An expanded version of the movie’s connected VR (virtual reality) experience will also be available, featuring never-before-seen footage, new beasts, and more interactive magical spells to use with each of the creatures inside Newt’s case.

Additionally, all of the special features, including interviews with filmmakers, character and creature featurettes, deleted scenes and 360° videos, can be experienced on tablets and mobile phones using the Warner Bros. Movies All Access App, available for both iOS and Android devices.

• Before Harry Potter: A New Era of Magic Begins! – Join J.K. Rowling as she, David Yates and David Heyman return to Leavesden Studios to build a new and exciting corner of the wizarding universe.
• Characters
  — The Magizoologist
  — The Goldstein Sisters
  — The New Salemers
  — The No-Maj Baker
  — The President and the Auror
• Creatures
  — Meet the Fantastic Beasts
  — Bowtruckle
  — Demiguise
  — Erumpent
  — Niffler
  — Occamy
  — Thunderbird
• Design
  — Shaping the World of Fantastic Beasts (360°)
  — New York City (360°)
  — MACUSA (360°)
  — Newt’s Magical Case (360°)
  — The Shaw Banquet
  — The Blind Pig (360°)
• Deleted Scenes (11 scenes)

Warner Bros. is also re-releasing all eight Harry Potter films on Ultra HD Blu-ray for the first time, the last four on March 28 — “Order of the Phoenix,” “The Half Blood Prince,” and both parts of “The Deathly Hallows.” The first four films will be released later this year in Ultra HD: “The Sorcerer’s Stone,” “The Chamber of Secrets,” “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” and “The Goblet of Fire.”

— By Scott Hettrick

— By Scott Hettrick

IMAX records, according to Walt Disney Studios:

• Biggest IMAX domestic Thursday night preview: $5.7 mil.
• Biggest domestic single-day: $14 mil. Friday
• Biggest domestic weekend: $30.1 mil. (topping $20.9 mil. of “Jurassic World”)
• Biggest IMAX global debut: $48 mil. (topping $44.1 mil. of “Jurassic World”)

Walt Disney Studios has also announced that the following additional domestic records:

• Biggest Thursday preview gross with $57 mil. (surpassing $43.5 million by “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”)
• Biggest Friday and biggest single-day gross with $120.5 mil.
• First film ever to post a single day over $100 mil.
• Fastest film to $100 mil. and $200 mil.
• Biggest December debut (nearly three times previous record of $84.6 mil.)
• Highest theater average for a wide release ($57,568)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted day-and-date internationally in nearly every market (except Greece and India, which open Dec. 24, and China, which opens Jan. 9) and set records in many. Among the records overseas:

• Biggest opening weekend of all time in UK (4-day), Australia, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Poland (3-day), Denmark (5-day), Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia, New Zealand.
• Second biggest opening weekend in France, Belgium, Israel, Chile.

“Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves,” said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “To all of the fans around the world who not only came out in Force to make this such an exciting and astronomical debut but who treated this film as their own and helped preserve the experience for their fellow fans by not spoiling it – thank you, we do.”

The Force is strong with critics and audiences, whose enthusiastic reactions have powered a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score (our non-spoiler review here) and an excellent A CinemaScore, with an A+ among women and younger audiences, for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The Previous record for an opening weekend was this year’s “Jurassic World” ($208.8 mil. domestically), another resurrected franchise film series released in IMAX 3D, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

— By Scott Hettrick

Meanwhile, last weekend’s box-office champ, “Hotel Translyvania 2,” also in 3D, scared up another $33 mil. this weekend to run its domestic total to $90.5 mil.

“Everest,” which opened exclusively in IMAX 3D for a week a couple weeks ago, collected another $5.5 mil. running its cumulative total to $33.8 mil.

“The Walk,” exclusively in IMAX 3D this week before going wide next weekend, grossed $1.55 mil. in domestic IMAX theaters.

As for “The Martian,” RealD announced today that 46% of the grosses came from all 3D theaters and that the 42% of that figure coming from RealD represents a high point for RealD this year. IMAX is not showing “The Martian” as its theaters are committed to “The Walk.”

During the summer, eight 3D releases captured more than 40% of their opening weekend gross in 3D dollars, including “Jurassic World” (48%), Terminator: Genisys (45%), San Andreas (44%) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (42%), among others.

