J.K. Rowling’s Five-Movie ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise Shelved at WBD

The Big Picture

• Fantastic Beasts franchise is currently on hold and not a priority for Warner Bros. Discovery, according to director David Yates.
• The planned five-film series was a surprise announcement by J.K. Rowling at a press event for the first movie, catching the creative team off guard.
• Declining box office earnings, an identity crisis, and controversy surrounding cast changes and J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender issues led to the franchise’s uncertain future.

Fantastic Beasts, the less-than-stellar spin-off series of the Harry Potter phenomenon, appears to be dead — at least for now — according to long-term Potter director David Yates, who stated that the series was not currently a priority for Warner Bros. Discovery. Speaking on the Inside Total Film podcast, Yates revealed that progress on the Fantastic Beasts franchise was currently not a going concern for Warner Bros. Discovery, stating that the series was “parked” by the studio.

“With Beasts for a minute, it’s all just parked. We got to the end of [the third film, 2020’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore] and we’re all so proud of that movie, and when it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause, and take it easy.”

Yates added that the planned five-film blueprint was not actually laid out by the studio at all, but in fact, by controversial and toxic Harry Potter author JK Rowling. Having been proposed and then green-lit as a three-film series, Yakes suggests that Rowling took her own initiative and announced that the film series would be a five-story saga without informing the series’ creative team prior to a media event designed to promote the first film, 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

“The idea that there were going to be five films was a total surprise to most of us,” Yates said. “She just mentioned it spontaneously, at a press screening once. We were presenting some clips of FB1. We’d all signed up for FB1, very enthusiastically. And Jo, bless her, came on … and said, ‘Oh, by the way, there’s five of them.’ We all looked at each other — because no one had told us there were going to be five. We’d committed to this one. So that was the first we’d heard of it.”

Why Are No More ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Movies Being Made?

Quite simply, they maintain momentum at the box office. The initial movie was a genuine success, raking in a substantial $811 million worldwide. However, the subsequent two films experienced significant drops in earnings, with figures of $648 million and $404 million, respectively. These declining numbers indicated a waning interest in the series. Critics have observed that the franchise grappled with something of an identity crisis. It started as a story primarily focused on creatures and centered around the character of Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, and his companions. Over time, it transformed into a narrative centered on a war within the wizarding world, involving characters like Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Additionally, the franchise faced challenges due to online discussions regarding Johnny Depp‘s replacement by Mads Mikkelsen and J.K. Rowling’s controversial stances on transgender issues.

Where Can I Watch the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise?

The Fantastic Beasts series, like Harry Potter, can be found on Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming app, Max in the U.S.

Watch on Max

Denial of responsibility! TechCodex is an automatic aggregator of the all world’s media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.