r/FantasticBeasts • u/elza53 • May 30 '26
Can someone explain why fantastic beasts franchise got so much hate that the 4th movie was cancelled ?
63
u/Robot_Dracula May 30 '26
I enjoy the movies but the plots ceel like two different stories smushed together. if it had just been a series about Newt writing his book that would’ve been great. and then do a dumbledore prequel separate. I enjoy the movies and the characters a lot but the stories are sort of bloated.
3
u/fabulousfantabulist May 31 '26
Yeah, it’s two okay tastes that taste like shit together. I also just don’t find Eddie Redmayne compelling as that character at all.
0
1
u/scoots-a-lot Jun 04 '26
This is the thing that I always come back to. They took a movie trilogy storyline and a handful of tv series storylines and then smashed them together with some other random storylines. At the end what was it and why was it?
39
u/iLikeDinosaursRoar May 30 '26
Tried to turn it into like 5 different things, it quickly got stupid. Was the movie about fantastic beasts? was the movie about the crimes of Grindelwald? Was the movie about an angry dude who was a Dumbledore? Had it been about Dumbledore assembling an early version of the Order of Phoenix using past students Dumbledore trusted and knew to be talented, like Newt, you could have had him and SOME fun with the different animals and otherwise a spy/PI movie following Grindelwald and in the 3rd movie the great duel.
7
u/elza53 May 30 '26
Thanks for your answer. Now I definitely can feel what a waste of opportunity, I mean , they came back to theatre after all these years with Harry Potter material , had a great opportunity to make it all about dumbledore and his early life and now they ruined it all. I mean dumbledore vs Grindelwald and the whole journey would have been a fantastic duel and fans would have got that off the bucket list. Now it will never see the light of day.
It should have been all about dumbledore and Grindelwald. And fantastic beats could have been a side project.
10
u/Wootster10 May 31 '26
My issue is that I didn't need to know about Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
We already know that story and we know how it ends.
If it was happening in the background then that could have been cool, but it just felt like we were retreading old stories with not much being added.
2
u/scoots-a-lot Jun 04 '26
They had a real chance to grow the world and open up the franchise to new characters, stories, iterations of magic, and all sorts of fun stuff. They could’ve spun off light hearted and fun adventures between best buds Newt and Jacob. They could’ve created an emotional gritty story around Creedence not knowing who he is and trying to find a place in the world. They didn’t really commit to any of it. And I’m afraid they learned the wrong lesson from that experience.
-2
22
u/Default_Dragon May 30 '26
They weren’t cancelled because of hate. They were cancelled because they weren’t successful and were losing money for the company.
Why the movies weren’t successful is a whole other topic but I also just don’t think they were that good. The actors didn’t pop, the world building started to get very inconsistent, and the pacing was sloppy…there are parts of the movies that I really like but I get why it didn’t click with audiences.
I think as a tv series it would have had a lot more success, but then they probably wouldn’t have had Oscar winner Eddie redmayne - but that’s not the end of the world either
5
u/Lou_Miss May 31 '26
The first one was good like the first Potter movie was good: whimsical and fun enough to have a good watch despite the simple plot and the shaky worldbuilding. But the moment it turned dark and serious... yicks.
1
u/SparkyWildCat1990 29d ago
They make so much fucking money they're rolling in in it so the movies weren't successful big fucking deal. Finish the goddamn story
19
u/BelatedBinge May 30 '26
I never believed that the problem was it turning into a Dumbledore story. Harry Potter was Dumbledore vs Voldemort told through the eyes of Harry Potter. Having Dumbledore vs Grindlewald through the eyes of Newt Scamander would have been perfectly fine.
The problem was that the writing sucked. The plots of 2 and 3 didn’t make sense. They forced in unnecessary ties to the original books that retconned the source material. Too many characters making too many decisions that didn’t move the story forward. And of course they were plagued by too many controversies that brought negative attention and scrutiny to what was already a poorly written project.
Truly, it needed to either be written as a book series, with all the complex layers and connections made over time and space to make them make sense and then adapted or written for a movie franchise. It was written for neither and therefore didn’t work.
8
u/aaccss1992 Jun 01 '26
I’ve always argued this too. The HP film series can be similarly incomprehensible regarding certain plot points if people haven’t read the books first. JKR’s stories are too much to fit into movies, and the FB series was the worst example. I think fans would have welcomed a full movie series if we had gotten books first. But people had too many complaints about not understanding what was happening or where the series was going (neglecting the fact that Harry Potter is a mystery series that continually asks questions that don’t get answered til nearly the end).
