‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ Is Projected To Debut With A Franchise-Worst Opening Weekend

The Harry Potter movies are guaranteed box office hits. That includes Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which is expected to make $65 million (domestic) during its first three days of release at the box office. That’s a lot of money! For most movies, at least: the projected total would be a franchise-worst for the Potter series.

Here’s the opening weekend for every Harry Potter title:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($169,189,427)

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 ($125,017,372)

3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($102,685,961)

4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($93,687,367)

5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ($90,294,621)

6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ($88,357,488)

7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($77,835,727)

8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($77,108,414)

9. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($74,403,387)

Fantastic Beasts doesn’t have the same name brand appeal as Harry Potter, the most successful children’s book series ever, but it’s still a steep drop to go from $88 million, which is how much the second Harry Potter film (Chamber of Secrets) made, to $65 million. And that’s not before adjusting for inflation. It also doesn’t help that The Crimes of Grindelwald is getting indifferent reviews: Of the 10 Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts films, it’s the only one with a “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes (50 percent). Johnny Depp may be to blame, somehow.