Upcoming this Fall and into the holiday period, RealD 3D movies include “The Walk,” “Pan,” “The Peanuts Movie,” “Good Dinosaur,” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” among others.

— By Scott Hettrick

Let’s get right to it in short bursts (more photos below):

• Star Wars-themed lands coming to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando — the biggest lands at either park ever. Each 14-acre land (groundbreaking in 2017) will feature a never-before-seen planet with two signature attractions, including a customized secret mission on the Millennium Falcon and another that puts guests in a battle between the First Order and the Resistance.
• “Star Wars Episode IX” director announced, Colin Trevorrow of “Jurassic World,” for release in 2019 – production to begin in a few years.
• Reminders and introductions relating to two new stand-alone Star Wars movies:

  — “Rogue One” cast announced and introduced for the first of the standalone Star Wars stories set for release December 16, 2016, about resistance fighters who have united to steal plans to the dreaded Death Star (prior to the events in “Star Wars: A New Hope”). Principal photography has commenced under director Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, and Riz Ahmed.

  — “Untitled Han Solo” Star Wars story for release on May 25, 2018, to be directed by Christopher Miller & Phil Lord, with Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon Kasdan writing the screenplay.

• “Star Wars Episode VIII” under director Rian Johnson to be released May 26, 2017.
• Introduction of much of the cast of “Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens,” opening Dec. 18 in 3D and IMAX 3D, including Harrison Ford.
• Tweaks and temporary promotional additions at Disney theme parks later this year:

  — Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, brings locations and characters from “The Force Awakens” to the 1987 attraction.

  — Star Wars Launch Bay – interactive and behind-the-scenes experiences to promote “The Force Awakens” at Tomorrowland in Disneyland and Animation Courtyard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

  — Jedi Training Academy — Re-imagining of the popular Disney XD series “Star Wars Rebels,” with new characters.

  — Season of the Force – seasonal event beginning early 2016 featuring themed games and food booths at Tomorrowland in Disneyland and fireworks set to Star Wars theme at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

And oh yes, there are other major productions coming from Disney’s huge family of brands and franchises:

• “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” the fifth episode will be released on July 7, 2017 – Johnny Depp was introduced for the second day in a row at D23, this time in full Captain Jack Sparrow attire (Friday he was inducted into the Disney Legends hall of fame). Javier Bardem joins the cast as Sparrow’s old nemesis.
• The Finest Hours,” on January 29, 2016, in 3D and IMAX 3D, the remarkable true story of the most daring rescue mission in the history of the Coast Guard stars Chris Pine and Casey Affleck.
• “The Jungle Book” live-action version in 3D and IMAX 3D on April 15, 2016, features the voices of Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito and Christopher Walken.
• “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” set for release in 3D and IMAX 3D on May 27, 2016, also features the return of Depp, along with Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, as well as Sacha Baron Cohen.
• Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” coming October 26, 2016, stars Benedict Cumberbatch.
• Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War,” opens May 6, 2016, and stars Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie who were introduced by producer Kevin Feige. Picking up where “Age of Ultron” left off, also returning are Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson.

And there will be several additional new theme park attractions:

• Avatar: Flight of Passage was announced as the name of the new “E-ticket” attraction being built as part of the biggest-ever Disney World expansion at Disney’s Animal Kingdom called Pandora: The World of Avatar by director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau. Pandora will feature floating mountains, a bio-luminescent forest and the winged creatures known as Banshees. The centerpiece Flight of Passage attraction allows guests to soar on a Banshee over a vast alien world. Other new after-dark attractions coming to Animal Kingdom:

  — Rivers of Light – to open next spring combining live music, floating lanterns, water screens and swirling animal imagery on Discovery River.

  — Kilimanjaro Safaris – extended for nighttime next spring, with tours of the African savanna with first-ever African wild dogs and hyenas.

• Toy Story Land at re-imagined Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, an 11-acre land will shrink guests to toy-size and take them into Andy’s backyard with two new attractions and one expanded favorite:

  — Family-friendly roller coaster on the back of Slinky Dog

  — Alien saucers attraction where the popular little green aliens take guests for a spin in flying saucers while “The Claw” looms over.

  — Toy Story Mania! expansion adds a third track to the ride where guests wear 3D glasses and shoot at objects.

• Iron Man Experience at Hong Kong Disneyland will be the first Marvel attraction at any Disney park, with guests boarding the Iron Wing to take flight and battle Hydra alongside fan-favorite Avenger, Iron Man.
• Soarin’ Around the World next year at Disney California Adventure and Epcot in Florida will fly riders above some of the world’s most unique natural landscapes and man-made wonders.

