‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ is 'cursed' with $43M US opening

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Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore debuted to a disappointing $43 million domestically over Easter weekend, after earning $20.1 million on Friday and $6 million in Thursday previews. It's doing better in other countries, where it made another $71 million for a total of $193 million (it opened last weekend in select markets).

The $200 million film, which is the third in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spinoff franchise, is performing poorly in comparison to its predecessors. It remains to be seen whether this particular series can continue as franchises become increasingly essential to Hollywood companies.

Directed by David Yates, Secrets of Dumbledore stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Mads Mikkelsen, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, William Nadylam, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams and Victoria Yeates.

In 2016, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them debuted to $74.4 million domestically after earning an A CinemaScore. The second installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, came in below that, or $62.2 million, or 16 percent. Dumbledore came in 30 percent behind Grindelwald.

Both Grindelwald and Dumbledore earned a B+ CinemaScore.

Fantastic Beats falls back inline 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was never as popular as the Harry Potter franchise. COVID-19 has added to the confusion by causing a slew of behind-the-scenes controversy and production delays.

Ezra Miller, who portrays Credence Barebone in all three films, has made news for choking a fan outside a club and, most recently, harassing individuals at a bar in Hawaii and breaking into a couple's hotel room.

Then there's Rowling, the series' creator, who has been embroiled in multiple public debates that have been met with widespread negative reception. 

And Johnny Depp, who played Gellert Grindelwald in the second Fantastic Beasts film, dropped out of Secrets of Dumbledore after being accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife, Amber Heard. (Mads Mikkelsen took Depp's place.)

With Matt Reeves' The Batman, Warner Bros. had a wonderful story to tell, as the film surpassed the $750 million milestones at the global box office, with $365 million in domestic earnings and $386 million internationally. To date, the film is the highest-grossing film of 2022, and one of the most significant of the epidemic.