Fantastic Beasts 3

The White Wolf

Warner Bros. made the announcement as part of a larger statement revealing that Johnny Depp, who portrays the infamous dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, is exiting the series. Depp said, “I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in ‘Fantastic Beasts’ and I have respected and agreed to that request.” Depp’s departure from the high-profile franchise comes days after he lost his libel case against The Sun tabloid over a 2018 article alleging he was a “wife beater.”

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/fantastic-beasts-3-release-date-delayed-1234824604/

As if the stakes of Depp's lost case against The *** didn't have high enough stakes, Depp has agreed to resign as Grindelwald after Warner's request.

It will be interesting to see if they recast or use the delay to quietly take Fantastic Beasts in an unexpected direction.

The franchise needs a crowd pleasing turn (or an attempt at the very least) given the recent controversies with JK, Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp so I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they introduced an ancestor of Harry's.

Dades

The last movie was a huge cheat on the fans stretching the story out over more than one movie.

Half way through it dawned on me (and my huge Potter-head daughter) that they weren't going to get to the infamous duel the books - and trailers - alluded to. It just felt like a cash in.

Pity, as the first Fantastic Beasts was quite charming.

Busi_Girl08

Honestly my first thought of a replacement for Depp as Grindelwald was Colin Farrell although I know there would be some confusion after his role in the first movie. Just felt he would fit the role really well.

The White Wolf

It's possible Grindelwald could take the form of Farrell to mess with Aurelius/Credence.

I can see them also just quietly moving Grindelwald out of the picture and have it centre on Dumbledore and Credence.

Agent Coulson

Will this get cancelled by the same people trying to cancel JK.

The White Wolf

Don't forget Ezra the knives are out for him too. :pac:

Fully expect this to turn into some time travel cash in now.

blue note

The previous pope said Harry Potter was immoral and everyone was outraged. Turns out he was right, but for different reasons.

pixelburp

It's David Yates again right? This franchise desperately needs new blood behind the lens. And to get Rowling away from scriptwriting, the last two films have been baggy, lumpy messes, the sequel almost unwatchable in places. And the attempt to skirt around Dumbledores sexuality was embarrassing to watch. Tying everything into the main Potter storyline felt like a poor desperate move as well IMO.

The White Wolf

pixelburp wrote: »

It's David Yates again right? This franchise desperately needs new blood behind the lens. And to get Rowling away from scriptwriting, the last two films have been baggy, lumpy messes, the sequel almost unwatchable in places. And the attempt to skirt around Dumbledores sexuality was embarrassing to watch. Tying everything into the main Potter storyline felt like a poor desperate move as well IMO.

Pretty reprehensible stuff to dangle the idea of a young Dumbledore and Grindelwald being in the same film and not tackle that aspect of their relationship.

Then again for anyone who read Cursed Child that's queer baiting at it's worst within the universe.

pixelburp

The White Wolf wrote: »

Pretty reprehensible stuff to dangle the idea of a young Dumbledore and Grindelwald being in the same film and not tackle that aspect of their relationship.

Then again for anyone who read Cursed Child that's queer baiting at it's worst within the universe.

Methinks that was Warner chickening out, afraid of losing some international markets if they let the two be more of an obvious couple. Instead getting weak "very special friend" winking

santana75

The White Wolf wrote: »

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/fantastic-beasts-3-release-date-delayed-1234824604/

Cancel culture in all its Glory. JK Rowling got it too, I imagine theres people calling for the whole franchise to be cancelled.

pixelburp

santana75 wrote: »

Cancel culture in all its Glory. JK Rowling got it too, I imagine theres people calling for the whole franchise to be cancelled.

Fantastic Beasts should be cancelled cos it has been a bit rubbish :pac:

Hardly "cancel culture" anyway. Depp lost a libel case over being called a wife beater, not exactly a great look by all accounts; so hardly scandalous WB asked him to resign. In any case, IIRC Depp is one of the least profitable actors in Hollywood, so for WB it's probably a win-win to get rid of dead financial weight.

The White Wolf

The *** are being true to form anyway and going all in with the wife beater headlines. Hopefully Depp is clean and keeps his head down for awhile, but can't help but feel he's become full poison now to studios.

plibige

Seems like the franchise is sort of doomed to fail now. And probably rightly so considering it seems to be a blatant cash grab of "stretch this out over x amount of films". Reminds me of the Hobbit trilogy of films. Each of the Hobbit films did well at the box office though, but each film did worse than the previous. I'd imagine this next one will tank at the box office now

pixelburp

Well the sequel made about 200 million less worldwide so diminishing returns had already kicked in. IIRC there was chatter about FB being a 5 film series; that's some studio hubris.

The original Potter series still holds up; well, apart from those stodgy first two by Chris Columbus.

The White Wolf

The first two HP films are not without their charm. Their attempts to stick close to the source is likeable while the older cast are fantastic.