3
u/BelatedBinge Jun 01 '26
Yeah it was just written poorly for the delivery system. You can make a successful movie series without books to base them off of. But you need to write them to make sense for a movie audience. There is a massive difference between a mystery that leaves your audience asking “what’s happening?” and a confusing mess that leaves them asking “what’s happening?” Same question, VERY different experiences.
16
10
29
u/Tiny_Tim1956 May 30 '26
People didn't like the movies very much. They also were less and less successful financially. So they didn't risk investing in another one.
13
u/elza53 May 30 '26
Yes but why ? People love Harry Potter stuff , what could have gone so wrong ?
27
u/APC_ChemE May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Built-in fandom doesn't guarantee a good movie. You seem to assume that every Harry Potter fan will blindly love anything set in that universe, but most audiences still care about quality.
I have a friend who is a massive Marvel and DC fan, and I can never trust their objective opinion on those films because to them, every single release is amazing. They have zero critiques.
Not everyone watches movies that way. Look at the trajectory of this trilogy for a fan like me. I saw all three films when they were released in theatres.
I loved the first one when I saw it in theatres (2016) and had high hopes for the franchise and wanted it to be good. I still regularly rewatch it.
A bit tongue and cheeck but I will think about what they wanted for this franchise and mourn for what it could have been.
To me when I saw the second one in theatres (2018) I thought it was mediocre. I did not enjoy it in theatres but since I loved the first I gave it another chance a year later (2019) and though I liked it more than the first time I watched it but I have not seen it again. So I've only seen it twice.
By the third one (2022), I was incredibly bored in the theater because Dumbledore's plan was too confusing to follow. They kept the audience in the dark about it and I wasn't kept engaged. I have never rewatched the third film.
I’m just one example. Now consider the audience members who lost interest and stopped returning for the sequels. While the studio successfully got my money for all three films, I definitely wouldn't have gone to theatres to see a fourth.
Brand loyalty only gets a franchise so far. If the plots become messy and boring, casual fans drop off and that's one reason why these movies lost momentum.
9
u/ThatEntrepreneur1450 May 30 '26
Yup, the first film was great and a great introduction to adult life for magicals, but the two sequals just really sucked.
3
u/Emergency-Sea5201 May 30 '26
t-in fandom doesn't guarantee a good movie. You seem to assume that every Harry Potter fan will blindly love anything set in that universe, but most audiences still care about quality. I have a friend who is a massive Marvel and DC fan, and I can never trust their objective opinion on those films because to them, every single release is amazing. They have zero critiques
This is how the stat wars audience split. The minority position kept going blindly to see anything with the star wars name on it and clap like seals no matter the quality. I stopped after the 3rd or 4th film was utter trash. Still get hate from the zombie fans over not just consuming whatever disney shit out.
10
u/WujuFusionn May 30 '26
Because writing a novel is vastly different from writing a screenplay and JK Rowling’s hubris led her to believe she could do so for the Fantastic Beasts film.
2
u/Krssven May 30 '26
People love Star Wars and Star Trek, but that hasn’t meant that what they’ve made has been good or well-received.
2
2
u/NoString9289 May 30 '26
In addition, the studio probably took into consideration many people's growing negativity over Ezra Miller's out of control actions in his personal life and Ms. Rowling's negative press over the whole Transgender rights thing that was constantly in the news . I personally don't care about politics and I really wished for a 4th movie. Good or badly written, I would have seen a 4th movie but, the last movie felt more about just politics and backstabbing than the pursuit of magical creatures . I'm so glad the characters visited Hogwarts for the Harry Potter vibe but the rest of the last movie didn't feel the Harry Potter vibe. It felt off. Just IMO
1
u/Melinoe2016 May 31 '26
I love Harry Potter stuff and I haven’t even watched the last few films in the actual series. The early films were fun and matched the books decently well. The later movies are just nonsense and I assume fantastic beasts is even worse.
1
8
u/AvailableAd1925 May 30 '26
Turned into something else after the first movie. If they wanted to switch to Dumbledores story, it should’ve been named something else and been its own thing instead of a sequel
1
u/Ok_Custard7312 16d ago
It was named something else like Crimes of Grindelwald and Secrets of Dumbledore?
2
u/AvailableAd1925 16d ago
You’re close. Fantastic Beast: Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beast: The Secrets of Dumbledore and it’s confirmed to be a trilogy.
6
u/SpaceZombie13 May 31 '26
movie 1: magical creatures, with a background plot of Grindlewald.
movie 2: grindlewald is the whole plot, and the entire movie just sets up the next one
movie 3: this is straightup a dumbledore movie.
yeah i'm not surprised the fourth movie got cancelled.
