FANTASTIC BEASTS: Warner Bros. Expected To Make Decision About Franchise's Future In Coming Months

FANTASTIC BEASTS: Warner Bros. Expected To Make Decision About Franchise's Future In Coming Months

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore didn't live up to expectations at the box office last weekend, & a new report suggests a decision about what happens next is coming from Warner Bros. Soon...ish.

News
By JoshWilding - Apr 21, 2022 08:04 AM EST
Filed Under: Harry Potter
Source: The Wrap (via SFFGazette.com)

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore opened to a disappointing $43 million this weekend, a 31% drop from The Crimes of Grindelwald that points to this being the first Wizarding World movie that fails to reach $500 million at the global box office by the time all is said and done.

Now, The Wrap (via SFFGazette.com) is reporting that Warner Bros. is likely to take several weeks, if not months, to decide what the fate of the Fantastic Beasts franchise will be. 

"'Fantastic Beasts' was always meant to be one piece of a larger plan to build the Wizarding World," Warner Bros. domestic distribution head Jeff Goldstein told the trade, dialling down its importance somewhat. "While the numbers for 'Secrets of Dumbledore' were lower than the previous films, we still think the series has done its job keeping Wizarding World fresh in people’s minds, and we’re pleased with the revenue we’ve seen from the franchise at theme parks, stores, and other products and experiences."

It's clear the Fantastic Beasts franchise has been a critical and commercial disappointment for Warner Bros., but the Wizarding World, and more specifically, Harry Potter, remains a draw. While it would be a shame for this series of movies to end without a satisfying conclusion, you have to believe the studio is weighing up whether it's worth spending more money on this franchise, running the risk of further alienating fans and doing even more damage to the brand. 

For what it's worth, one box office analyst believes the best bet would be to shift the focus back to Harry Potter, whether it be with an adaptation of The Cursed Child or something along those lines.

What are your hopes for the Wizarding World moving forward?

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Unites
Unites - 4/21/2022, 8:07 AM
Cancel it already lol. This series is a flop.
Gandressmex
Gandressmex - 4/21/2022, 8:13 AM
Every company has something they can milk from lol
Himura
Himura - 4/21/2022, 2:40 PM
@Gandressmex - Pretty sure that's the goal...
GhostDog
GhostDog - 4/21/2022, 8:17 AM
Kill it. Do a show or movie about the Hit Wizards and Hit Witches.
BeyondtheFuture
BeyondtheFuture - 4/21/2022, 8:18 AM
Cursed child is going to be a problem, do you bring back the old cast ( big box office ) or do you cast a new one with Hermione black this Time, as Rowling claims she was always supposed to be. It also reads like terrible fan fiction which is hidden by impressive stage effects.

Best option would be to do a TV show that's more expansive and covers everything the films missed out. If they get it right and stick it on HBO Max subscriptions would go through the roof.

Or continue with Fantastic Beasts, jump forward and show Voldemort's rise to power. Could be interesting.
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 8:33 AM
@BeyondtheFuture - Rowling said that to express support the actress when she had to endure racist tirades. Clearly Hermione wasn't really always black. Not even on the book covers. The point is that skin color didn't really matter to the character so they made her black for the stageplay in order to respond to growing calls for more representation. I'm also not a big fan of blackwashing (or whitewashing) but it's really not such a big deal.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 4/21/2022, 8:58 AM
@BeyondtheFuture - They can't do Cursed Child, Daniel Radcliffe refuses to come back as Harry Potter until he's Harrison Ford's age. WB offered him a bunch on money during the reunion special and he said "no".

I say its time to reboot and recast. It's stupid in trying to do a Harry Potter franchise without the title character. HP 1 came back in 2001, all the kids or teens who grew up watching the 1st one in theaters or read the books when they were 1st released are old as hell now. Wb's current films aren't attracting any new or younger people which is the main demographic for these films.
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:13 AM
@Waddles - Exactly!
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:35 AM
@Waddles - I think they need to reset the target audience. Make it about kids again! Fantastic Beasts does have its following, but that's mostly 90's Potterheads who are now adults, like me. If they want a larger audience, then focus on more recent generations of fans. One of the things that made Harry Potter work so well is that it aged with its audience. Which worked great. But now that audience has grown up and has kids on their own. So cater to those kids! Make it feel like a fairy tale again. A colorfull world full of magic, not a moody underworld always at the brink of war.

