Theater counts: Fantastic Beasts just behind Sonic, as both will play in over 4,200 theaters this weekend

April 14, 2022

After a superb opening week at the box office, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 gains theaters this week, becoming the widest release in its second week, after taking a back seat to Morbius last week. By a narrow margin, the action-adventure sequel staves off newcomer Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, 4,258 to 4,208 theaters respectively.

Sonic outperformed most projections by taking in an impressive $72.1 million during its first three days and currently enjoys a domestic cume of over $85 million at the end of Thursday. By contrast, the previous Sonic pulled in $58 million over its debut weekend and sat at $77.5 million at its six-day mark two years ago. That film went on to collect just over $146 million domestically and just over $304 million worldwide.

Making its freshman effort this week is the third installment in the Fantastic Beasts film series as Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore arrives in theaters. The film is the sequel to 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and stars an extensive lead ensemble cast including Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law and Dan Fogler among others. In third place for theater counts this week is last week’s widest release Morbius, which will drop 806 locations to land in 3,462 theaters. The Lost City and Father Stu (the latter opened on Wednesday) show in 3,430 and 2,705 theaters respectively to round out the top five.

Opening in limited release this week is the latest feature from IFC Films in the French drama, Paris, 13th District. Based on stories by Adrian Tomine, the film follows four young people who fall in and out of love with each other while figuring out their lives in Paris. The Jacques Audiard-directed film debuts in 67 cinemas.

Looking ahead to next week we see the launch of three wide releases. The largest of the three is the animated picture The Bad Guys which is set to open in an estimated 3,950 locations. The movie has so far generated $42 million overseas from rollouts that began in mid March. Focus Features is releasing their historical action film The Northman in a projected 3,000 theaters. Lastly, the action-comedy Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will also release in about 3,000 locations.

Note: The theater count for Everything Everywhere All at Once is an estimate from Box Office Pro.

Theater Counts for April 15

Estimates for April 22

Bruce Nash

Filed under: Theater Counts, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Jude Law, Dan Fogler, Eddie Redmayne, Jacques Audiard