Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hasn’t performed quite as well as the Harry Potter movies at the box office, but with over $200 million worldwide in ticket sales during its opening weekend, all signs are pointing to us getting the four sequels we’ve been promised.
Eddie Redmayne (who plays Newt Scamander in the movie) recently revealed that the plan is for future instalments to be titled “Fantastic Beasts and…” but despite the fact that he and the creatures in his suitcase were arguably the highlight of this opening chapter, it now sounds as if we should expect the spotlight to be shifted away from him moving forward.
“I don’t think [Newt will be at] the heart of all of them,” producer David Heyman revealed in a recent interview. “I think he’ll be part – so will Tina, Queenie and Jacob – will be part of the next one.” As for who we can expect the Fantastic Beasts franchise to instead focus on, he confirmed that it will be Dumbledore alongside both Credence and Gellert Grindelwald.
That makes sense, especially as writer J.K. Rowling confirmed in a recent Twitter Q&A that the story starts, “in 1926 and ends in 1945.” What that means is things will wrap up with the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald that the Harry Potter books only hinted at, and while that’s undeniably exciting, it is a shame to think that Newt will be pushed to one side.
We’ll just have to wait and see, but for now, Warner Bros. is clearly pushing ahead with what they see as a profitable new franchise. Check out Fantastic Beast’s best Easter Eggs here.