Doesn't even need to be just Hogwarts. Why not introduce those other Wizarding Schools that Rowling has revealed. Like Ilvermorny in America. Or Mahoutokoro in Japan. Give us a Harry Potter anime, why not? Or a story about a young scrappy Quidditch team. Like Mighty Ducks but fantasy.
Or if you want to connect to HP, how about a story about Charlie Weasley and his love for dragons. Or Bill Weasley and his work as a Cursebreaker for Gringotts, which makes me picture him as sort of a magical Indiana Jones. That's cool! Or if you wanna go dark, chronicle Tom Riddles life. (Let me write that, I have ideas!)
I also love the idea of re-adapting the Harry Potter books in the form of animation. Especially hybrid animation, like Arcane. That would serve to introduce a whole new generation into the franchise.

Mostly though I would just want Rowling to write new books. That's what she is really good at and she has been writing for children again recently, so who knows. There is so much they could do with this franchise. Or not. While I'd love for the Wizarding World to become a massive universe like Star Wars or Marvel, I don't need it to be. I have the seven books and those will always be special to me.
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:51 AM
@Waddles - I would love to write that. Harry Potter is what got me into creative writing and I have so many idea left from my fan-fiction days. Even for a Cursed Child rewrite. Maybe one day! XD
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 4/21/2022, 1:10 PM
@Drace24 - Like Mighty Ducks but fantasy.

Inazuma Eleven or Prince of Tennis or GTFO.
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 4:13 PM
@Reeds2Much - Uh...okay.
ChimiFnChangas
ChimiFnChangas - 4/21/2022, 8:19 AM
grif
grif - 4/21/2022, 8:20 AM
brought it on themselves.
Chewtoy
Chewtoy - 4/21/2022, 8:25 AM
Surely it would be madness to stick to the original 5 film plan for this story…. I’m shocked that they didn’t just make it a trilogy by having this entry wrap things up, because it was obviously never going to grow the audience.

I think they’re obligated to deliver a conclusion so that they don’t offend fans who have actually stuck it out for this one and keep them on board for whatever comes next, but I don’t see why they couldn’t wrap this story up with 1 more entry instead of 2.
Blergh
Blergh - 4/21/2022, 9:53 AM
@Waddles - only open plot thread is Grindelwald still being free
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 10:11 AM
@Waddles - ...or a book.

globaltravels
globaltravels - 4/21/2022, 8:46 AM
this is what happens when you "believe all women" despite clear evidence showing otherwise. while I wasn't a huge fan of the series to begin with, or Depp as Grindlewold, them firing him has completely put me off this entire series now. I love HP to death and watch them every year, and I even feel bad for the way JK is being treated, but this whole woke shit has got to stop.
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 4/21/2022, 8:56 AM
@globaltravels - I get that and I don’t disagree that that affected it but I just think the movie sucked. I think Johnny Depp sucked in it also. He didn’t bring anything to the table, I should say Grindelwald and didnt, they really should have stuck to fantastic beasts, not messed with Dumbledore at all
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:39 AM
@Waddles - I agree. If WB for some reason needs to concern itself with the toxic marriage of their actors, then they should have fired both. Or none, because how is that even any of their business?
TheSuperMex
TheSuperMex - 4/21/2022, 9:48 AM
@globaltravels - most people don’t even know about that case and Depp. The movies aren’t doing good because they aren’t good.
RitoRevolto
RitoRevolto - 4/21/2022, 9:03 AM
It was doomed when they decided to mash the Fantastic Beasts and Grindelwald stories together.
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 10:10 AM
@RitoRevolto - That's an argument I never understood. That's like critisizing Indiana Jones for mashing the artifact hunting and WW2 stories together. Obviously you can't make a movie series around just beasts being fantastic. There has to be a setting where Newt and his creatures can appear in. And that is Grindelwald and his war for wizard supremacy. I think it works quite well, with the animals being framed as a stand-in for the muggles, beings that are hated and seen as inferior yet dangerous by wizards, except for this one guy who wants to change everyones minds.
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 4/21/2022, 9:10 AM
I’m hoping for more. I’d be lying if I said I liked it nearly as much as the Potter franchise but I do like the expansion on the lore and would like to see and Episode 3 style real handoff to the original movies. Show me WW2, show me Grindelwald going to Azkaban, show me Tom Riddle and Hagrid in Hogwarts (it’s around the same time period), show me Dumbledore getting the elder wand. Even if it’s 1 more I’d like something to bridge the gap and make it a more cohesive saga until they eventually do a sequel run with the oringinal cast
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:47 AM
@Waddles - Gotta say, I really appreciate the constructive discourse here right now. Gotten kinda rare in the fandom recently.
Ha1frican
Ha1frican - 4/21/2022, 10:13 AM
@Waddles - I agree, I mean he’ll even just a change to the color palette would help. Everything being dull and dark fit the tonal shift of the original series as it got darker and more adult but it chokes the magic out of the fantastical elements of this franchise. The best part was seeing the contrast between the normal world and the wizarding world through Harry’s eyes until the characters were established enough to carry the story. Here they started as if that was already the case and that was the wrong move both to ally and as it pertains to color palette
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 10:24 AM
@Ha1frican - Oh, yes! That's my biggest gripe with Fantastic Beasts. Set and costume design. Maybe it's because of the 1920's setting, but the muggle and wizarding world now look pretty much the same. Both now look rustic and old fashioned.

