‘Fantastic Beasts’ star gives update on what’s happening with third movie
We’ve finally got some news on when the next Fantastic Beasts movie begins filming!
Exploring the Wizarding World of Harry Potter with the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander, the planned five-film prequel franchise launched in 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Set in post-World War I Europe, the movie was followed in 2018 with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
It was originally planned for the third instalment to be released at the end of next year, with production due to start this summer.
However, rumours surfaced earlier this year that the Fantastic Beasts 3 shoot had been delayed due to the disappointing box office and poor critical reception for the second film.
It was then officially announced in May that the movie had been delayed by a year, with a new release date in November 2021.
Since then, it’s all been very quiet, but star Dan Fogler finally gave fans an update at LeakyCon 2019 in Boston.
The American actor, who plays Jacob Kowalski in the movies, said: “We haven’t started filming yet. We start in February [2020].”
He added: “Last we heard, JK [Rowling]… she’s been writing furiously. Everyone was really happy with what she submitted, and we’re all just waiting for the new script. And that’s where we’re at.”
Fogler is the first Fanastic Beasts star to confirm his return, although Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Johnny Depp and Jude Law are all expected to reprise their roles.
Hinting at what he hopes the third movie will entail for his character, he commented: “I hope that he gets Queenie back. I haven’t seen a script yet, and I’ve lost a significant amount of weight, and I think it will be funny if – you know how she put a spell on me to follow her around like a puppy? What if she also put a spell on me to get fit?”
He added: “So there’s that. But also, on a philosophical level, it’ll be interesting… We’re in the middle of the Depression, he’s just on a bender of loss. He lost her… I’m just saying this is the thing that I have in my head, that he’s lost his appetite.”
Written by Harry Potter creator JK Rowling, the first two Fantastic Beasts movies have grossed a combined total of $1.46 billion worldwide, but the movies haven’t received a huge amount of love from Potter fans.
Hopefully it’ll be third time lucky with the next one!
The complete 8-film Harry Potter DVD box set is available on Amazon.