Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is showing magic at the international box office, grossing $31 million at 24,350 screens in its first two days.
The tentpole, which added 45 markets on Thursday, is the top movie in all but one of 55 territories. The top markets are France and South Korea, with $3.6 million each in two days.
“Fantastic Beasts 2” launched in Russia on Thursday, with $2.1 million from 3,554 screens, and dominated the market with an 87% share of the top five films. It debuted in Brazil with $2 million on 1,474 screens, taking 60% of the top five. The film opened with $1.4 million on Thursday in Germany after reeling in $1.3 million in sneak previews. It pulled in $1.7 million in Australia, making “Grindelwald” the top Warner opening for 2018.
“Grindelwald” opens in another 24 markets on Friday, including Spain, U.K., China, and Mexico. The movie took in $9.1 million in North American previews on Thursday night and has been projected to earn $65 million from 4,163 domestic locations this weekend. Industry estimates forecast a worldwide gross as high as $250 million.
Eddie Redmayne returns as magizoologist Newt Scamander, along with Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, and Johnny Depp as the titular evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Jude Law joins the cast as Albus Dumbledore in the days before he was the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.