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Fantastic Beasts 2: Harry Potter films reach new low at American box office

Jack Shepherd
Updated

JK Rowling’s magical touch has seemingly begun to fade in America.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald marks a new low for the Wizarding World franchise at the US box office, grossing $62.2 million over the weekend.

Analysts had estimated the sequel-prequel would make between $65 million and $75 million, the higher end of which would have matched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them‘s opening weekend gross of $74.4 million. The lowest opening for a film in the original Harry Potter series was $77.1 million for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Unlike Where to Find Them, the sequel was working against negative reviews: where the first scored 74 per cent on the aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, The Crimes of Grindelwald has managed just 40 per cent. Their Cinemascores – an audience reaction score – also differed, the second instalment in the five-part Fantastic Beasts series managing a B+ compared to the first’s A.

There’s no doubt studio Warner Bros will find solace overseas, with the film grossing $253.2 million around the world over the weekend. That’s slightly higher than the first Fantastic Beasts, by 2.7 per cent, thanks mainly to record ticket sales for the series in Russia, Indonesia, Argentina and Brazil.

While there’s no final figure just yet, the UK gross for Fantastic Beasts also looks set to be a record low for the series, falling an estimated 17 per cent on Fantastic Beasts’ $18,929,810 opening. Should Crimes of Grindelwald come in around the $15.5 million mark, that would be lower than previous series’ low, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban‘s $17,478,583.

Part of this low figure in the UK comes from strong holds from both The Grinch and Tom Hardy’s superhero blockbuster Venom.

Crimes of Grindelwald should have been boosted by the appearance of Harry Potter characters, including Dumbledore, played by Jude Law. However, the film came amid various controversies, including the casting of Johnny Depp.