. Word-of-mouth will tell the tale for the ultimate success of the film domestically (and the competition will get stiff over the next several weeks), but there is no doubting the international might of the franchise and we could be looking at a total worldwide gross that approaches the $800 million mark set by the first installment.

Universal's The Grinch held up well in its second weekend, stuffing stockings with another $38.6 million for a ten-day total of about $127 million. Unlike Fantastic Beasts, Grinch is finding little to celebrate overseas, with a total international cume of about $25 million.

PageBreaks Take: Ralph Break's the Internet will spam theaters over the Thanksgiving weekend, and could take a lot of box office stuffing out of the mouths of FB2 and The Grinch. Warner Bros. and Universal are hoping there will be plenty to eat for everyone.

#movies