Now You See Me 3 Sets New Franchise Record With Rotten Tomatoes Score

After nearly a decade of waiting, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t has brought the heist team of magicians known as The Four Horsemen back for a new adventure, and they’ve already set a new record. The latest installment in the action franchise sees the returns of Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelson and Dave Franco as the heist-driven group of magicians, who expand their roster with a group of three up-and-coming illusionists to assist on their latest mission to steal a diamond from a powerful crime syndicate.

Development on the third Now You See Me installment memorably found itself undergoing quite a lengthy process, with previous director Jon M. Chu departing due to scheduling conflicts with his two-part Wicked movies. The threequel also underwent various rewrites, including from Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who previously worked with Eisenberg and Harrelson on the Zombieland movies.

The wait looks to have been worth it, however, as with three days remaining until the movie hits theaters, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t has received its debut score on Rotten Tomatoes. With 16 reviews calculated at the time of writing, the heist threequel holds a 63% approval rating from critics, setting a new record as the best-reviewed installment in the franchise thus far. As new reviews are set to come in over the next few days, the score will likely fluctuate.

With its current score, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t definitely holds the title of the best-reviewed one yet, though it isn’t necessarily by a big margin. The previous films, which were better received by audiences than critics, ended up on the Rotten side of the Tomatometer, with the first film being the closest to the new one at 50%, while the 2016 sequel sits at a 34%. Check out how the Now You See Me movies compare on Rotten Tomatoes below:

Given the score has already fluctuated between the high and low 60 percentile range on Rotten Tomatoes, there is still a chance that the threequel continues the franchise’s Rotten streak. It debuting in said range generally means critics are mixed on the film, as evidenced by ScreenRant‘s review for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, which took particular issue with the movie’s lack of innovation from the previous installments:

The movie certainly looks nice, but Brian Tyler is back to compose the score, and there is no shortage of ham-fisted stings up his sleeve to overwhelm nearly any moment. With its sugary optimism, this is a film both aesthetically and spiritually stuck in the era in which it was made.

Regardless of where it ultimately ends on the Tomatometer, Lionsgate clearly have faith in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t being a hit. The studio has already greenlit a fourth Now You See Me movie with Ruben Fleischer, who also helmed the Zombieland movies and Now You Don’t, back to direct. Plus, with early projections calling for the threequel to win its debut weekend at the box office, and both prior installments riding modest openings to become global box office hits, the long wait for fans for a new Fourth Horsemen heist is sure to already give it a boost.