When director Ruben Fleischer was telling folks that he was contemplating taking on the “Now You See Me” franchise, it wasn’t industry types that were most enthused, but other family and friends who shared how they watched the first two films together as a family and truly loved these movies. This wouldn’t be the first time Fleischer had been offered the reins to direct a sequel to an already successful franchise, but “Now You See Me” was the first to get him to say yes.
Fleischer’s “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the third film in the franchise, pulled a magic act of its own by besting the much pricier Glen Powell-starring film “The Running Man” at the box office this weekend, pulling in $21.3 million domestic and a total $80.5 million worldwide start in its opening, including $21.7 million in China, which places it among the better-performing American movies in China this year.
More from IndieWire
Lionsgate capitalized on some savvy influencer marketing and TikTok magic videos to build buzz and made the most of some surprise news about a heist at the Louvre that feels like something out of one of their movies.
But the real magic trick of the “Now You See Me” movies is that these movies have been underrated global hits for now over a decade. Never critical darlings by any stretch, this franchise perhaps more than any has demonstrated the disconnect that sometimes occurs between critics and the general public.
“The fanbase leans into and appreciates the fact that they’re kind of goofy and silly and fun. We’re not suggesting that these are life-and-death stakes, and no one in the movies taking themselves too seriously,” Fleischer told IndieWire. “I think the tone of the movie is just fun trumps all else. They’re a little silly or don’t make total sense, but I think you just are along for the ride.”
The first “Now You See Me,” released back in 2013, was the franchise’s biggest hit, raking in $117.7 million domestic and a total $351 million worldwide. The sequel, “Now You See Me 2” in 2016, did about half of what the original did domestically, but it was a mega hit abroad, bringing in over 80 percent of its overall haul of $334.8 million worldwide.
The new film opened comparably to “Now You See Me 2” domestic, and it’s already on pace to do similar numbers overseas. “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” could easily be looking at another $300 million+ total run, even if it only winds up in the $55-65 million range stateside.
‘Now You See Me 2’Courtesy of Lionsgate
Fleischer chalks up some of the franchise’s enormous international appeal to the number of magicians who hail from all over the world, but also in how Lionsgate made sure it paid proper respect to that international audience. “Now You Don’t” has an elaborate F1 sequence and globetrots willingly, and the studio was also well-aware of how well the second film did internationally to warrant that attention.
It doesn’t hurt that the entire original cast of Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson (the films marked a “Zombieland” reunion for Fleischer), Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco return as the Four Horsemen. And they’ve been eager to come back yet again for a potential fourth film, which has been in development even prior to the success of the third. Fleischer himself would likewise be interested in coming back for more.
But unlike the R-rated, male-skewing “Running Man,” “Now You See Me” has some rare four-quadrant appeal. Lots of folks like magic. Lots of young people on TikTok too, where Lionsgate knew the cast performing magic or interacting with influencers could capture some attention. Creator Zach King gave away 10,000 movie tickets to the film to the first fans who interacted with his post, and star Jesse Eisenberg himself has been out performing magic in New York City and on “The Tonight Show” that have garnered millions of views.
“Between marketing and publicity, they really had to think cleverer to make the resources that we had go further,” Fleischer said. “The fact that the cast loves these movies so much and are willing to work really hard on the behalf of the film and just doing endless talk shows and interviews and podcasts and those types of things really just expanded our reach in a way that felt more organic than just traditional ads.”
“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” will surely fall out of first place when “Wicked: For Good” opens next weekend and “Zootopia 2” shortly after, but the studio believes this sweet spot just before the holidays was exactly the moment the film needed to have a long run in theaters.
“Its appeal is very broad. It is not overly defined by any particular age, it’s not overly defined by a gender, and this time of year, especially starting this upcoming weekend and up through the end of Thanksgiving week, is as driven by Group Choice movie going as any time on the calendar,” Adam Fogelson, motion picture group chair at Lionsgate, told IndieWire. “We believed that, for a group of people, our movie could be a really strong consensus choice, even with the mega movies that were around it.”
Best of IndieWire
Sign up for Indiewire’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com ’
