Fantastic Beasts Brings in $218 Million Opening Weekend

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was able to “Accio” $218 million globally ($75 million in the US and $143 million overseas) during its opening weekend at the box office.

Fantastic Beasts is not only the Harry Potter spin-off we’ve all been craving, but it is also J.K. Rowling’s first venture into screenwriting. With positive reviews rolling in from all over, the prequel to the Harry Potter series is off to a pretty “fantastic” start.

This magical adventure takes place in a pre-Harry Potter wizarding universe and provides a view of the American wizarding world. Eddy Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander exploring New York City in the 1920’s. Scamander has been on a worldwide journey to find and document magical beasts. After stopping in New York City, the creatures escape and they must be found.

Apparently, this is no easy task; the film was envisioned as the start to a 5 part series focusing on Scamander and his adventures.  If this was not exciting enough, Johnny Depp is signed on to play Gellert Grindelwald, the series villain. Spoiler alert: He makes a cameo at the end of the first film.

Compared to the opening weekends of some of the Harry Potter films, the numbers for Fantastic Beasts were a little lower than expected. However, the film doesn’t have quite the following, pre-film release, that the others in the series had, but it shows healthy promise for a canon series that will provide a new look at an old favorite.

If anything, the release of Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter and The Cursed Child last summer prove that Rowling is still the queen almost twenty years later. And she will continue to rule. The second iteration of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series is already set for release in 2018. The details of the film are still undisclosed. We do know that Eddie Redmayne and Johnny Depp will be involved, and quite frankly, that’s enough for me!