— By Scott Hettrick

The Edko Films fantasy-adventure from director Raman Hui and producers William Kong, Chung Man Yee and Alan Yuen, has raked in $108 million in China since its debut on Thursday, July 16, according to Variety.

Meanwhile, Universal’s 3D “Minions” collected $66.2 million overseas, bringing its global total to $625.8 million.

The IMAX 3D movie “Ant-Man” collected $56.4 million overseas and $58 million domestically.

— By Scott Hettrick

The cleverly comedic, yet often very poignant story obviously resonates with audiences, which plunked down the most money ever for an original movie in its opening weekend, with $91 million in North America alone. That’s Pixar’s second biggest opening ever after the $110.3 mil. of “Toy Story 3,” according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

But it still wasn’t enough to unseat another 3D colossus, “Jurassic World,” also in IMAX 3D, which generated a stunning second weekend haul of $100 million-plus with $102 mil., only the second time that has ever happened.

The dino-mazing numbers put the movie at nearly $400 mil. domestically and poised to surpass $1 billion globally in a record 11 or 12 days.

“Inside Out” also delivers some of the most prominent, and thus effective, 3D images ever for the studio that has been among the most conservative in its use of the format.

This “Inside Out” world is a perfect vehicle for 3D with the amusement park-like world inside the brain of the young Riley featuring a cast of characters of emotions led by Joy (Amy Poehler). The roller-coaster connections to islands of feelings, the “Train of thought,” the vacuum tubes for storage of balls of memories, and the clown-like Bing Bong (Richard Kind) all benefit from the enhanced depth, separation and audience immersion of 3D. As is often the case, that impact could even be much stronger if filmmakers would be more brave about pushing it further. But this little step in a Pixar movie is encouraging.

As is also often the case with Pixar, the 3D is used even more effectively in the latest original short that precedes “Inside Out,” another poignant story called “Lava,” presenting the unusual concept of a volcano as a character. The male volcano is portrayed lonely and spends its life singing a silly but sweet lovelorn ditty for a volcano mate (“…send me someone to lava”), which ultimately erupts just a bit too late and oriented in the wrong direction.

In fact, the entire package with “Inside Out,’ including the trailers, is a 3D feast, with the “Minions” trailer really making the most effective use of 3D, pushing objects out into the audience for comedic impact. And the 3D in trailers for “The Peanuts Movie” and “Hotel Transylvania 2,” as well as teasers and trailers for upcoming Disney & Pixar movies “Zootopia” and “The Good Dinosaur” were also impressive.

— By Scott Hettrick

Marvels’ “Guardians of the Galaxy” won the Lumiere trophy for best live action 3D feature.

While not a star-studded affair, the black-tie event did get a Hollywood moment when Oscar-nominated French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet took a shot at Harvey Weinstein for potentially derailing the release of Jeunet’s widely-praised 3D drama “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” in the U.S. Continuing the pointed jabs he made 48-hours earlier at a screening of the movie for members of the 3D Society, Jeunet said that as the director — and being French — he has complete final cut authority on the movie, but that Harvey, being Harvey, wants to cut the film his own way before he would release it in the U.S.

The Society recognized “Spivet” with an award for best 3D independent feature and Jeunet was honored with the Society’s Harold Lloyd Filmmaker Award from Lloyd’s granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd Hayes — the award has previously gone to 3D pioneers such as James Cameron and Ang Lee.

The rare English language film by Jeunet (“Amelie,” “The City of Lost Children.” “Delicatessen,” and “Alien: Resurrection”) about a 10 year-old boy genius who runs away from his ranch home and hops a freight train to accept an invitation to receive an honor at the Smithsonian Institute is visually stunning. Jeunet shot the film mostly in Canada using 3D cameras (he made it clear he has no love for the practice of shooting films in 2D and converting them later to 3D, despite the limitation of camera lenses and extreme close-ups).

Speaking of conversion, Warner Bros./Gener’s “300: Rise of an Empire” won the Society’s award for Outstanding Use of 2D-to-3D Conversion.

