Riley Brennan
Features and A&E Editor
Since Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came out this past November, millions of people have headed to the theaters to see it. But the amount of revenue opening weekend did not live up to expectations in North America. The movie only earned $75 million, which is a small amount, considering the movie cost $180 million to make. Abroad, the movie did wonderfully, soaring to the top of the foreign box office. Internationally it has earned $132 million causing the movie to take in $473.7 million globally. Possible causes as to why the movie did not do as well as expected can be blamed upon the fact that there is no Harry Potter.
The movie itself has gotten good reviews. At a total of two hours and thirteen minutes, the plot is rich and well developed. There was thoughtful, intricate detail when it came to describing the American wizarding world and the generation it took place in. There are the twists and turns that Potter fans should be accustomed to, and surprisingly dark moments for a movie whose plot revolves around finding lost magical creatures, or “beasts”. The movie ends with many questions left unanswered, but thankfully there will be more Fantastic Beast movies to come. According to Rowling, "We always knew that it was going to be more than one movie — we knew that from the start — so we set a trilogy as a sort of placeholder, because we knew there would be more than one movie. But we’ve now, I’ve now done the plotting properly, so we’re pretty sure it’s going to be five movies."
