Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore got off to a relatively poor start stateside, grossing just $43 million — the lowest of any Harry Potter film — but continues to do pretty well abroad. Internationally, JK Rowling’s third entry in her Fantastic Beasts spinoff has accrued $150.4 million, giving the pic a running global tally of $193 million. Per Deadline, the pic trails its predecessors by 42% and 38% in the same timeframe.
So, not quite magical. What this means for the planned five-picture franchise remains anyone’s guess, especially since audiences, who awarded the pic a B+ CinemaScore, are reacting the same to Dumbledore as they did to the poorly reviewed and received Crimes of Grindelwald. Now that the Discovery/WB merger has finally closed, it’ll be interesting to see what the new powers do with the Potter brand.
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Elsewhere, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 dipped -58% in its second frame to bring its domestic total to $119.6 million, while The Lost City accrued another $6.5 million for a $78.5 million cume.
A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once continues to hold strong, bringing in $6.1 million (+1%) in its fourth weekend of release. All told, the pic has collected $17.7 million.
The only other semi-wide release was the Mark Wahlberg/Mel Gibson religious-themed Father Stu, which tripped out of the gate with a decent, but not great, $7 million from 2,705 theaters. Again, unless its a superhero movie or a well known brand on the big screen, audiences are choosing to stay home.
Next weekend sees the Nicolas Cage action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which currently sits at 97% on RottenTomatoes, and the action pic The Northman, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Nicole Kidman.
1.) Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (WB), 4,208 theaters, Fri $20M, Sat $13.9M, Sun $9.1M, 3-day $43M/Wk 1
2.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 4,258 theaters (+24), Fri $10.85M (-59%), Sat $11.6M, Sun $7.55M, 3-day $30M (-58%)/Total $119.6M/Wk 2
3.) The Lost City (Par) 3,430 (-367) theaters Fri. $2.07M (-20%), Sat $2.55M, Sun $1.9M, 3-day $6.5M (-28%)/Total $78.5M/ Wk 4
4.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 2,220 (+970) theaters, Fri $1.9M, Sat $2.4M, Sun $1.85M, 3-day $6.1M (+1%)/Total $17.7M/Wk 4
5.) Father Stu (Sony) 2,705 theaters, Fri $1.68M/Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.8M, 3-day $5.68M/Total $8M/Wk 1
6.) Morbius (Sony) 3,462 (-806) theaters, Fri $1.57M (-46%), Sat $1.98M, Sun $1.1M, 3-day $4.7M (-54%)/Total $65.1M/Wk 3
7.) Ambulance (Uni) 3,412 theaters, Fri $1.3M (-59%), Sat $1.6M, Sun $1.08M, 3-day $4.04M (-54%)/Total $15.6M/Wk 2
8.) The Batman (WB) 2,535 (-719) theaters Fri $1.3M (-28%), Sat $1.56M, Sun $940K, 3-day: $3.8M (-41%) Total $365M/Wk 7
9.) K.F.G. Chapter 2 (Sia) 510 theaters, Fri $527K Sat $573K, Sun $386K, 3-day $1.486M/Total $2.9M/Wk 1
10.) K.F.G. Chapter 2 (Viva, Hindi) 300 theaters $497K, Sat $518K, Sun $373K, 3-day $1.38M/Total $1.7M/Wk 1