The Northman Leads Bad Guys and Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent at Preview Box Office

With a pair of returning movies (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and Sonic the Hedgehog 2) set to duke it out for #1 at the box office, a number of smaller movies are set to debut this weekend. Both Sonic -- currently in its third week of release -- and Dumbledore -- its second -- are expected to make somewhere between $18 million and $20 million this weekend, with The Bad Guys tracking for $15 million and a #3 spot. In spite of its huge release push, The Secrets of Dumbledore has alternated with Sonic for the top spot during the week. It's newer, but Sonic is getting better reviews and a better response from fans.

So far in fact, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has generated $130.6M, which is 16% ahead of the two-week numbers for Sonic the Hedgehog back in 2020. So far, it looks like The Northman will generate between $8 million and $12 million this weekend. That's respectable for a movie with a limited audience appeal, but New Regency and Focus were likely hoping for more than that, since the movie cost $70 million to make. On the other side is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which is expected to earn between $5 million and $7 million. That film cost just $30 million, and has been easy to market since it leans heavily into social media memes about its star, Nicolas Cage.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore debuted in 22 countries and pulled in a total of $58 million, including opening at #1 in China with just shy of $10 million there in spite of censorship to meet the nation's standards.

David Yates (Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) directs from a screenplay by J.K. Rowling & Steve Kloves, based upon a screenplay by Rowling. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, William Nadylam, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Fiona Glascott, Katherine Waterston, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Richard Coyle, Oliver Masucci, Valerie Pachner, and Mads Mikkelsen, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore opens in North American theaters on April 15.