Susanne Bier’s “Practical Magic 2” opened at No. 1 at the North American box office, ending the six-weekend run of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” at the top.
The romantic fantasy sequel, directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, went straight to first place on the North American ticket sales chart. DR reports the result, citing several international media outlets, including the news agency AP.
The film stars Hollywood actresses Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. It premiered in the United States on August 31, where Bier attended alongside her two leads, according to DR.
Box office data from AP, carried by WTOP, puts the debut at an estimated $30 million from 4,146 theaters over the September 11 to 13 weekend. The same report notes that “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” fell to second place with about $8.6 million.
WTOP adds that the film took in roughly $16 million from 77 international markets. That brings its worldwide opening to approximately $46 million.
Mixed reviews in Denmark
“Practical Magic 2” is the sequel to “Practical Magic” from 1998. The universe is based on Alice Hoffman’s novels and follows the Owens family, three generations of witches under a curse that kills the men they love.
Politiken’s reviewer Joakim Grundahl called it a strong story about sisterhood, love, family and self-acceptance on paper. He gave the film two out of six hearts, writing that Bullock, Kidman, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing are given little to play.
Soundvenue’s reviewer Luna Ehlers doubled that score with four out of six stars. Per her review, having two women over 50 in the dominant lead roles has a feminist and boundary-pushing effect in itself.
Bier, 66, graduated as a director from the National Film School of Denmark in 1987. She made her feature debut in 1991 with “Freud flytter hjemmefra” and had her breakthrough in 1999 with the romantic comedy “Den eneste ene”.
She received her first Oscar nomination in 2007 for “After the Wedding” and directed her first Hollywood film, “Things We Lost in the Fire”, the same year. She won an Oscar in 2011 for “In a Better World”. Her most recent Danish film was “En chance til” in 2014, and she has worked exclusively internationally since then.
