‘Fantastic Beasts’ sequel enjoys magical debut weekend

Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” met expectations in winning the box office this past weekend, opening in first place with $62.2 million.

The “Harry Potter” prequel, a follow-up to 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” came in much softer than its predecessor, which opened with $74.4 million. It came in a bit short of analysts’ projections of $65 million to $75 million.

Directed by David Yates, “Crimes of Grindelwald” follows magical zoology expert and wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he teams with a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) against the

titular dark wizard, played by Johnny Depp.

The $200 million film received mixed reviews, with a B plus on Cinemascore and a 40 percent “rotten” on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, a far cry from its predecessor’s A Cinemascore rating and 74 percent “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score.

Warner Bros. plans three additional films in the series but may have to plan to do the bulk of its business in overseas markets. The movie took in $191 million internationally for a global cumulative of $253.2 million, on par with analysts’ predictions of $250 million.

At No. 2, Universal’s “The Grinch” added $38.6 million in its second weekend, for a cumulative $127 million.

Fox’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” came in third in its third weekend, adding $16 million for a cumulative $128.2 million.

In fourth place, Paramount’s “Instant Family” opened with $14.5 million. The comedy, which stars Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg as a couple who adopt three children, came in just short of analysts’ predictions of $15 million to $20 million.

Rounding out the top five, Fox premiered “Widows” with $12.4 million. The thriller came in on the low end of analysts’ projections of $12 million to $18 million.