Will the “Fantastic Beasts” saga come to an end when five films were originally planned? We take stock as the third has just been released in our theaters.
On October 13, 2016, a few weeks before the release of the first part, JK Rowling made Harry Potter fans jump for joy with a major announcement: Fantastic Beasts will not be the start of a trilogy but… d a pentalogy. Because it is indeed five films that are planned for this new saga whose events begin in 1926, in New York.
Less than six years later, the results are however mixed. In addition to the controversies around Johnny Depp (replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the skin of the villain Grindelwald after losing a defamation lawsuit against the tabloid which accused him of domestic violence) and transphobic remarks made by JK Rowlingthe box office did not really live up to Warner’s hopes.
If the first part achieved encouraging scores, with 814 million dollars in revenue worldwide, the second brought in only 655. Despite the Harry Potter brand and the presence of Johnny Depp and Jude Law in the cast. Initially scheduled for 2020, the third installment is postponed in order to remodel the whole with the help of the screenwriter of the parent saga, Steve Kloves, and its filming comes up against the Covid pandemic.
In early November 2020, Johnny Depp was asked to surrender his wand, which was then given to Mads Mikkelsen, and the feature film did not see any further signs of life until late 2021, when it was announced that the release was brought forward from July. to April 2022, then the title will be The Secrets of Dumbledore.
And after ? In a stricken market where only five Anglo-Saxon blockbusters have surpassed the $500 million mark in revenue worldwide since the start of the pandemic (The Batman, Spider-Man No Way Home, Dying Can Wait, Fast & Furious 9 and Venom 2), will Fantastic Beasts 3 succeed?
While David Yates’ film has just been released in American theaters, variety claims, thanks to his sources, that there is not yet a script for the fourth film, the start of which will depend on the results of Dumbledore’s Secrets.
And this is felt in the feature film, which gives the impression that the saga can end there. The film even plays the ambiguity card in its epilogue, when Dumbledore evokes a “historic day”without specifying whether it is about the capture of Grindelwald (who will languish in Azkaban until his assassination by Voldemort), or the marriage between Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob (Dan Fogler), a witch and a Muggle, which Norbert (Eddie Redmayne) attends when the Headmaster of Hogwarts comes to find him.
A way to ensure his back, if the adventure were to end, while leaving a door ajar, to allow a possible reunion between Norbert Scamander and the public. Case to follow.