Weekend Projections: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Conjures $76.5M; ‘Trolls’ ($17.5M) & ‘Doctor Strange’ ($16.8M) Runners-Up; ‘The Edge of Seventeen’ Eyes $4.9M

Saturday Update: Official Friday estimates are listed below, followed by our weekend projections. Official studio estimates will be published on Sunday morning.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($29.7 million)
Doctor Strange ($4.78 million)
Trolls ($3.85 million)
Arrival ($3.41 million)
Almost Christmas ($1.99 million)
Hacksaw Ridge ($1.9 million)
The Edge of Seventeen ($1.7 million)
Bleed for This ($895,366)
Moonlight ($438,162)
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk ($350,000)
Loving ($235,000)
Nocturnal Animals ($163,000)

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them $76,500,000 4,144 $18,460 $76,500,000 1 Warner Bros.
2 Trolls $17,500,000 -50% 3,945 -121 $4,436 $116,214,533 3 Fox / DreamWorks Animation
3 Doctor Strange $16,800,000 -61% 3,694 -188 $4,548 $180,666,877 3 Disney
4 Arrival $11,500,000 -52% 2,335 18 $4,925 $43,070,799 2 Paramount
5 Almost Christmas $7,000,000 -54% 2,379 3 $2,942 $25,380,740 2 Universal
6 Hacksaw Ridge $6,500,000 -39% 2,883 -88 $2,255 $42,604,292 3 Lionsgate
7 The Edge of Seventeen $4,900,000 1,945 $2,519 $4,900,000 1 STX Entertainment
8 Bleed for This $2,500,000 1,549 $1,614 $2,500,000 1 Open Road
9 The Accountant $2,000,000 -55% 1,423 -919 $1,405 $81,137,018 6 Warner Bros.
10 Shut In $1,700,000 -51% 2,006 -52 $847 $6,136,645 2 EuropaCorp Films
11 Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween $1,100,000 -69% 1,171 -933 $939 $72,092,821 5 Lionsgate
12 Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk $1,000,000 776% 1,176 1174 $850 $1,156,611 2 Sony / TriStar
13 Jack Reacher: Never Go Back $920,000 -72% 1,110 -1474 $829 $56,589,185 5 Paramount

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Moonlight (2016) $1,400,000 11% 650 474 $2,154 $6,556,050 5 A24
2 Loving $775,000 51% 137 91 $5,657 $1,658,088 3 Focus
3 Inferno $575,000 -82% 770 -1886 $747 $33,308,473 4 Sony / Columbia
4 The Girl on the Train (2016) $520,000 -68% 492 -516 $1,057 $74,401,105 7 Universal
5 Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children $400,000 -67% 464 -491 $862 $85,787,641 8 Fox
6 Ouija: Origin of Evil $295,000 -83% 381 -1157 $774 $34,896,030 5 Universal
7 Keeping Up with the Joneses $174,000 -69% 216 -294 $806 $14,619,292 5 Fox
8 Deepwater Horizon $150,000 -62% 201 -189 $746 $60,851,661 8 Lionsgate / Summit

PLATFORM (1 — 99)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Nocturnal Animals $465,000 37 $12,568 $465,000 1 Focus

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Friday Report: Warner Bros. reports this morning that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them nabbed a solid $8.75 million from opening shows on Thursday night. By comparison, that falls 7 percent shy of Doctor Strange‘s $9.4 million two weeks ago, and about 45 percent below The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2‘s $16 million on the same day last year. A more apt comparison is likely to be the Hobbit franchise, which saw $13 million, $8.8 million, and $11.2 million Thursday night openings with each of the respective three films (in that order). Mostly positive reviews and a potentially young audience could help the film prove to pick up considerably over the weekend.

The Edge of Seventeen debuted with $220,000 last night. Comparisons are few for this type of well-reviewed, R-rated film aiming for a variable audience, but excellent reviews and reception are expected to drive its success over opening weekend and throughout the holiday season.

Meanwhile, Bleed for This reportedly held Thursday night previews but those earnings were not available at the time of this story’s publishing.

While Fantastic Beasts is expected to easily win the weekend, the race for second place is on as Marvel’s Doctor Strange and Fox/DreamWorks’ Trolls continue to enjoy strong word of mouth and will certainly score the two runner-up positions this weekend.

Key official Friday estimates and weekend projections will be published here Saturday morning.