POA was the first film where the younger ones showed their ability but it was the beginning of a direction I didn't like such as giving a lot of Ron's best bits to Hermione or dropping his bits from the book completely.

pixelburp

The White Wolf wrote: »

The first two HP films are not without their charm. Their attempts to stick close to the source is likeable while the older cast are fantastic.

POA was the first film where the younger ones showed their ability but it was the beginning of a direction I didn't like such as giving a lot of Ron's best bits to Hermione or dropping his bits from the book completely.

I think the first two hew too closely to the books in that there's a weird, clumsy pace to the films that almost make them feel like TV movies. There's an innocence to the adventures that obviously disappears once Riddle appears. Azkhaban was the best piece of cinema by far, a legitimately good movie in or outside of the franchise - not surprising given the talent behind the camera.

cnocbui

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Will this get cancelled by the same people trying to cancel JK.

Given JK's attitude and stance on domestic violence, it was probably she who told Warner to ditch him

The White Wolf

pixelburp wrote: »

I think the first two hew too closely to the books in that there's a weird, clumsy pace to the films that almost make them feel like TV movies. There's an innocence to the adventures that obviously disappears once Riddle appears. Azkhaban was the best piece of cinema by far, a legitimately good movie in or outside of the franchise - not surprising given the talent behind the camera.

No denying that POA is the biggest triumph of the series from a cinematic point of view, but as a book fan I just didn't like some of the decisions made from POA on. They ignored things such as Dobby that by the time the deathly hallows came along, they had to awkwardly insert plot points in randomly that should have had foundations in the previous films.

Funnily enough JK was the one on record defending Depp.

JP Liz V1

The White Wolf wrote: »

Don't forget Ezra the knives are out for him too. :pac:

Fully expect this to turn into some time travel cash in now.

Why?

mikhail

plibige wrote: »

Seems like the franchise is sort of doomed to fail now. And probably rightly so considering it seems to be a blatant cash grab of "stretch this out over x amount of films". Reminds me of the Hobbit trilogy of films. Each of the Hobbit films did well at the box office though, but each film did worse than the previous. I'd imagine this next one will tank at the box office now

Ugh. I didn't even pirate The Battle of Five Hours, or whatever the third one was called.

The White Wolf

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Why?

Because between the recent controversies with JK, Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp there's a lot of bad will towards a franchise that hasn't been great anyway.

Thus, like Disney pulled with a Star Wars franchise that was struggling, I wouldn't be surprised if WB go an absolute ludicrous angle that might allow them to bring back a fan fav or two from the original films.

pixelburp

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Why?

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/ezra-miller-throttling-woman-video-1234571800/

Weird incident in Reykjavik where Muller apparently throttled a woman in a bar during an altercation back in April. Not sure what became of it since then, if it became a legal case, clarified as a joke or what..

Busi_Girl08

Just thinking again they could easily work around Depp by doing some kind of dr Parnassus style shape shifting and explain it as some kind of glamour spell that makes him change form everywhere he goes for his safety/evade capture

homerun_homer

cnocbui wrote: »

Given JK's attitude and stance on domestic violence, it was probably she who told Warner to ditch him

JK supported Johnny Depp even with the knowledge of the case at that time. They must have known other details not known to the public in order to stick up for him at the time. This would no doubt be a business decision by Warners to keep away to bad publicity. I doubt JK's support of him has changed.

JP Liz V1

Mads Mikkelsen is in early talks to replace Johnny Depp

The White Wolf

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Mads Mikkelsen is in early talks to replace Johnny Depp

Hmmmmm, after watching Mads in Hannibal and the character's......"interesting" friendship with Will, I wonder if they're going to actually tease out the relationship of Dumbledore and Grindelwald now.

Tbh I couldn't think of a better duo of Law and Mads to go there without offending the more let's call them conservative members of the audience. I can see it backfiring but I'm excited to see what Mads does.

pixelburp

Confirmed: Mikkelsen to replace Depp as Grindelwald. Honestly, while the recast is forced through controversy, Mikkelsen is simply a better choice for the role. Won't fix all the other problems with the series mind you, but at least the distraction of "Johnny Depp doing acting" is one less issue to deal with.

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/11/mads-mikkelsen-replace-johnny-depp-fantastic-beasts-3-1234598075/

Mr Crispy

Yep. I might actually give the next one a watch now.

The White Wolf

Only problem I have with Mads and I say this as someone who watched all of Hannibal, is that sometimes I find it difficult to hear him at times.

But there's no comparing him and Depp currently, a clear upgrade.

pixelburp

We now have a title and new release date: The Secrets of Dumbledore, to come out April 15th 2022

Presumably the "secret" will not include that one of Dumbledore's, lest it offends the Chinese and Russian markets 🙄😁

johnny_ultimate

It’s amazing how this series has made like $1.5bn from two films and yet somehow barely exists in the cultural consciousness.

A fart of a franchise extension.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925525#Comment_117925525

I guess that's why they've titled this movie what they have.

"HEY EVERYONE! REMEMBER DUMBLEDORE! HE'S FROM HARRY POTTER! THIS IS A HARRY POTTER FILM (kinda)!"

