Box Office Top 20: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ summons $74.4 million

LOS ANGELES — 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.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theatres Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theatre locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

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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.

11. “Moonlight,” A24, $1,488,740, 650 locations, $2,290 average, $6,644,790, 5 weeks.

12. “Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween,” Lionsgate, $1,141,538, 1,171 locations, $975 average, $72,134,359, 5 weeks.

13. “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” Paramount, $988,286, 1,110 locations, $890 average, $56,657,471, 5 weeks.

14. “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” Sony, $901,062, 1,176 locations, $766 average, $1,057,673, 2 weeks.

15. “Loving,” Focus Features, $869,430, 137 locations, $6,346 average, $1,752,518, 3 weeks.

16. “Inferno,” Sony, $664,301, 770 locations, $863 average, $33,397,774, 4 weeks.

17. “The Girl On The Train,” Universal, $588,440, 492 locations, $1,196 average, $74,469,545, 7 weeks.

18. “Nocturnal Animals,” Focus Features, $492,648, 37 locations, $13,315 average, $492,648, 1 week.

19. “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children,” 20th Century Fox, $375,818, 464 locations, $810 average, $85,763,459, 8 weeks.

20. “Ouija: Origin Of Evil,” Universal, $303,855, 381 locations, $798 average, $34,904,885, 5 weeks.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

The Associated Press

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