Director David Yates confirms the Fantastic Beasts franchise is ‘parked’ right now. Does that mean it’s essentially dead then? The comments from Yates are from an interview with Total Film whilst promoting his new Netflix movie Pain Hustlers.
Before we even look at what Yates had to see we are all kind of aware of the situation. So far the box office for the Fantastic Beasts movies has steadily dropped off a cliff. Meanwhile, since the last movie WB has announced they are rebooting the original Harry Potter franchise as a streaming series. In other words, a Fantastic Beasts 4 looks very unlikely.
“With Beasts, it’s all just parked. We made those three movies, the last one through a pandemic, and it was enormous fun but it was tough. We were actually filming when there wasn’t a vaccine. Thankfully, no one got sick, but we did have the most detailed protocols in place.”
“We’re all so proud of [Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore] and when it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause, and take it easy,” Yates continued, presumably referencing the sequel’s negative reviews and disappointing box office takings.
“The idea that there were going to be five films was a surprise to most of us,” Yates went on. “Jo just mentioned it spontaneously, at a press screening once. No one had told us there were going to be five, we’d committed to the first one.”
“I’m sure at some point, we’ll be back. But yeah, I haven’t spoken to Jo, I haven’t spoken to [producer] David Heyman, I haven’t spoken to Warner Bros; we’re just taking a pause. It’s quite nice. It allows me to do stuff like this.”
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Taking a pause? So at some point Yates thinks they will make a fourth movie? I mean by then the cast has all moved on, some may have even stopped working or taken different career paths. They’ll all look to old to play the same characters unless they make a fourth movie in the next 3-4 years. That’s looking at what year Secrets of Dumbledore is set (1937) and knowing that Dumbledore defeats Grindelwald in a duel in 1945.
Since the following stories should involve the beginning of a Wizarding war to coincide with World War II, I’m guessing these would not be low budget affairs? Is it possible that Rowling could get to finish her story in a streaming show since that will be the new home of Harry Potter TV series anyway? Or, will we have three movies leading up to the interesting part from the lore and then it just ends?
Maybe it just needs a re-brand? Wizarding War Part 1 and Part 2, starring Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen rather than them being secondary characters? I’ve no idea, because only Rowling knows where the story was supposed to go.
Yeah, the Fantastic Beasts movies are not that good. Neither is anything else these days, so I’d still rather see the story ended properly. That does seem unlikely though now, doesn’t it?
What do you think as director David Yates confirms the Fantastic Beasts franchise is ‘parked’ right now? Will this story ever get finished? Thoughts below as always.
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