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'Fantastic Beasts' summons $74.4 million

Published:Tuesday | November 22, 2016 | 5:01 PM
Contributed
Newt Scamander’s (Eddie Redmayne) New York stopover turns upside down in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.

Kicking off a five-film franchise spun off from the Harry Potter universe, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them debuted to a healthy $74.4 million this weekend. The $180 million production benefited from lingering Harry Potter goodwill, but failed to reach the heights of those films in its first weekend.

The J.K Rowling creation unseated Doctor Strange from its two-week run at No. 1. Strange still managed to pull in $17.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $181.6 million.

The strength of the top five films, including holdovers Trolls, Arrival and Almost Christmas left little room for the other new openers, like the R-rated high school dramedy The Edge of Seventeen, which debuted outside of the top 10 with $4.8 million and the fact-based boxing drama Bleed for This, which took in $2.4 million.

Meanwhile, Ang Lee's technologically ambitious wartime drama Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk bombed in its expansion, earning only $901,062 from 1,176 locations for an abysmal $766 per screen average.

Below are the top 10 movies at US, and Canadian theaters from Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore.

1. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Warner Bros., $74,403,387, 4,144 locations, $17,954 average, $74,403,387, 1 week.

2. Doctor Strange, Disney, $17,761,060, 3,694 locations, $4,808 average, $181,627,937, 3 weeks.

3. Trolls, 20th Century Fox, $17,448,673, 3,945 locations, $4,423 average, $116,163,206, 3 weeks.

4. Arrival, Paramount, $12,138,671, 2,335 locations, $5,199 average, $43,709,470, 2 weeks.

5. Almost Christmas, Universal, $7,256,950, 2,379 locations, $3,050 average, $25,637,690, 2 weeks.

6. Hacksaw Ridge, Lionsgate, $6,666,920, 2,883 locations, $2,312 average, $42,771,212, 3 weeks.

7. The Edge of Seventeen, STX Entertainment, $4,754,215, 1,945 locations, $2,444 average, $4,754,215, 1 week.

8. Bleed for This, Open Road, $2,366,810, 1,549 locations, $1,528 average, $2,366,810, 1 week.

9. The Accountant, Warner Bros., $2,156,421, 1,423 locations, $1,515 average, $81,293,439, 6 weeks.

10. Shut in, EuropaCorp, $1,605,648, 2,006 locations, $800 average, $6,042,293, 2 weeks.