Warner Bros source says no more Fantastic Beasts films are in the works

Following comments from the CEO of the Hollywood studio Warner Bros, a source at the studio has indicated that we’re not going to be getting any more Fantastic Beasts films.

Last Thursday (3 November) David Zaslav, the Warner Bros CEO, said that was potential for “something” to happen with JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books and of the Fantastic Beasts films.

As part of a statement about the studio’s ambitions, Zaslav said there will be “a real focus on franchises” when it comes to content. In the same answer to a question on future content he also said he was interested in “if we can do something with J.K. on ‘Harry Potter’ going forward.”

He went on to discuss the ambition to work on franchises like Harry Potter or Superman was purely about money (which sometimes means the quality isn’t great *cough cough* DC Universe)

Zaslav noted: “Outside the U.S., most in the aggregate, Europe, Latin America, Asia, have 40% of the theaters that we have here in the U.S. and there is local content. And so when you have a franchise movie, you can often make two to three times the amount of money that you make in the U.S., because you get a slot.”

However, a source has told the entertainment industry bible, Variety, that no discussions are currently happening with JK Rowling. They also told the publication that there are currently no projects in the “Wizarding World” being developed. This includes new Harry Potter films and the Fantastic Beasts films.

Of the supposed five films in the Fantastic Beasts series the third came out earlier this year and was met with mixed reviews and achieved a 46 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

JK Rowling has stoked controversy in recent years for her views on sex and gender. In 2020, the writer published an anti-trans essay where she cited concerns about single-sex spaces such as bathrooms and changing rooms and that she has “deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement” 

She has mocked “men who menstruate” and also wrote the aforementioned essay, where she said she refused to “bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.”

A number of Harry Potter stars have countered Rowling’s views. Emma Watson who came to fame playing Hermione Granger in the wizarding series is among those to criticise Rowling, saying, “trans people are who they say they are.” Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, and Eddie Redmayne have also come out against Rowling’s comments.

Recently Daniel Radcliffe addressed his support for trans people in the wake of Rowling’s comments, saying: “The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing ‘Potter,’ I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that.”

He also told IndieWire, “And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important.”