'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' Expected to Earn $65 Million on Opening Weekend

That total puts it well behind the first 'Fantastic Beasts.'

November 17, 2018

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is expected to pull in $63 to $65 million domestically over the weekend after topping box offices with $25.7 million in ticket sales on Friday, including advance screenings and special premieres that ran in theaters on Thursday night.

The Hollywood Reporter shares that the second film in the Harry Potter spin-off series is performing well behind its predecessor. That film pulled in $74.4 million in its first weekend.

All told, Grindelwald is expected to nab more than $185 million worldwide this weekend. The global gross for the movie as of Friday was $74.3 million, earning $4.5 million in the UK and $12.3 million in China.

The film follows Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander and Jude Law's Albus Dumbledore as they attempt to take down a demagogue wizard named Gellert Grindelwald. The wizard, played by Johnny Depp, is advocating against laws that require wizards to keep their magic hidden from regular humans.

The film might be hurting due to poor reviews. The sequel holds a 40 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with most critics agreeing that it failed to live up to the other films in the Harry Potter universe.

"The Crimes of Grindelwald feels hollow and disconnected, like it could have been made by anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Rowling's wizarding world," said Chicago Reader.