Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore recorded the lowest international opening weekend in the Harry Potter spinoff franchise’s history.
The film raked in $58 million from 22 overseas markets, according to box office data obtained by Variety. This is well below the commercial performance of the previous installment in the Fantastic Beasts series, The Crimes of Grindelwald, which opened with a $191 million international haul in 2018. It’s worth noting that The Secrets of Dumbledore opened in fewer countries than its predecessor and Warner Bros. will be hoping for an uptick when it hits 44 additional markets including France, Italy, Korea, Brazil and Mexico.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore also opens in North America on April 15 but domestic box office projections suggest the franchise may be running out of magic. Box Office Pro forecasts The Secrets of Dumbledore‘s ticket sales in this market will amount to between $100 million and $140 million, considerably less than The Crimes of Grindelwald‘s $159.6 million box office gross.
The Secrets of Dumbledore‘s poor critical reception isn’t likely to help its domestic and international takings. While many critics have described the film as an improvement over The Crimes of Grindelwald, it has nevertheless garnered mixed-to-negative reviews overall. Major issues reviewers had with the latest Fantastic Beasts include its uneven tone and apparent lack of overall purpose. The performance by franchise newcomer Mads Mikkelsen, who replaces Johnny Depp as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, was largely well-received.
Mikkelsen recently made headlines after he declined to condemn Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts creator JK Rowling’s stance on transgender issues. “People treat [Rowling’s views] a little flippantly, like, ‘Isn’t that a disgrace?’ And every time you ask somebody, you can’t really figure out what she said,” Mikkelsen said. “But if the reaction is that crazy, we have to be very careful that we know what we’re talking about.”
The Danish actor also addressed the method acting style employed by some of his peers in the film industry, labeling these techniques “bullshit” and “pretentious.” “What if it’s a shit film — what do you think you achieved? Am I impressed that you didn’t drop character? You should have dropped it from the beginning! How do you prepare for a serial killer? You gonna spend two years checking it out?” he said.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore premieres in theaters on April 15.
Source: Variety