The franchise felt uninspired and directionless. Why is the series called Fantastic Beasts when the story seems to be about Dumbledore and Grindelwald? Why is lead character Newt Scamander, a zoologist? Even putting these questions aside, Crimes of Grindelwald was an incohesive and confusing mess. A lot of it has to do with its screenplay, penned alone by J.K. Rowling. Rowling is a fantastic author, but clearly doesn’t quite have a grasp on the art of screenwriting. The disappointing outcome of the first two Fantastic Beasts films prompted execs at Warner Bros to postpone production of Fantastic Beasts 3 until all the nuts and bolts have been tightened.
Thankfully, as reported yesterday, Fantastic Beasts 3 will see the return of Steve Kloves, who previously wrote the scripts for all the Harry Potter movies besides Order of the Phoenix. This is definitely a step in the right direction. With Rowling’s genuinely brilliant story ideas and Kloves’ ability to take those ideas and morph them into a tight screenplay fit for the big screen, I think the 3rd film in the franchise could finally be something special. Now, we’ve got more information on the direction Fantastic Beasts 3 will be heading in. Variety reports that Jude Law’s young Albus Dumbledore would receive more of the spotlight. I think this is the right decision to make. While it’s somewhat too late to change the name of the film series — we’re stuck with Fantastic Beasts — it would be wise to focus the narrative on Dumbledore and Grindelwald, without randomly shoehorning in scenes with cute magical beasts. Newt Scamander should play a supporting character in the upcoming films, with Dumbledore sitting in the driver’s seat. The report also indicates that while the film will explore an entirely new location — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — a lot of the action will also take place in Hogwarts. Fantastic Beasts 3 is expected to arrive in theatres in November 2021. Despite the setbacks, Warner Bros. still believes that the planned five-film series will happen.
