MOVIE NEWS – Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore had the lowest-grossing premiere of all the Harry Potter films, yet it still managed to top the box office charts.

The weekend box office figures brought both good and bad news for Warner Bros. as the new sequel to the Fantastic Beasts series, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, opened to $43 million in US cinemas, enough to take the top spot on the weekend box office chart. Given that the film cost a hefty $200 million to make, these numbers are well below the studio’s expectations and set a new record as the lowest-grossing premiere of any film in the Harry Potter franchise.

However, when the worldwide box office is considered, Fantastic Beasts 3 is already at $193.4 million, so the film is not a total flop.

Still, a lower-than-expected box office premiere and lukewarm reviews may have convinced Warner Bros to put the brakes on the series. Preliminary plans were to make at least two more films, but as this depended on The Secrets of Dumbledore doing well, Fantastic Beasts could end up as a trilogy.

The less than glowing reviews didn’t help the film at the box office, and it’s possible that the many moviegoers who boycotted the production for one reason or another made matters worse. Many of J.K. Rowling’s critics vowed not to see the film because of her involvement after she made offensive comments about the transgender community. Meanwhile, many Johnny Depp fans protested against the movie after it emerged he was asked to step down from his role as Grindelwald.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 shot up to second place

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dropped 58% from its opening weekend to take in $30 million; it opened with $71 million, almost $30 million more than Fantastic Beasts 3. Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s adventure, The Lost City, is still hanging on with $6.5 million. Rounding out the top five is the new action film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, which received a near-perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes, followed by Mark Wahlberg’s latest film, Father Stu.

Morbius and Ambulance followed in the next two spots, performing below studio expectations. Meanwhile, Spider-Man: No Way Home is still in the top 10, now in 10th place, adding another $200,000 to the profit pile. The film has grossed more than $1.8 billion worldwide since its December release, making it one of the highest-grossing films of all time and the highest-grossing film of the pandemic era. Batman is not far behind and is now collecting millions more, with an additional $3.8 million.

Source: The Numbers