Los Angeles, April 17 ( /Xinhua) Warner Bros Pictures’ fantasy film “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” took the top spot at the North American box office this weekend with an estimated 43 million US dollars debut, according to studio figures released by measurement firm Comscore on Sunday. The opening weekend sales in North America for the third chapter in JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter” spinoff series landed well behind its predecessors, 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” with 74 million dollars and 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” with 62 million dollars. Directed by David Yates, with a budget of 200 million dollars, the film features an ensemble cast, including Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, two-time Oscar nominee Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, William Nadylam, Callum Turner, Katherine Waterston and Jessica Williams. The film holds an approval rating of 48 per cent based on 181 reviews to date on review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. Movie audiences gave it a “B+” on CinemaScore, a market research firm that surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences. Paramount Pictures’ family-friendly film “Sonic The Hedgehog 2” moved to the second place on its second weekend with 30 million dollars, pushing its North American cume to 119.6 million dollars. Rounding out the top three, Paramount Pictures’ action-adventure comedy film “The Lost City” took in 6.5 million dollars on its fourth weekend for a North American total of 78.57 million dollars. /XINHUA MYK