With three weeks to go until the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Variety is reporting that the next instalment in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World is tracking a domestic opening weekend of between $65 million and $75 million.
The first movie in the Harry Potter spinoff series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, debuted on the same weekend back in 2016, and pulled in $74 million in its opening weekend in North America. It went on to gross $234 million domestically and a further $580 million worldwide for a global total of $814 million.
The Crimes of Grindelwald is the second instalment of the planned five-part Fantastic Beasts series, and sees the members of the wizarding world divided as the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) puts his plans to rule the world into motion.
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At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.
In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is set for release on November 16th 2018 and sees David Yates directing a cast that includes Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein, Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, Ezra Miller as Credence Barebone, Zoe Kravitz as Leta Lestrange, Kevin Guthrie as Abernathy, Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald, Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore, Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander, William Nadylam as Yusuf Kama, Ingvar Sigurdsson as Grimmson, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Skender, David Sakurai as Krall, Brontis Jodorowsky as Nicolas Flamel, Wolf Roth as Spielman, Victoria Yeates as Bunty, Derek Riddell as Torquil Travers, Poppy Corby-Tuech as Rosier, Cornell S. John as Arnold Guzman and Claudia Kim as Maledictus.