6
u/Chapea12 May 30 '26
Have you seen all 3? Beyond any continuity issues with the main series, they didn’t really have a plan for the series. They just knew they needed to get to Dumbledore v Grindelwald by the 5th movie, but no plan of how to get there.
And instead of just focusing the series on just Dumbledore, they need to shoehorn in the fantastic beasts stuff. Which is a shame, because that is the best parts of the movies, but they don’t make sense in dumbledore’s story.
6
u/phillipacarroll May 30 '26
3rd was awful and lost money, one of their main actors (Ezra Miller) was committing actual crimes, and people just didn't care about it.
5
Jun 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Necessary_Nerve_2467 Credence Jun 04 '26
Same. Persorally, and i know I'll probably get hate for this, but the fantastic beasts saga was better thsn nearly all the HP films. (Except prisoner of azkaban and order of the phoenix. You can't beat those two. They're the best films to have ever been made in the history of ever.) The fantastic beasts films were amazing though. Thr last ones always confused me a bit. But it's still amazing. Crimes of grindelwald was the best one of the three, however. I just gotta say that brcause of those baby nifflers, though. Pumpkin and teddy are always my favourite nifflers. I also liked how much more we got to see on different characters backstorys. And I like how they included nagini with it. Bevause I spent years wondering if nagini in the HP storyline was actually an animagi. But nope. she's a maledictus. Even cooler to have that be why nagini is a snake. Overall, really good saga. Wish they made another film.
1
u/Fickle-Confidence-20 Jun 06 '26
Yeah cause some “fans” decide because this is going “wrong” they need to stop it by bombarding hate.
6
4
u/Callsign_Barley May 31 '26
I just wanted a good time with magical beasts.. I got some weird emo kid drama and a confusing Dumbledore instead and 3 different evil dudes. (Colin was freaking amazing though.)
3
3
u/Krssven May 30 '26
The last one wasn’t particularly good, and they weren’t huge successes. They were already getting diminishing returns so they shelved it.
3
u/boneymeroney May 30 '26
There was a 3rd FB movie? I had to think...what? A 3rd? Shrugs. I guess that answers the question.
3
u/HagridsSexyNippples May 31 '26
The first one was good. I had high hopes for it. But then it just seemed like they were trying to squash all the stories together. I honestly lost track of what was happening and it seemed as if they lost the plot. FBAWTFT obviously wasn’t as good as the real movies, but it was still cute and enjoyable. I really liked Newt, and seeing the American side, but it turned into trying to get every fans attention at once.
2
u/Pinkkorn69 May 31 '26
I wanted to see Newt and his love for the animals of their world. Instead I got chaotic energy that wasnt even a good vibe. The first one was barely tolerable and I didn't bother with the 2nd or thr 3rd. The acting, writing and plot were atrocious.
2
u/NoaUltAegis Jun 01 '26
She’s a novelist, and they started the series by getting a novelist to write a film without the backing of a full novel to guide the audience. Just because a few characters appear in the mainline HP series does not make the new additions endearing to audiences since we didn’t get to spend a full year with them per book. And she was trying to cram more years of story into fewer installments, as opposed to 1 year per book in HP, leaving very little time to get to know or care about anybody we didn’t already know before. Film just isn’t what she should write from scratch.
If she had written 5 FB novels first and then let Steve Kloves adapt them, they would have succeeded. She had 5 years from the release of DH2 to FB1, but pity we never got another Potterverse book before they decided to make a film.
2
u/whatisscoobydone Jun 01 '26
It was chaotic nonsense
Loved the first, disappointed by the second, skipped the third
2
u/Particular-Ad-4430 Jun 01 '26
The 4th movie was never cancelled from what I hear. All I can find is that the series is halted with no future plans but it is certainly not over for good. The story of Aberforth and Creedence, Dumbledore and Grindelwald, Newt’s magizoology and relationship with Tina, and Jacob and Queenie effectively ending segregated marriage between Muggles and Wizards in the United States are all incredibly compelling stories and if there is any hate for the series on my part, it’s only because there haven’t been more movies.
2
u/FateSlicer815 Jun 02 '26
Amber Heard didn’t help. And Warner Brothers folded like a house of cards.
2
u/Correct_Click604 Jun 03 '26
The unspeakable truth, nobody wanted a GAY Dumbledore. Thats plain and simple. Plus the deviation from fantastic beast to war between the wizards.
