The Harry Potter series reigned supreme for a decade as the biggest and most popular franchise in the industry and became a global phenomenon in the process, capturing the hearts and minds of fans across the world as well as earning billions of dollars at the box office. The final installment may have been released nine years ago, but the brand still retains an enormous fanbase, so it was hardly surprising that Warner Bros. decided to announce multiple spinoffs in order to keep milking their most lucrative cash-cow.
Unfortunately, Fantastic Beasts hasn’t fared anywhere near as well as the Wizarding World’s previous adventures, with many critical of the studio’s decision to make five prequel movies based on a 128-page fictional textbook that was originally written to raise money for charity. While Newt Scamander’s first adventure scored generally positive reviews from critics and earned $814m at the box office, follow-up The Crimes of Grindelwald was a huge disappointment, becoming the first entry in the expanded Harry Potter universe to receive a widely negative reception, while also making over $160 million less than Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Fans didn’t have much praise for the second installment given the heavy reliance on exposition, unearned plot twists and the general sense that the movie was going through the motions. One of the highlights of The Crimes of Grindelwald was Jude Law’s performance as the young Albus Dumbledore, but even then the actor was only featured in a handful of scenes.
The third entry in the Fantastic Beasts series is still set to go into production this year following a delay, reportedly to rework the script following criticism of the previous movie, with Law’s Dumbledore set to feature more prominently. In a recent interview, the actor revealed his excitement at getting to play the iconic character again, and that he has spent time with J.K. Rowling in order to gain access to the future Headmaster’s deepest secrets.
“I think one of the beautiful moments in preparation was working with J.K. Rowling. I spent an afternoon when she gave me the entire history of this great character… I’m sitting there scribbling down notes and getting all of this incredible insight into this character, which I had a little opportunity to use in this current one, and next year I go ahead and we do another chapter. There’s more to come with that.”
You have to admire Law’s enthusiasm for playing the character, and hopefully he’ll be put to better use in the still-untitled third Fantastic Beasts movie. Based on The Crimes of Grindelwald, the filmmakers need to get the fans back on side, or audience goodwill for the franchise could run out long before the fourth and fifth installments even get released.
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Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
