David Yates' Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore did not get off to a great start at the box office. As reported last Sunday, the blockbuster set an opening weekend low for the Wizarding World franchise, and the news generated a whole lot of concern about the future of the Fantastic Beasts series. Now, things are looking even starker for the movie, as Pierre Perifel's animated The Bad Guys arrived in theaters and not only blew the movie out of the #1 slot, but pushed it down to third place.
Check out the full Top 10 below, and join me after for analysis!
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The Bad Guys* | $24,000,000 | $24,000,000 | Row 0 - Cell 3 | 4,009 |
| 2. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 | $15,225,000 | $145,829,424 | 2 | 3,809 |
| 3. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore | $14,010,000 | $67,126,750 | 1 | 4,245 |
| 4. The Northman* | $12,000,000 | $12,000,000 | Row 3 - Cell 3 | 3,234 |
| 5. The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent* | $7,175,000 | $7,175,000 | Row 4 - Cell 3 | 3,036 |
| 6. Everything Everywhere All At Once | $5,425,446 | $26,944,336 | 4 | 2,133 |
| 7. The Lost City | $4,375,000 | $85,394,909 | 3 | 2,828 |
| 8. Father Stu | $3,325,000 | $13,869,511 | 5 | 2,705 |
| 9. Morbius | $2,250,000 | $69,178,104 | 6 | 2,306 |
| 10. Ambulance | $1,800,000 | $19,199,045 | 7 | 1,966 |
The Bad Guys Continues To Show The Power Of Family Films At The Box Office
When executed properly, major G/PG-rated animated movies always have tremendous potential at the box office. Whole families going to the local multiplex for a new release obviously generates extra revenue – as we saw just a couple weeks ago with the arrival of Jeff Fowler's Sonic The Hedgehog 2, which opened to the tune of $72.1 million in its first three days.
The Bad Guys is actually the first wholly animated feature from a major studio to arrive in theaters in 2022, with Domee Shi's Turning Red controversially becoming Disney+ exclusive, but based on its opening weekend results, the viability of the material is still very strong. According to The Numbers, the new movie has made $24 million since Friday, which is the eighth biggest debut of the year thus far (behind Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's Scream, and in front of Jeff Tremaine's Jackass Forever).
It's the strongest start that a DreamWorks Animation feature has had since 2019 and the release of Dean DeBlois's How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and more than the last releases made in their opening weekends combined. (Tom McGrath's The Boss Baby: Family Business, which was given a streaming/theatrical hybrid release in July 2021, only made $16 million in its first three days, and Elaine Bogan's Spirit Untamed brought in only $6.1 million when it debuted a month prior.)
The Bad Guys, featuring a voice cast including Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Anthony Ramos, Craig Robinson, and Awkwafina, earned solid buzz when domestic reviews landed at the end of last week, and it appears that audiences are enjoying it as well. According to CinemaScore, survey-takers ended up giving the animated feature an "A" grade – which could result in the film showing off some impressive legs in the weeks to come
The good news domestically for the film comes after it has already had some success abroad. The Bad Guys actually had its international debut in theaters a while ago, as it was released in some foreign markets back in mid-March. To date it has made $63.1 million overseas, meaning its global total as of right now stands at $87.1 million. According to Deadline, the movie cost a reported $69 million to make (before publicity and marketing expenses), so it is well on its way to being profitable.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore Takes A Tumble From The Top, Takes Third Place Behind Sonic The Hedgehog 2
While there are likely cheers that can be heard out of Universal Pictures following the release of The Bad Guys, the sound coming from Warner Bros. is teeth grinding and collars being pulled. As noted, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore did not get off to the hot start that the studio was hoping for when it hit theaters last week, and the news has only gotten more grim one week later.
When compared to the $43 million that the fantasy blockbuster made last Friday-to-Sunday, the $14 million it made this weekend represents a terrible 67 percent drop. That's not quite as bad as the tumble performed by Daniel Espinosa's Morbius earlier in April, which fell 74 percent in its sophomore weekend, but that comparison is not exactly going to earn any cheers from Harry Potter die-hards.
Globally, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore has made $280 million, which may sound great, but you have to factor in that this is a feature that cost a conservative $200 million to make. The sequel's predecessor, David Yates' Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, made $651.3 million by the time it was done playing theatrically back in 2018, and it doesn't appear that the follow-up is going to make anywhere near that total.
What's bad news for Fantastic Beasts is good news for Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Because of the steep drop by the Wizarding World feature, the video game movie was able to hold on to second place for the second week – making $15.2 million in its third weekend. To date, it has made $216.8 million, and it is now on pace to outgross the first Sonic The Hedgehog, which made $304.9 million before it was done playing on the big screen around the world in early 2020.
The Northman And The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent Put Up Strong But Not Spectacular Opening Weekend Numbers
Clearly family-friendly content dominated at the box office this weekend, but not to be dismissed is the new R-rated content that arrived this weekend, including Robert Eggers' The Northman and Tom Gormican's The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent. The Viking revenge epic starring Alexander Skarsgård began its theatrical run this weekend and made $12 million, which was good enough for fourth place, and the critically-acclaimed new Nicolas Cage movie landed in fifth place after having made $7.2 million.
Surely the idea behind the launch of both films was to serve as counter-programming for kid-friendly movies that have been arriving in the last few weeks, but neither did either surprisingly well or disappointingly bad. The Northman and The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent had production budgets of about $70 million and $30 million respectively, so both still have long roads to travel before being called profitable – but cinephiles who are rooting for the movie can hold fast to hope that all of the positive buzz around both will allow them to stick around in the bottom half of the Top 10 in the weeks to come.
Slow growth certainly isn't impossible: just look at what Daniels' Everything Everywhere All At Once has done in the last month since its debut in limited release. The multiverse action/drama/comedy has made $28.3 million to date, making it the fourth biggest movie that has been distributed by A24.
We'll continue to track the performance of both films next weekend as they, along with everything else currently playing, faces off against new releases including Martin Campbell's Memory starring Liam Neeson. Head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how the Top 10 gets shaken up, and plan your next trip to the theater with our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.
