As the current custodian of the ridiculously lucrative Harry Potter brand, there's a lot of weight on the shoulders of the Fantastic Beasts movies. So Warner Bros. is probably somewhat perturbed by the weekend box office returns of the new entry, The Crimes of Grindelwald.

It earned $62 million during its opening weekend; a sturdy number from most perspectives, but around $12 million less than what the first Fantastic Beasts movie raked in on its opening frame in 2016.

Again, it doesn't exactly make the film a flop, and the international returns are as bountiful as ever, but a downward trend will surely cause much consternation.

Brand fatigue doesn't really seem to be a thing anymore, so we can perhaps attribute the smaller-than-expected turnout to the less-than-stellar reviews the new film received. Or it could be that audiences were turned off by talk that The Crimes of Grindelwald may have been commenting on contemporary politics with its hate-stoking titular villain. Some audiences prefer pure escapism, thank you very much.

Or maybe it was the fact that Johnny Depp plays the titular villain. His casting generated controversy when his messy divorce proceedings brought forth accusations of spousal abuse by his now ex-wife, Amber Heard, but the film's producers (and author J.K. Rowling) stood by the casting.

Or perhaps it's that we're inching closer to the holiday movie season and there are simply too many options at the box office to allow one to really dominate in the way that Warner Bros. no doubt hoped it would.

Indeed, two other big family movies made an impact in the box office over the weekend, with Universal/Illumination's The Grinch taking in a hefty $38 million on its second weekend in theaters, no doubt snatching away some of the Fantastic Beasts audience. And the new Mark Wahlberg/Rose Byrne fostering comedy Instant Family (Paramount) took in almost $15 million on its opening weekend, enough to secure the number four spot. It was pipped at the post for the number three position by Bohemian Rhapsody, which continues to spin its crowd-pleasing qualities into box office gold, bringing its total to almost $128 million in its third weekend in theaters.

Although the family movie-friendly Thanksgiving weekend will probably help make up for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's initial shortfall, it will face some stiff competition in the form of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, as well as Creed II. It could be a Thanksgiving blood bath. 

Steve McQueen, the Oscar®-winning director best known for art house breakouts like 12 Years a Slave, Shame and Hunger went for something a little more multiplex-friendly with his latest film, the star-studded heist thriller Widows (Fox). McQueen is probably disappointed with the film's opening weekend grosses, a mere $12 million. But perhaps the film will be able to ride its positive critical reception to more success over the coming weeks.

Further down the list, Universal's Green Book opened in limited release and took in $313,000 in 25 theaters, but the Mahershala Ali/Viggo Mortensen film is just beginning to heat up, with a lot of Academy Award® talk swirling around it. It's just the kind of weepy crowd-pleaser that could gather real steam at the box office as it heads toward increasingly certain Oscar glory.