Remember Morbius, the latest installment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe that introduced Jared Leto’s Living Vampire to the masses?
If feels like an eternity ago even though it was only a couple of weeks, and nobody is even really talking about the movie at all anymore, which means it isn’t a good sign for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore to be tracking for a similar-sized opening weekend.
The latest estimates have the third installment in the Wizarding World prequel series tracking for a three-day debut in the $40 million range, which would be roughly on a par with Morbius. However, should Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hold strong after a record-breaking bow, then there are absolutely no guarantees The Secrets of Dumbledore will even top the charts.
SEGA’s blue speedster is looking at $30-40 million in its sophomore weekend, and it’s geared towards much the same demographic as Fantastic Beasts. Make no mistake, if the latest big budget fantasy epic doesn’t reach $40 million or fails to open at number one, then it’s going to be an unmitigated disaster for both Warner Bros., and the franchise as a whole.
The first installment nabbed $74 million out of the gate, while The Crimes of Grindelwald scored $62 million. They combined to earn in excess of $1.47 billion in total, though, and The Secrets of Dumbledore isn’t expected to come anywhere close to matching those figures.
Alarm bells are already ringing in regards to the fourth and fifth entries in the saga, so it really can’t be understated how much Fantastic Beasts 3 needs to be a hit.