Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore's opening night box office gross comes in at a low for the series. Secrets of Dumbledore is the third installment in the Harry Potter prequel series that began in 2016. Directed by David Yates with a screenplay by J. K. Rowling and Steve Kloves, the Fantastic Beasts threequel picks up several years after the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald as Albus Dumbledore tasks magizoologist Newt Scamander and his allies with a dangerous mission that leads to an epic clash with dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald and his army.
Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law return to the lead the cast as Newt and Dumbledore alongside Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, and Katherine Waterston. Making his debut as Grindelwald is Mads Mikkelsen, who took the role over from Johnny Depp after he was asked to step down due to the contentious legal battle with his ex-wife, Amber Heard. After several controversies and delays due to the pandemic, which ballooned the budget up to $200 million, the third Fantastic Beasts movie is finally hitting theaters and being seen by audiences.
Secrets of Dumbledore held its opening night preview showings on Thursday, April 14. According to Deadline, the movie managed to gross $6 million at the box office during its opening night. This is the lowest in the Fantastic Beasts series as the first film made $8.7 million, followed by The Crimes of Grindelwald's $9.1 million on Thursday night.
For franchise films, their opening night gross is often indicative of how many diehard fans are rushing out to theaters to see the film as soon as possible. This doesn't bode well for Warner Bros., as these dwindling box office returns would suggest that fan enthusiasm and overall interest in the Fantastic Beasts series is at an all-time low. From here on out, it isn't expected to get much better for the Fantastic Beasts movie, as Secrets of Dumbledore is projected to gross only $40-55 million in its opening weekend, which would be the lowest for the entire Wizarding World franchise.
Other than the pandemic, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has had a few other off-screen issues thrown in front of it. Other than the domestic abuse allegations against Depp, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling remains a divisive figure due to her repeated inflammatory comments on transgender people, which have undoubtedly marred the movie which she co-wrote. Another star, Ezra Miller, has also recently become a controversial figure due to his recent arrest for public intoxication and harassment. Once conceived as a spinoff intended to capitalize on Harry Potter's immense popularity, it's becoming increasingly safe to say that Fantastic Beasts has failed to recapture the magic of the original series.
Source: Deadline
