After earning a so-so $20.1 million on Friday, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is currently eyeing an underwhelming $40 million - $45 million at the North American 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.
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 just have the story conclude 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?