LOS ANGELES — For months, Warner Bros. marketers did everything they could to stir interest in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” the second of the studio’s five lavish Harry Potter prequels. The hard sell appears to have worked overseas. But initial ticket sales were soft in the United States and Canada, where audiences are more susceptible to reviews.

And the reviews were sickly — the worst for J.K. Rowling’s movie-verse by far — potentially hurting the all-important Warner franchise going forward: When audiences feel let down by one chapter in a film series, it is harder to get them to care about the next one.

“The Crimes of Grindelwald” took in an estimated $62.2 million at 4,163 theaters in North America, about 16 percent less than “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” collected over its first three days in 2016. “The Crimes of Grindelwald” received a B-plus grade from ticket buyers in CinemaScore exit polls, down from an A for the previous installment.

[Read Manohla Dargis’s review of “The Crimes of Grindelwald”]

Overseas, the new movie rolled out in 79 markets and sold an estimated $191 million in tickets, a total that Warner described as “spectacular” in a statement on Sunday. Turnout in Russia was particularly strong, Warner said. Attendance at Imax theaters across the globe was also robust. Ron Sanders, the studio’s president of worldwide theatrical distribution and home entertainment, said that the film’s “very successful opening” set it up well to play “throughout the holiday season.”