The global outlook
The dip in box office across the franchise is mirrored in North America, where The Secrets of Dumbledore opened at the weekend with $42.2m – which compares with a $62.2m debut for The Crimes of Grindelwald, and a $74.4m opening salvo for the first Fantastic Beasts film. The silver lining for Warner Bros is that other territories are performing differently – in Mexico and Brazil, for example, The Secrets of Dumbledore is doing better than, or on par with, the earlier two Fantastic Beasts films.
The global total is $193m, which is not so shabby – and even if the film fails to match the box office heights of the first two entries ($814m and $655m), there could still be a profitable outcome. On the other hand, if Warner Bros plots a further downward box office trajectory for the planned fourth and fifth films in the series, the studio may question the fiscal wisdom of proceeding with them, unless a way can be found to dial down a production spend believed to run to $200m per film (with marketing costs on top).
Sandra Bullock wins the week
Rather humuliatingly, The Secrets of Dumbledore has ceded its UK and Ireland box office crown to The Lost City after just one week at the top spot – although the latter Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum romantic comedic action adventure wins out in the chart by virtue of its Wednesday and Thursday takings being bundled into its opening weekend number, giving it five days of ticket sales (£2.74m). The Secrets of Dumbledore grossed £2.64m for the three-day April 15-17 weekend.
New releases The Northman and Operation Mincemeat are battling mid-table, with Robert Eggers’ Viking revenge tale winning the edge so far (see Top 10 chart below). If audiences agree with critics, the film could be in for a long, sustained run. Second World War mission movie Operation Mincemeat, with a cast led by Colin Firth, should play better midweek, thanks to an older audience skew.
