Warner Bros.’ new Wizarding World series Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may not have debuted to Harry Potter-style numbers, but the studio certainly looks to have a hit franchise on its hands, with the film having crossed the half billion mark at the global box office ahead of its third weekend of release.
The David Yates-directed film has grossed $164.9 million domestically by close of play on Wednesday, with a further $344 million from international markets for a total of $508.9 million and counting. Although it’s lost top spot to Moana, and will soon be completely overshadowed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it’s certainly possible that Fantastic Beasts could reach the $796.7 million haul of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the lowest-grossing chapter of the Harry Potter series.
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” stars Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”), Katherine Waterston (“Steve Jobs,” “Inherent Vice”) as Tina; Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”) as Jacob; Alison Sudol (“Dig,” “Transparent”) as Tina’s sister, Queenie; Ezra Miller (“Trainwreck”) as Credence; two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (“In America,” “Sweet and Lowdown”) as Mary Lou; Oscar winner Jon Voight (“Coming Home,” TV’s “Ray Donovan”) as Henry Shaw, Sr.; Ron Perlman (the “Hellboy” films) as Gnarlack; Carmen Ejogo (“Selma”) as Seraphina; Jenn Murray (“Brooklyn”) as Chastity; young newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty; and Colin Farrell (“True Detective”) as Percival Graves.