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925525#Comment_117925525

It didn't help the story itself was a pile of shíte, JK Rowling proving she is not the best person to curate her own IPs cinematic adaptations. The Harry Potter world in other countries should have made for a great set of stories, instead the movies were anemic reminders you could have just rewatched the better Potter films.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925422#Comment_117925422

I needed a giggle today and this title delivered. Love how small Fantastic Beasts is in the title.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117925596#Comment_117925596

Certainly smells of desperation all right. I have wondered why Rowling hasn't bowed to presumed pressure from WB to greenlight a Potter TV show; seems like it would have made for a good Big Ticket show for HBO Max.

CastorTroy

Isn't she cancelled or something at the moment? I can't keep up with who is and isn't but think she's supposedly not winning any fans in the trans community.

Sleepy

Won't matter a damn to Hollywood execs. It's too small a community to worry about in marketing terms and if Roman Polanski is still making movies, you can be damn sure none of the studios is going to care about a few tweets.

I actually really liked the first movie but the second is the wet fart of the Potterverse to date.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117926009#Comment_117926009

It's messy and I don't know every turn, but basically: Rowling made some passing anti-trans comments in an interview; the world went "boo" and Rowling instead doubled-down, expanding and IIRC, she even returned a humanitarian award after the organiser chided her for those views. I believe her Robert Gilbraith books have had some "troubling" depictions of trans characters of the Buffalo Bill mould too (they being disturbed and inherently deceptive or dangerous to women).

Her non-Potter stuff in general has got a bit of pushback, with some retroactive think pieces of the "I always knew she wasn't that good" variety. I haven't read any of her Gilbraith work now - only extracts, and while the writing isn't great, I've read plenty of entertaining trash all the same so can't judge. Her film scripts on the Fantastic Beasts films has been atrocious though IMO; to the extent, I wondered if she even read some background on how to write a film script vs. a novel.

Plus, while not controversy, she has drawn some mocking scorn for pulling a Lucas and taking the shine a little off her own universe: examples being the bizarre pieces of "canon" that Hogwarts wizards, in the past, would simply shít on the ground and magic the waste away.

So ... take your pick! None of it is especially egregious, bar her bullish, public anti-trans attitudes. As Sleepy said Hollywood won't care so long as the movies make money and the eye-rolling attempts to dance around Dumbledore's romantic connection with Grindelwald spoke to a clear attempt to placate the more homophobic film markets.

speedboatchase

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117928318#Comment_117928318

Polanski is but only in France. You can't even find his last movie on Irish or UK iTunes.

pixelburp

Says much about this series that a trailer came out last night, and nobody noticed lol. It looks... I dunno. About as redundant as the last 2 movies, but you'd hope third time of asking JK Rowling manages to actually write a script worth a damn.

@johnny_ultimate Just for pedantry, can we update the thread title?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9dr2zw-TXQ

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118318713#Comment_118318713

I actually saw a TV and announcing the trailer and my son and I turned to each other and said "An ad for the trailer? That's not a good sign!" Simultaneously 🤣

speedboatchase

I feel like Warner Bros only make these movies so they eventually get her blessing for a two-part adaptation of that new Harry Potter play.

pixelburp

Another new trailer; another reminder this film exists...

https://youtu.be/DaM_wL1ZOM4

santana75

Saw this earlier and I thought it was the best of this series so far. I don't like what happened to Johnny Depp but credit where its due, Mads mickkelson is absolutely brilliant. I'll be honest, I didn't know Dumbledore was meant to be gay, for me that didn't work, it felt tacked on or something. Anyway it's an enjoyable film ideal Sunday afternoon at the movies fare.

sam t smith

Mads Mikkelson as Dumbledork sounds interesting. Would have been funny if they had replaced Johnny Depp with Armie Hammer. 😂

pixelburp

The lowest opening weekend of any Harry Potter film; and there's supposed to be two more of these IIRC? Uhh, good luck with that JK. Truly must contend for the most baffling snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory, this series.

https://mobile.twitter.com/boxofficemojo/status/1515752611646828548?cxt=HHwWiMCjiYa-hIkqAAAA

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118941900#Comment_118941900

Think this one's figures are mostly a reflection of how absolutely rubbish the last one was... apparently this one's a decent step up from that, so once everyone's eventually seen it streaming on one service or another, there might be a bit of renewed enthusiasm for the next one.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118942050#Comment_118942050

Perhaps, I've heard too it's better than number 2 but not by much either, this series still struggling to recapture the Potter magic.

What possessed Rowling to pen a bunch of prequel nonsense, sidelining the titular character and premise, is beyond me. A Harry Potter Pokémon movie was right there.

pixelburp

Jaysus, well this is a flop: $335 million worldwide? Ouch. The first made $814 million, so quite sure this is the first Potter flop.

speedboatchase

Cursed Child parts 1 and 2 will be put on the fast-track very soon, I'm sure. Warner Bros will have to buy the rights to them from JK Rowling, so it's another win for her.