FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE Opens To Franchise Low In The U.S. But Nears $200M Worldwide

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE Opens To Franchise Low In The U.S. But Nears $200M Worldwide

It was a disappointing weekend for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore at the U.S.box office, and while overseas numbers are a tad better, they might not be enough to save the Wizarding franchise.

By JoshWilding - Apr 18, 2022 02:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Harry Potter
Source: Deadline (via SFFGazette.com)

After earning a so-so $20.1 million on Friday, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore ended up taking in a disappointing $43 million at the domestic box office this weekend. That Friday number includes $6 million from Thursday previews, so the $200 million blockbuster has opened well behind its predecessors...and that's not good news. 

We've heard from multiple outlets that the future of the franchise (believed to be at least two movie movies) hinges on how well The Secrets of Dumbledore performs. We're still waiting on international numbers, but right now, it's hard to imagine Warner Bros. continuing this series. 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opened to $74.4 million in 2016, while Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald kicked off its run with $62.2 million. The franchise has never found the same level of success as the Harry Potter movies, and this sudden shift of focus to Albus Dumbledore hasn't had the desired effect in terms of box office numbers for the Wizarding World.

On a slightly more positive note, The Secrets of Dumbledore has thus far earned over $150 million at the international box office, taking its worldwide total to $193.4 million. Unfortunately, that's still 38% behind the previous chapter and 42% off what the original earned nearly six years ago.

This latest movie has just 49% on Rotten Tomatoes and, in our review, we concluded by saying, "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore allows Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen to shine, but lazy, inconsistent storytelling leaves us weary at the prospect of two more movies in a corner of the Wizarding World that feels far from magical at this point."

It would be a shame for this story to abruptly end, but the smartest decision right now would be to wrap things up in one final movie. Ultimately, this franchise is likely to be remembered as a disappointment, and Warner Bros.' live-action plans beyond that remain a mystery to us for now.

Did you decide to check out Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore this weekend?

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CurlyBill
CurlyBill - 4/18/2022, 2:25 PM
If WB was smart they would have done a light hearted trilogy of Fantastic beast films with the same tone as the early potter films and a separate trilogy of young Dumbledore films with the darker tone of the latter Potter films.
dracula
dracula - 4/18/2022, 2:25 PM
still an impressive opening but yeah this movie can go either way

loads of bad press coming from miller, rowling and depp

how bad the last movie was

the mixed responses to this one
MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 4/18/2022, 2:26 PM
TUD
TUD - 4/18/2022, 2:34 PM
@MCUKnight11 - That depends on how you define ruin. It seems like everyone was relatively satisfied with Mortal Kombat as a B-tier reboot, and the Hobbit movies, though bad, did make a ton of money. Harry Potter and the DCEU though, yeah. I have no arguments for those two lol.
JustAChillFan
JustAChillFan - 4/18/2022, 2:30 PM
I never understood the idea behind this offshoot of the franchise personally.
JFerguson
JFerguson - 4/18/2022, 2:31 PM
ran all that magic into the ground at this point. just throw in the towel.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/18/2022, 2:32 PM
MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 4/18/2022, 2:34 PM
@BlackBeltJones - Did you hear new Kendrick album dropping?!
GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/18/2022, 2:41 PM
@MCUKnight11 - yessir coming next month

MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 4/18/2022, 2:45 PM
@BlackBeltJones - May gonna be so good with this and Multiverse of madness dropping.
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 4/18/2022, 2:36 PM
This whole "saga" has many faults in its conception but it surely doesn't help they have made them as bland and flavorless as possible.
MCUKnight11
MCUKnight11 - 4/18/2022, 2:38 PM
I'm going to fancast Eddie Redmayne as Scarecrow in a The Batman sequel.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 4/18/2022, 2:44 PM
End this misery
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 4/18/2022, 2:48 PM
Justice for Johnny.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 4/18/2022, 3:04 PM
I’ll end up seeing this eventually, I just don’t feel like it’s a must watch right away thing.
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