I mean, look at this...





What happened? Why does he look like a muggle dean? Where are the colorfull robes and pointy hats and funny beards? I just think I should be able to tell immediately which places are filled with magic and wizards and which are not. Would it really have been that hard to give that magical dinner gala a few ghosts or flying candles? This feeling really got lost with David Yates.
AgentSmith
AgentSmith - 4/21/2022, 9:11 AM
I don't know if reboot is really the answer here. There was a special charm about the first Harry Potter (which I saw in the theater before ever reading a book. In fact, I didn't know it was based on a book until much later.....???) Fantastic Beasts had "some" of that charm, but I don't know if Newt (the character, not the actor) was enough to carry the franchise in the first place. The movies just feel muddled together (admittedly, I haven't seen Secrets yet, and I was excited until the reviews). I just think that the original series was held to such a high standard that even rebooting the books wouldn't live up to it. Remember seeing the last movie or reading the last book and thinking - "Wow... this is it? There's no more Harry Potter?' These movies are missing that connection. I think WB has a hard question to ask themselves where there is really no easy answer here... Refresh the series is the way to go, but how???
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:12 AM
I like Fantastic Beasts. It's what I wanted it to be. A swashbuckling adventure with kooky characters and lots of worldbuilding. Sure, the quality of filmmaking has been shaky (I have no idea why they keep director David Yates around for these) but I've seen a lot of improvement in Secrets of Dumbledore. And Newt is my favorite character in the entire Wizarding World, so yes, I definitely want to see the story continue.
dragon316
dragon316 - 4/21/2022, 11:25 AM
@Drace24 - not as detailed but I feel same way always had fun watching series some Harry Potter sequels I didn’t like felt not fun to watch all I wanted to do fast forward to parts I like and stop watching some of sequels from there I don’t get that feeling with fantastic beasts I have yet see third one
DanFlashesShirt
DanFlashesShirt - 4/21/2022, 9:22 AM
Wait, what?? What is there to decide?? 3 movies isn’t enough?? Like, what else do they have to say???
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 10:12 AM
@DanFlashesShirt - ...An ending?
ThorArms
ThorArms - 4/21/2022, 10:13 AM
@DanFlashesShirt - they had 5 movies planned
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 4/21/2022, 9:30 AM
This is dead as balls.
GirshwinDavies
GirshwinDavies - 4/21/2022, 9:30 AM
Doh I wonder what they’re gonna do Santa? Cancel it or sometin’?
Drace24
Drace24 - 4/21/2022, 9:32 AM
I think they need to reset the target audience. Make it about kids again! Fantastic Beasts does have its following, but that's mostly 90's Potterheads who are now adults, like me. If they want a larger audience, then focus on more recent generations of fans. One of the things that made Harry Potter work so well is that it aged with its audience. Which worked great. But now that audience has grown up and has kids on their own. So cater to those kids! Make it feel like a fairy tale again. A colorfull world full of magic, not a moody underworld always at the brink of war.

Doesn't even need to be just Hogwarts. Why not introduce those other Wizarding Schools that Rowling has revealed. Like Ilvermorny in America. Or Mahoutokoro in Japan. Give us a Harry Potter anime, why not? Or a story about a young scrappy Quidditch team. Like Mighty Ducks but fantasy.
Or if you want to connect to HP, how about a story about Charlie Weasley and his love for dragons. Or Bill Weasley and his work as a Cursebreaker for Gringotts, which makes me picture him as sort of a magical Indiana Jones. That's cool! Or if you wanna go dark, chronicle Tom Riddles life. (Let me write that, I have ideas!)
I also love the idea of re-adapting the Harry Potter books in the form of animation. Especially hybrid animation, like Arcane. That would serve to introduce a whole new generation into the franchise.

Mostly though I would just want Rowling to write new books. That's what she is really good at and she has been writing for children again recently, so who knows. There is so much they could do with this franchise. Or not. While I'd love for the Wizarding World to become a massive universe like Star Wars or Marvel, I don't need it to be. I have the seven books and those will always be special to me.
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