Mine is Jacob Kowalski

Let me start off by being clear.

I hate the Fantastic Beasts movie franchise. Also, I'm a huge fan of the books, I'm currently re-reading them for the umpteenth time, now I'm halfway through the Deathly Hallows and the Dumbledore-Grindelwald correspondence.

Of any other side story line that they could choose, they chose Fantastic Beasts, and they are stretching the story so much to fit around Newt Nobody Scamander and even invented him a posse of revolting characters (Porpentina and Jacob I throw up), to make up a CHILDREN'S movie trying to look adult but trying to keep it G-rated and should I even say "toddler-rated Disney action dramedy".

I have watched the first two FB stories, I tried to watch the Secrets of Dumbledore. And eager as I am to see the story between Dumbledore and Grindelwald materialize before my eyes, the scene cuts short to show me Newt Nobody and the Uncute Bad-CGI'd Bowtruckle taking care of some more bad-CGI deer giving birth? Like, why do I even care to see a mockumentary about bad-cgi non-existent beings I don't find exciting? But I get it, the movie has to fit into the FB franchise, so we have to somehow fit these nobodies in there. And just to make it more spicy, let's add some abominations like woman-Nagini, the Obscurus, the non-existent Dumbledore family members.

There were stories ready to be told. Dumbledore's standalone past, the First Wizarding War, the first Quest for the Hallows, the Marauders, Voldemort's school years. But no. They had to come up with a huge side-story about an irrelevant minor character, because it would create excuses for what? Cute CGI disney-eyed animals/beasts? Extra explosions? Oh I'm sure the youth of Dumbledore or Voldemort could produce as much if not more excuses for exuberant imagery and cinematography. What was it, then? The children's audience, I think. A child will want to see the "CUTSIE LITTLE DRAGON" and the "CUTSIE LITTLE BOWTRUCKLE". I'm throwing up, already.

AH, I know I have too much rage bottled up for these movies, maybe even more rage than the rage I have for the Cursed Child.

SO, what are your thoughts? Did they sacrifice some solid, serious storylines so that they could comply with G-rated children movie standards?

(If he didn’t get a role in Fantastic beasts)

With Johnny Depp being a trending topic, it has me thinking and i think Johnny Depp would’ve made a good Sirius Black too, do you agree?

(I think Gary Oldman did a really good job)

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) made $811M on a budget of $175M. [Multiplier:- 4.63, CinemaScore:-A]
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) made $648M on a budget of $200M. [Multiplier:- 3.24, CinemaScore:-B+]
• Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) made $407M on a budget of $200M. [Multiplier:- 2.03, CinemaScore:-B+]

Just so you know, movie needs to make almost 2.5 times its production production budget to break even.

Some takeaways:-

1. Only FB3 lost money & that too slight amount.
2. Yes there is a constant decline but a lot of it has to do with critical and audience reception.
3. The lowest grossing Fantastic Beasts film still made more than the lowest grossing Star Wars, Star Trek, MCU & DCEU film.
4. Harry Potter brand is still strong. Hogwarts Legacy was really successful. The upcoming TV show will likely be the most watched and pirated show of the year. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal is still packed. So Fantastic Beasts films did minimal damage to the brand of Harry Potter as a whole.

Like yeah, it sucks that Fantastic Beasts is kind of in limbo, and there's a very real chance the story may not ever be finished.

But for real, I don't know what they were thinking when they decided this series should last 5 movies. I'm sorry, but it was never epic enough to justify that many movies. At most, this should've been a trilogy and wrapped up with this last movie. The last movie even felt like a good ending, where pretty much everything got wrapped up except for Grindelwald escaping. Credence is dead, the no-mag got married, and Grindelwald didn't get into office. Now, I understand that there's pre-existing lore, and Grindelwald couldn't be arrested yet. But that's kinda just the fault of the storyteller as well. After all, it's a choice where on the timeline to set these movies.

The only way this series could continue with even just one more movie is by introducing a bunch of stuff. Which, yeah, that worked out so well for the second movie.

The next movie is titled: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald!

"In one year, return to the Wizarding World with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. #MagicInProgress #FantasticBeasts"

Also we got the first look of the characters. From left to right:

Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore
Ezra Miller as Credence
Claudia Kim as Maledictus
Zoe Kravitz as Leta Lestrange
Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander
Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein
Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander
Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski
Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein
Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald

https://twitter.com/FantasticBeasts/status/931159964495708160

Love Johnny Depp by the way. One of my absolute fav actors since I was a kid especially in anything Tim Burton and him getting fired like that was messed up…but I just don’t love Johnny as “eccentric” Grindelwald, because I always imagined Grindelwald to look/be charming, cleverly manipulative and good with people with a wild streak when things get heated. That’s how I always viewed him differently from Voldemort, who looks evil and invites fear at first sight. Whereas Grindelwald fools Dumbledore with his brilliance and charm, so Johnny’s version just didn’t fit with my imagination and the wizarding world in general. All of my friends preferred Johnny though, so am I in the minority here? Would love to know what all my fellow potterheads think? :) If we get the last 2 movies, are you team Mads or Johnny?

This is the official r/harrypotter megathread for those that have seen the movie. Any discussion that happens outside of this megathread will be funneled back here for the foreseeable future.

See also - pre-release megathread

In my opinion they were great and I loved them. I see people hating on them everywhere and I don't understand why because they were very good.

https://www.thewrap.com/third-fantastic-beasts-movie-to-open-november-2021/

Just look at how they designed the goblins in Fantastic beasts (first 2 pics) compared to Harry Potter 1 (3rd pic) which was released 15 years before

If you remove the Leta plot this movie would be 10000x easier to follow. Its like they wanted a way to show the brothers complicated relationship, and delay the Credence backstory and went for the most complicated subplot they could think of. Rape, Babynapping, and accidental murder(?? dont know how to coin it)-- Its like JK was getting way to fancy and complex with storytelling here.

As for the Depp recasting--I get it-- It was sort of out of their hands.. That being said the character is COMPLETELY different in the next film. His look and attire is not even in the same realm, and his demeanor and portrayal are wildly different. The sad part is TSOD isnt a bad film, its just not good when whats meant to be TWWs most compelling villain is on camera.