While Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore hit the domestic weekend box office with a Harry Potter franchise hitting a low of $43 million, The Batman soared to over $750 million worldwide.
As Variety reports, Fantastic Beasts 3 continues the downward trend that began after the release of the original Fantastic Beasts and followed the $169 million opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
The first film grossed $74 million, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald made $62 million, and now the third entry has brought that to $43 million. Fantastic Beasts 3 has grossed $193 million worldwide to date and is on track to recoup its $200 million production cost.
In our review of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, we said that it “looks and feels bleak as if it was made by people wanting to ditch their magical premise, though the series refuses to have anything , reminiscent of politics or adult perspectives.”
The Fantastic Beasts saga was set to last five films, but Warner Bros. is reportedly waiting to see how this latest film fares before moving forward with a script for a possible fourth film.
Aside from mediocre reviews, the Fantastic Beasts franchise has been marred by JK Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric, domestic violence allegations that prompted Johnny Depp to quit, and Ezra Miller’s recent arrest for disorderly conduct and harassment.
The Batman, on the other hand, continues to impress and has reached $750 million worldwide. The Batman remains the highest-grossing film of the year, grossing $365 million domestically and $386 million internationally.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 rocketed to second place last weekend with ticket sales of $30 million. Sonic’s second appearance saw a 58% drop from its opening weekend, but still managed to surpass $119 million in North America.
The Lost City came in third with $6.5 million, Everything Everywhere All at Once was fourth with $6.1 million, and Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson’s father Stu rounded out the top five with $5 million. dollars off. Morbius was knocked out of the top 5 as it only grossed $4.7 million.
Do you have a tip for us? Would you like to discuss a possible story? Please email [email protected].
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.