Warner Bros. is reportedly choosing to wait on Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore‘s box office performance before greenlighting the fourth and fifth sequels.
Once upon a time, the Harry Potter franchise was one of Warner Bros’ crown jewels. The films were all mostly well-received and big money makers for the studios. Following the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, Warner Bros and writer J.K. Rowling began looking into ways to keep the franchise going. Their answer was a prequel series that started with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
At the time of its release, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them was decently received by critics and earned over $800M worldwide. Its sequel, however, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was received very poorly by fans and critics and is, to date, the lowest-grossing Harry Potter-related film. Since then, the entire franchise has been surrounded by numerous controversies that have tainted the once great franchise.
These controversies have included Johnny Depp who was forced to leave the franchise due to his case with former wife Amber Heard. Co-star Ezra Miller also recently got into trouble following a bar fight and a restraining order. Perhaps the biggest controversy, however, was when franchise creator J.K. Rowling came out as transphobic and continues to double down on these views. Given the current state of the franchise, its entire future currently seems to rest on Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore‘s box office success.
In a recent article published by Variety, the site broke down all the controversies surrounding the Fantastic Beasts franchise. According to the site, the waters of the franchise have become so muddied that the people in charge at Warner Bros are deciding on whether or not the series is even worth continuing. Currently, there is not a written script for the fourth film and sources state that the studio is waiting on the performance of the upcoming film to determine whether or not the franchise is to continue.
Here is the synopsis for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore:
Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?
Directed by David Yates from a screenplay written by J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves, the film stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Katherine Waterston, and Mads Mikkelsen.
The new film will hit theaters on April 15, 2022. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the franchise and how Warner Bros opts to continue with it and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Variety
