The fate of the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise seems grim. The most recent third entry “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” pulled in a global haul of $406 million from a $200 million budget.
That makes it the lowest-grossing film of the entire Wizarding World franchise that includes “Harry Potter” and the ‘Beasts’ films. It’s also despite mixed reviews from critics who said the film was a distinct improvement over its immediate predecessor ‘The Crimes of Grindelwald’.
The second film’s larger $654 million haul was itself considered a big disappointment at the time and suggests this particular film series is basically done – despite the long-stated and overly ambitious plan for five films in the overall saga.
In November, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said on an earnings call that there is serious potential to do “something” more with the Wizarding World properties in co-operation with “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.
The comments came despite there being no active discussions with Rowling or active development on any Wizarding World project, including a fourth “Fantastic Beasts” at the time.
Cut to two months later, the story hasn’t really changed according to “Fantastic Beasts” leading man Eddie Redmayne. Asked about the future of the franchise, the actor tells The NME that another movie is highly unlikely at this point: “I mean, at the moment, there’s nothing that I’m aware of. So, as I’m aware, it’s not something that’s on the cards.”
To date, there’s been no official statement from Warner Bros. regarding the future of the franchise, though Zaslav is obviously interested in moving forward on something “Harry Potter” related.
