Judging by how big and awesome the Harry Potter film series was, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald should be a big hit. The Fantastic Beasts series serves as a prequel to the Harry Potter series with the first one, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them being released in 2016 to mostly positive reviews, earning the WIzarding World franchise its first Oscar in the process. There’s more on the way as J.K. Rowling has plans for this series but it’s starting to look like those plans may need to change.
The Crimes of Grindelwald isn’t earning a ton of praise from critics with the film earning the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score in the franchise. Yeah, the performances were great and it was pretty fun but god, it sure as hell wasted its potential. However, critics’ and box-office numbers don’t always come together as the film could rake in a ton of cash at the box office. It looks like it might not however, as the film is projected to earn the lowest in the franchise.
According to Box Office Pro, The Crimes of Grindelwald is projected to earn about $55 million to $70 million in its opening weekend. This may sound like a solid number but if this is actually the case, it would be the franchise’s lowest box-office opening. Where to Find Them earned $74. 4 million, earning a worldwide gross of over $814 million so there’s a chance this next one could still get a decent amount of cash but it still looks like the film would be the black sheep of the wizarding family.
That sucks! Actually, it sucks that The Crimes of Grindelwald squandered whatever potential it had to make the Wizarding World franchise something to be reckoned with today. It could be the reviews or it could be the controversial casting of Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald or perhaps even other factors. Whatever it is, Warner Bros. best rethink their strategy for the third film and maybe it’s time director David Yates calls it quits for the franchise. Bring back Alfonso Cuaron WB!
Source: Box Office Pro