The nominees and the audience represented a major mix of style and culture. Among the winners were “Guns N’ Roses: Appetite for Democracy,” a commercial for the videogame “World of Warcraft,” the Japanese film “Stand By Me Doraemon,” Netflix’s “House of Cards” TV series in 4K resolution, BBC 3DTV documentaries by David Attenborough “Tiny Giants” and “National History Museum Alive 3D,” as well as Shanghai’s live 3D production of “Beijing Opera: Farewell My Concubine.”

“From Hollywood blockbusters to World War II documentaries to live opera broadcasts, we have never before seen 3D used to excite audiences at this level and quality,” said Society President Jim Chabin.

“This year saw 4K production enter the marketplace with Netflix’s ‘House of Cards,’ and concert productions from Japan,” said Society Awards Chairman Buzz Hays. “With emerging high dynamic range, high frame rate technologies and 4K TV’s coming to market, content creators have incredible new platforms on which to tell their stories,” he added.

AWARD WINNERS INCLUDE:

HAROLD LLOYD AWARD

JEAN-PIERRE JEUNET – FRANCE

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE (AMÉLIE) AND FRENCH DIRECTOR (THE YOUNG AND PRODIGIOUS T.S. SPIVET)

LIVE ACTION 3D FEATURE

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – U.S.

MARVEL STUDIOS/STEREO D

ANIMATED 3D FEATURE

THE LEGO MOVIE – U.S.

WARNER BROS.

3D JURY PRIZE: LIVE ACTION SHORT

CALL HER LOTTE – GERMANY

MIRIQUIDIFILM/STEREOTEC

3D ANIMATED SHORT/NARRATIVE

FEAST – U.S.

THE WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS

3D DOCUMENTARY

ENCHANTED KINGDOM – U.K.

BBC EARTH/BBC WORLDWIDE

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURE – OUTSTANDING USE OF 2D TO 3D CONVERSION

300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE – U.S.

WARNER BROS. /GENER8

3D SEQUENCE/SCENE OF THE YEAR

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST – U.S.

20TH CENTURY FOX/STEREO D

STEREOGRAPHY – LIVE ACTION

SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR – U.S.

PRIME FOCUS WORLD/WEINSTEIN

STEREOGRAPHY – ANIMATION

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 – U.S.

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION STUDIOS

3D COMMERCIAL

WORLD OF WARCRAFT – FRANCE

COWPROD

3DTV HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH’S NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ALIVE 3D – U.K.

COLOSSUS PRODUCTIONS

3DTV NATURE DOCUMENTARY

TINY GIANTS – U.K.

BBC EARTH/ BBC WORLDWIDE

3D DOCUMENTARY SHORT

D-DAY: NORMANDY 1944 – FRANCE

N3D LAND PRODUCTIONS

3D JURY PRIZE: ANIMATED FEATURE

STAND BY ME DORAEMON – JAPAN

SHIROGUMI, INC.

3D JURY PRIZE: LIVE BROADCAST MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

BEIJING OPERA: FAIRWELL MY CONCUBINE – CHINA

SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION OF CULTURE, RADIO, FILM & TV/SMG

3D MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE

GUNS N’ ROSES: APPETITE FOR DEMOCRACY – U.S.

ROCKET FUEL MEDIA

3D INDEPENDENT FEATURE

THE YOUNG & PRODIGIOUS T.S. SPIVET – FRANCE

TAPIOCA FILMS

SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE AWARD

SKY – U.K.

ATLANTIC PRODUCTIONS – U.K.

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH – U.K.

4K ENTERTAINMENT

HOUSE OF CARDS 4K-SEASON 2 – U.S.

NETFLIX

4K MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

BRAVIA 4K X L’ARC EN CIEL – JAPAN

SONY PCL

4K ADVERTISING

LIBERACIÓN – JAPAN

PANASONIC

— By Scott Hettrick

The entire prequel trilogy will reportedly be screened, including “The Phantom Menace” in 3D, according to YakFaceForums.com, citing the newest issue of Star Wars Insider newsletter #155 dated Jan. 20. The 3D version of “Phantom Menace” was released in February 2012 and generated more than $100 million worldwide despite criticisms about the conservative use of 3D. “Clones” and “Sith” were converted and scheduled to be released in late 2013 before they were pulled due to what the studio said was a new companywide focus on “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.” But the cancellation also followed a series of lackluster re-releases of older movies in 3D.

It has been reported but not officially confirmed that “Episode VII” will be released in 3D and IMAX on December 18, 2015.

— By Scott Hettrick