Harry Potter veteran director David Yates, who also directed all the Fantastic Beasts movies, casts doubt on the spinoff saga’s future. Keen to capitalize on the enduring love of the Harry Potter franchise, Warner Bros. released Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 2016. The success of the spinoff led to two sequels, the most recent of which hit theaters last year, neither of which were particularly well-received.
Now, following the disappointing Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore box office, Yates reveals in a recent interview with the Inside Total Film podcast (via GamesRadar) that the franchise is “parked“. While there was originally a plan to tell Newt Scamander’s story across five movies, it doesn’t like this is still on the cards. Check out Yates’ full comment below:
“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. The idea that there were going to be five films was a surprise to most of us. 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.”
More to come…
