Moviefone Editorial

Tag: harry-potter-prequel

  • ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Scores Magical $8.75 Million at Thursday Box Office

    “Harry Potter” prequel “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is off to a magical start at the box office, conjuring $8.75 million in Thursday preview receipts.

    That number puts the flick, a spinoff set decades before the events of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” on track to land at the higher end of estimates for its opening weekend tally, with some prognosticators now predicting that it will earn north of $80 million by the end of Sunday. Studio Warner Bros. is keeping its projections conservative for now, putting the flick on pace to pull in about $70 million.

    As industry analysts previously noted, “Beasts” isn’t a “Potter” flick, and that unknowable quality makes it hard to judge how the film will perform. It’s unlikely to reach the soaring box office heights of the “Potter” franchise (for comparison, the last film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” earned $43.5 million in Thursday previews in 2011, ahead of a $169 million opening weekend), but its association with the successful series — not to mention its pedigree, with “Potter” author J.K. Rowling penning the screenplay — certainly doesn’t hurt audience curiosity, either.

    Moviegoers should get used to finding “Fantastic Beasts” on the big screen, since the franchise has now expanded from a three-film series to a five-film series. Whether or not those plans will change, however, no doubt hinges on the first flick’s success this weekend, and in the weeks to come.

    [via: TheWrap]

  • ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Could Snag $75 Million on Opening Weekend

    As Warner Bros. prepares for the hotly-anticipated release of “Harry Potter” spinoff flick “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” the studio is hoping for some magical numbers at the box office. Of course, with the film’s status a heretofore unknown story, it remains to be seen just how huge its opening weekend haul will be.

    Early estimates are pegging the flick for a domestic gross of around $75 million during its first few days of release, in addition to pulling in a hefty sum from foreign markets, putting the film’s total opening weekend take at around $200 million globally. That’s certainly not a number to sneeze at, but prognosticators note that Warner Bros. isn’t ignorant to the fact that “Beasts” is not “Harry Potter,” no matter how linked the two franchises may be.

    “It’s not going to open like a Harry Potter film,” said Eric Handler, an analyst with MKM Partners. “People are still trying to figure out what this story is about and who the characters are.”

    Still, as Variety notes, Warner Bros. is already putting plenty of faith in the burgeoning franchise, expanding the planned number of films from the previously announced three to a new total of five flicks. “Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who made her screenwriter debut with “Beasts,” will pen all of the films in the series.

    “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” opens this Friday, November 18.

    [via: Variety]

  • ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Will Be Like ‘Goblet of Fire,’ ‘Harry Potter’ Producer Says

    As if news about “Harry Potter” prequel “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” wasn’t already exciting enough, there’s even more for Potterheads to celebrate: The flick is heavily influenced by the tone of previous “Potter” outing “Goblet of Fire.”

    David Heyman, a longtime producer on the “Potter” series who’s also executive producing “Fantastic Beasts,” said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that director Mike Newell‘s entry in the franchise is the “Potter” flick most similar to “Beasts.”

    “[‘Fantastic Beasts’ has] got the charm of the fourth,” Heyman told EW. ” … [I]t’s got the humor of that film. It has the romantic comedy, that fish-out-of-water humor, that very human, natural character comedy.”

    But if fans are expecting an all-laughter, all the time experience, they’ll be disappointed. As Heyman explained to EW, “Beasts” director David Yates has plans to balance the lighter themes with heavier ones.

    ” … David is always looking for truthful, human moments, it’s never just a gag, he’s grounding [the storytelling moments] in a reality,” Heyman said. “[‘Beasts’] is very funny, it’s got a big heart, and there’s darkness too.”

    Sounds spectacular.

    “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is due in theaters on November 18, 2016.

    [via: Entertainment Weekly]

    Photo credit: Warner Bros.

    %Slideshow-189890%

  • ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Is NOT a Prequel, Dammit

    harry potter and the cursed child, harry potter, j.k. rowling“Harry Potter” fanatics were no doubt dipping into the butterbeer this weekend after author J.K. Rowling announced that a new, Potter-centric story called “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” would be heading for the London stage next year. But amid all the celebration over the continuing saga of The Boy Who Lived, one detail seems to have slipped through the cracks: the story is not a prequel.

    Despite Rowling’s initial announcement of “Cursed Child” including that disclaimer (her exact words: “it is not a prequel”), media outlets rushing to cover the news nevertheless repeatedly — and erroneously — dubbed the play a prequel. The reports were so numerous that Rowling took to Twitter once again to clarify that point, but it was to no avail, as the news cycle ran with that descriptor ad nausea.


    As the weekend wore on, Rowling went from annoyed to angry to amused, finally just openly mocking those who kept insisting the play was a prequel. Her Twitter feed is full of tongue-in-cheek back-and-forth exchanges with fans, and is worth perusing for its biting humor. (We’ve embedded some of our favorites at the end of this story.)

    In the midst of the author’s annoyance, however, she did clarify a few behind-the-scenes details about “Cursed Child,” one of which is that she did not write the script, but collaborated on the project with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany. And for diehard Potterheads, there was one more important bit of intel: “The story of #CursedChild should be considered canon,” Rowling wrote.

    Rowling also directed interested theatergoers to a website, HarryPotterThePlayLondon.com, where they could get up-to-date info on “Cursed Child.” And just in case anyone is still wondering if the play is a prequel, Rowling has uploaded to Twitter a handy, fan-made disclaimer that should answer that question once and for all. (Spoiler alert: It’s (still) not a prequel.)


    [via: J.K. Rowling]

    Photo credit: HarryPotterThePlayLondon.com

    %Slideshow-189890%