After opening at #1 last weekend with $43 million, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has been overthrown. DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys is the new box office champion with $24 million. Additionally, The Secrets of Dumbledore was leapfrogged by Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which retained second place with $15.2 million and a new domestic total of $145.8 million. That sequel is a hit, which is more than we can say for the third Fantastic Beasts film. According to Deadline, The Secrets of Dumbledore shed 67% of its initial box office total to earn only $14 million in third place. Dumbledore Drops.
With those numbers, The Secrets of Dumbledore is close to going the full Morbius. Its new North American total is $67 million, and it seems poised to be the first film in the Harry Potter franchise to finish under $100 million domestically. Some have suggested that swapping Johnny Depp’s Grindelwald for Mads Mikkelsen or J.K. Rowling’s controversial social media comments are to blame. But the real answer may simply be that the target audience isn’t responding to this sequel. It’s not performing like a Harry Potter movie, nor is it getting a lot of repeat business.
Internationally, The Secrets of Dumbledore is having more success with $213.2 million, and a combined worldwide total of $280.3 million. However, the previous film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, had $159.6 million domestically and $654.9 million worldwide in 2018. Given the lackluster response of the U.S. market, The Secrets of Dumbledore has no chance of matching those numbers. This won’t be the end of the Harry Potter franchise, but it could very well be the last installment of Fantastic Beasts.
RELATED: The Secrets of Dumbledore Opens To Franchise Low $43 Million
The Northman and Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent took fourth and fifth place, with $12 million and $7.1 million, respectively. In sixth place, Everything Everywhere All at Once had an impressive hold with $5.4 million, which is only 11% down from last week. Its new domestic total is $26.9 million. The Lost City finished in seventh place with $4.38 million, while Father Stu came in eighth with $3.3 million.
As for Morbius, it dropped another 53% this weekend to ninth place with $2.25 million, and a new domestic total of $69.1 million. At this point, $75 million in the U.S. is probably out of reach for Morbius, and it will likely exit the top ten next weekend. Morbius has done better internationally, with $87.4 million to date. So far, it has taken in $156.6 million worldwide. That said, movie studios typically only keep half of a film’s box office total. That means Morbius may squeak by and cover its $75 million production budget. But when factoring in the film’s advertising and promotional budget, Morbius will lose money. It’s only a question of how much.
Rounding out the top 10 is Michael Bay’s Ambulance, which finished the weekend with $1.8 million. There are no major releases set for next weekend, but Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is projected to open in the near $200 million range on the weekend of May 6. Once that happens, it may suck the air out of the rest of the box office.
What do you think about the latest box office results? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | Two-Volume Hardcover Book Set
