As it heads into its second weekend, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” looks set to fall well short of the box-office performance of the franchise’s first installment in China.
That is despite a number of tailor-made attempts to woo Chinese audiences.As of mid-afternoon Friday, six days after its release, “Grindelwald” had brought in about $46.3 million in the world’s second-biggest movie market.
It was beaten at the box office Wednesday and Thursday by “Venom” and comedic Chinese crime thriller “A Cool Fish,” then dropped even further, to fifth place, by 3 p.m.
Friday, muscled aside by new releases “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Johnny English Strikes Again,” starring Rowan Atkinson, who has a huge following in China.2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” took in $86 million in China – nearly double the sequel’s current take – at a time when the country had significantly fewer screens than it has now.
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