There’s also less incentive to put time, energy and money in the already-struggling series because, well, Rowling has become increasingly controversial for her repeated comments against transgender women. That’s a problem, especially since the spinoff stories aren’t appealing to new muggles, as evidenced by lower and lower ticket sales for subsequent installments. There was a longer gap between the second and third movies, which came out four years apart, but the “Harry Potter” fandom isn’t getting any younger. Unless the “Fantastic Beasts” filmmaking team manages to get cameras rolling in the next six months - and that seems unlikely since there’s still no screenplay in existence - the fourth movie wouldn’t be released until 2025 at the earliest. Warner Bros., as well as representatives for Rowling, declined to comment.

Motion Pictures group was enduring a regime change, one that saw the exit of chief Toby Emmerich and ascension of former MGM film presidents Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy. It’s worth noting, though, that “The Secrets of Dumbledore” opened around the same time as the Warner Bros. So, the curious silence on another “Fantastic Beasts” chapter isn’t exactly encouraging. tentpoles, the studio waited only a few days after those movies were released to announce plans for sequels. With “Dune” and “Wonder Woman 1984,” two recent Warner Bros. doesn’t seem to be prioritizing another chapter in the “Fantastic Beasts” universe. Unlike the original eight-film “Potter” franchise, which was adapted from a rich, doorstop of novels, Rowling only has flimsy source material for “Fantastic Beasts.” So, although the spinoff story was barreling toward the full-scale Wizarding War that’s waged between beloved Hogwarts professor Albus Dumbledore and the Voldemort-esque Gellert Grindelwald (you don’t need to be a fan of “Harry Potter” to know how the battle ends), Rowling and Steve Kloves - who co-wrote “The Secrets of Dumbledore” - don’t have a clearly established blueprint to reach the grand conclusion. were waiting to see the reception toward “The Secrets of Dumbledore” before pumping resources into the final chapters in the magical saga.

There wasn’t yet a screenplay for the fourth or fifth entry by April 2022, when the third “Fantastic Beasts” movie opened in theaters. Ticket sales were down 20% from 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” which grossed more than $800 million globally. Though the second installment, 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” didn’t entirely sputter with $654 million at the worldwide box office, its rocky performance put the future of Newt Scamander - the protagonist played by Eddie Redmayne - and company in question.

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