'Fantastic Beasts' shows signs of life at the box office
Disney's Moana is number one at the box office this weekend, with an impressive $55.5 million estimated as its domestic start.
That might seem like a low number next to the $74.4 million opening for Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them last week, but context is important. Moana is the tenth Walt Disney Animation Studios release since its mid-aughts reformation, and it's the third-highest opening to date, after Zootopia and Big Hero 6.
The road ahead for Moana looks very bright as evidenced by a warm critical reception, an "A" rating from CinemaScore audience polling, and an estimated $71.8 million start overseas.
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Fantastic Beasts, meanwhile, looks like it will hang on longer than its opening weekend might have suggested. It trails well behind Moana at #2, with an estimated $45.1 million earned over the weekend. But context is important here.
Last week, we saw the Fantastic Beasts opening as a bad sign. Yes, $74.4 million is a lot of money, but it was also the weakest start across all of the J.K. Rowling-spawned "Wizarding World" movies.
The second weekend drop down to $45.1 million represents a 39 percent drop in viewers. That's a lot of carryover by Hollywood standards, where big-budget films typically lose 60 percent of their audience or more over the first two weeks.
In other words: Fantastic Beasts looks like it's got some legs. It also continues to be popular overseas, having added another $132 million to its coffers thanks to moviegoers in 67 non-U.S. markets.
Doctor Strange is the other big box office headline of the week. Not only has Marvel's latest officially crossed the $600 million mark in worldwide earnings -- an estimated $616 million, including this weeks tallies -- but it's also one of the studio's strongest character introductions to date.
Right now, the domestic total for Doctor Strange sits at $205.1 million. That's enough to put it ahead of the overall domestic earnings for Thor, Ant-Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Incredible Hulk, all of which brought new characters into the Marvel cinematic universe.
Only Iron Man ($318.4 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy ($333.2 million) did better. Yes, the first Avengers movie beats them all -- its $623.4 domestic gross is Marvel's highest to date -- but that movie banks on a super-group of marquee names. In other words: it builds on the success of past successes.
Strange is admittedly starting to peter out -- it only pulled in an estimated $13.4 million over the Friday-Sunday weekend -- so it's not likely to climb any further. But Marvel must be happy.
Just like Guardians did in 2014, Doctor Strange makes a strong case for exploring the more offbeat corners of the Marvel universe. Strange isn't nearly as known as Marvel favorites like Iron Man, Captain America, and Hulk, but strong casting and an open embrace of the comic inspiration's occult underpinnings made his first movie a winner.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
