The Harry Potter franchise’s phenomenal reception seems to be dwindling with this weekend’s release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore only bringing in $43 million at the domestic box office. This is a low turnout for the third film in the trilogy, especially for such a prominent franchise, and on a holiday weekend.
Overseas, the film is doing slightly better earning $71 million. This brings the global total to $193 million, just shy of the film’s total budget of $200 million. While it is on track to still make well above the original budget, the latest David Yates film in the Wizarding World franchise is setting a disappointing tone, especially for the end of a trilogy.
The first film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them premiered in 2016 with $74.4 million at domestic box offices and the second film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald came in 16% lower at $62.2 million. The sequel also fared less well with critics and audience reviews.
The film’s low turnout is likely due to a variety of factors including COVID delays and audience hesitation in theaters, but also the fact that the Fantastic Beasts franchise doesn’t seem to appeal to the wider audience as much as the Potter films did. The film has also faced its fair share of scandal with several harassment and assault allegations and the controversial firing and replacement of Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, replaced by Mads Mikkelsen.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Jude Law, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, and newcomer Mads Mikkelsen and is showing in theaters now.
Here are the top 10 weekend films playing at the theater:
1. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (Opening Weekend): 43 million
2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Week Two) – Weekend Total: 29.3 million
3. The Lost City (Week Four) – Weekend Total: 6.2 million
4. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Week Four): 6.2 million
5. Father Stu (Opening Weekend) – Weekend Total: 5.4 million
6. Morbius (Week Three) – Weekend Total: 4.7 million
7. Ambulance (Week Two) – Weekend Total: 4.1 million
8. The Batman (Week Seven) – Weekend Total: 3.8 million
9. K.G.F: Chapter 2 (Opening Weekend) – Weekend Total: 2.9 million
10. Uncharted (Week Nine) – Weekend Total: 1.2 million
It is important to note that this is the first weekend since Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters in December that it hasn’t been in the top 10 weekend films playing in theaters.
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