Does “Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secret” really have the worst box office in the “Harry Potter” franchise?

“Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore”, the third feature in the franchise derived from “Harry Potter”, hits theaters on April 14th and, despite the short time on the big screen, the news has caused concern among fans, who fear that the pentalogy intended to tell the story of the duel between Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gerard Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) is discontinued. And it’s not without reason: so far, the film has the worst box office of the entire “Harry Potter” franchise.

But are the accounts correct? With only two weeks in theaters worldwide, “Fantastic Beasts 3” has already surpassed $200 million in international grosses, a feat that only a franchise like “Harry Potter” could achieve so easily. In addition, the feature is the first to debut after two important factors: the coronavirus pandemic and the launch of HBO Max, WarnerMedia’s streaming platform.

First, let’s talk about the pandemic, which was responsible for closing cinemas and changed the way people started to watch film productions. In the two years between the outbreak of the virus and the release of “Fantastic Beasts 3”, movie audiences migrated strongly to streamings and the platforms met the demand of these people. Even when theaters reopened for good, some services kept hybrid releases, keeping people at home and “unshelving” productions already shot.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” which was released in 2016 and kicked off the spin-off franchise, is the highest-grossing film of the three to date, with more than $814 million worldwide. With the exception of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), all the “Harry Potter” films have made more than this amount in their stints on the big screen.

When the second film, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” was released in 2018, the reception was even lower, with nearly $655 million at the worldwide box office. Again, these would be perfect numbers for any movie, but not for a production in the “Harry Potter” franchise, which has made nearly $8 billion at the box office from its eight films.

Both the first and second “Fantastic Beasts” films were in theaters around the world for 58 weeks, that is, more than a year, according to information from Box Office Mojo, which accounts for the films’ box office. The time on the big screen – even if it loses screens as the film is replaced by new productions – certainly helped in a more expressive revenue and would certainly help with the third film, but there is another obstacle in the way: HBO Max.

The platform debuted in May 2020 in the United States, in the first months of the pandemic, and arrived in Brazil a year later. One of the main attractions of HBO Max, announced along with the news, is that films from the WarnerMedia conglomerate, including productions by Warner Bros. Pictures like “Fantastic Beasts” would hit the service about 50 days after they opened in theaters. That is, the film has about seven weeks to conquer the same box office as it would in a year in the past.

A recent example is “The Batman,” which in the seven-week period it was in theaters grossed $752 million at the worldwide box office. For comparison’s sake, it’s just about $300 million less than “Joker,” another DC movie released in October 2019, which grossed just over $1 billion at the worldwide box office in about five months earlier. the closing of cinemas due to the pandemic.

“Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore” could indeed become the worst box office in the “Harry Potter” franchise so far and that, of course, could change Warner Bros.’s initial plans. Pictures. However, it’s silly to think that the studio isn’t taking all these issues into account. Even with the critical repudiation of the last two films in the pentalogy, the amounts collected at the box office around the world can still keep the fourth and fifth films in production.