Fantastic Beasts series, which is set decades before the events in Harry Potter and provides some backstory on characters like Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and the magizoologist Newt Scamander.
The first film of this series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was released in 2016. Directed by David Yates and written by J.K Rowling herself, the film introduced viewers to Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and some magical creatures that were ready to create chaos among muggles. The sequel, Fantastic Beasts 3.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was criticized for its excessive plotting and lack of sense of adventure compared to the first film. Johnny Depp’s casting has also been quite controversial, and while it seems unlikely that he will be recast, the Fantastic Beasts 3 delay should be used to find ways to solve this issue – if they are willing to learn from their mistakes, that is.
Fantastic Beasts 3 is their big chance to make things right if they don’t want viewers to lose interest on the following films. While visual effects in the Wizarding World series are key – and are the first thing most people think about when they learn the crew needs “more time to prep” – they are nothing if there’s not a good story to them. The production team has plenty of time to work on the story and prepare the visual side of it – there’s really no rush now that they have been granted one more year of pre-production.
Whether Fantastic Beasts 3 is aiming to be bigger than the previous films or not, the delay is definitely for the best. There have been too many examples of films that went through rushed production processes and the final results were far from ideal, and with a series that is already hurt by its latest installment, pushing back the release and production start is the best decision.
