The next Fantastic Beasts film won’t start shooting now until near the end of the year.
One of the biggest blockbusters set to start filming this year in the UK is Fantastic Beasts 3, the third of five planned movies in the Harry Potter spin-off series of films. That said, it already feels like there might be a bit of added pressure on this one, given that the second film – Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald – stuttered just a little at the box office. Its global take stands at just shy of $650m, against the $814m snared by Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, its immediate forerunner.
The assumption had been that Warner Bros was looking to leave a two year gap between each film, which would mean that Fantastic Beasts 3 would need to start filming this year to hit a November 2020 release date. But conversely, the studio has never formally confirmed that date.
It’s still likely to land around then, but Deadline is now reporting that a delay has been built into the schedule of the next film. That filming on it won’t now start until the autumn, as opposed to the summer. The official line is that more pre-production time is required. David Yates will again direct, from a screenplay by J K Rowling.
There’s a sporting chance that this is just a few extra weeks of space before cameras roll. Or perhaps digesting the feedback from the last film, and accommodating some of that into this one. Either way, it’s still full steam ahead on the movie – but just a little later than planned.
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