Fantastic Beasts “not a priority” for Warner Bros.

It’s been a while since the Fantastic Beasts franchise appeared on our screens – and according to Warner Bros., it’s going to be a while before we see any more.

Originally created by J.K. Rowling, the author’s trajectory has had more of a focus on Harry Potter, with the Hogwarts Legacy video attracting plenty of fans, alongside announcements of a future TV series.

The Fantastic Beasts franchise acts as a precursor to the Harry Potter timeline, with the current trilogy of movies taking place from 1937 onwards. The first film’s synopsis reads: “When Newt Scamander, a magizoologist, arrives in New York, several magical beasts escape from his magically expanded suitcase. Newt must find the missing creatures before they cause trouble.”

While its outing was initially received well by fans, later installments of the prequel series faltered – leading to an unsurprising new decision by parent studio Warner Bros.

Fantastic Beasts franchise on hold and not a priority

According to long-term director David Yates, Fantastic Beasts films are currently not a priority to Warner Bros., with any future films in the pipeline now on hold.

Speaking on the Inside Total Film podcast, Yates stated: “With Beasts for a minute, it’s all just parked. We got to the end of [2020 threequel Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore] and we’re all so proud of that movie, and when it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause, and take it easy.”

Bates goes on to state during the interview that the studio had originally planned for there to be three movies, but a total of five was later suggested by author J.K. Rowling.

“The idea that there were going to be five films was a total surprise to most of us,” Yates explained. “She just mentioned it spontaneously, at a press screening once. We were presenting some clips of FB1. We’d all signed up for FB1, very enthusiastically. And Jo, bless her, came on… and said, ‘Oh, by the way, there’s five of them.’

“We all looked at each other — because no one had told us there were going to be five. We’d committed to this one. So that was the first we’d heard of it.”

While the first film held its appeal at the box office, the final two films declined to hold to the same appeal – contributing to one of the possible reasons why Fantastic Beasts has been moved onto the back burner.

On top of this, continuing controversies surrounding J.K. Rowling have likely had an effect, while some critics cite the franchise as having lost its way.

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