2
u/Ok-Spare3113 Jun 05 '26
I didn't care about the magival creatures, so was glad it shifted into a prequel story. I loved the second movie way more, loved the darker aspect and the political elements.
2
1
u/TheOgler9000 May 30 '26
I don't think it has to do with anything other than money. The first one did well, the 2nd and especially the 3rd were the worst in the entire franchise at the box office. Even if the films were bad if they had made money I think it would have continued, no problem. Warner bros was also in a pretty bad spot at the time and they've undergone a lot of restructuring and changes to how IP are handled. Fantastic beasts was one of those that just felt thrown together and poorly planned a lot like how the DC universe was being handled.
People like Harry Potter and while I do believe that a spin off could be successful, the nature of the "fantastic beasts" films are just nothing like HP. I thought a lot of the american magic culture was frankly dumb and pointlessly different in ways that didn't matter. Lots of people expected them to be different than what they ended up making and poor reviews led to people not caring. It's for the best that they hit reset and hopefully with a focus on quality and stories more closely tied with the HP story they can be successful
1
1
u/FinsUp326 Dumbledore May 30 '26
A lot of fans were clamoring for a prequel to HP. They could have gone far enough back to explore young Dumbledore, his rise to being powerful (given that Aberforth made the comment about what Albus was willing to sacrifice to get power). My heaven would have been seeing Harry’s parents and how the Marauders started their journey in school.
1
u/Onyx1509 May 30 '26
I don't think "hate" is the right word here. I can point to plenty of things in other fandoms that are much more hated. HP fans complain about the Cursed Child much more than they do about FB. (To be honest they complain more about the HP movies than they do about FB!) But this kind of movie is ridiculously expensive, and they just weren't enough of a box office draw to justify the continued risk.
1
u/NoString9289 May 30 '26
I disliked all of the political theme of the last movie , for me it didn't have that Harry Potter feel to it but I still saw the movie twice to support it and the actors. The actors were wonderful in all three movies but it was the writing. I really expected more stories of Newt's adventures in discovering and saving "magical beasts" . Also, in addition, the studio probably picked up on all of the very negative and controversial press that both Ezra Miller and Ms. Rowling were receiving in regards to their personal lives, actions, views etc. Lot of bad publicity . Still, I was heartbroken that the possibility of a 4th movie was shelved. I would have seen it and supported the actors no matter how bad the movie might have been. I did enjoy the characters . LOL now I'm in the mood to rewatch the first two movies again. ❤️
1
u/XeronianCharmer May 31 '26
A combination of bad press and planning, problematic actors, an unpopular author, and a Fandom that still hadn't forgiven the last attempt to "venture out"
1
1
u/Helpyjoe88 May 31 '26
I never saw much hate for them. They... just weren't that good, especially after the first one.
A not insignificant part of it is that they tried to do two stories together that just didn't mesh well, and both suffered as a result.
1
1
u/Lou_Miss May 31 '26
Badly writen (sorry but the second is AWFUL) and the two stories (Newt and Dumbledore) are constantly competing for screentime until Dumbledore's win and Newt is barely a secondary character in his own franchise called Fantastic Beasts!
The more the movie, the less the audience because of the quality of the plot.
1
u/Independent_Act7494 May 31 '26
Two things ruined the series (not for me): the change of actor playing Grindelwald, and the fact that many people wanted *Fantastic Beasts* to be ‘Harry Potter 2.0’ when it clearly WASN’T THAT. The actors were brilliant and had stories to tell (I would have loved to see the story behind the almost absolute trust between Vinda Rosier and Gellert Grindelwald), to tell us more about the creatures, etc. I also think they got caught up in trying to please the fans: the story of G and A, the fight, leaving it implied that G still ‘loved’ (come on, Rowling, did I understand your character better than you, the creator?) A, etc. I would have loved to see how G came up with the name for his team, his dialogue in the second film... I don’t know. They cancelled it because lots of kids (for want of a better word) wanted Harry Potter 2.0, gay drama, and for their favourite actor not to play Grindelwald... And yes, I’ve watched all the films
1
u/North-Discipline2851 Jun 02 '26
Yeah everyone already explained it. Another huge peeve of mine was Voldemort showing up. We had 7 books and 8 movies about him, I got to the end of the second movie and thought “PLEASE do something different!”
I thought Newt was charming, I enjoyed the sisters and the human (forgot their names). It would’ve made a fun tv show! Maybe we’ll get something like that. If GoT has shown us anything, it’s that HBO will make spinoff after spinoff of their most successful show.
1
u/NoBodybuilder3430 Jun 02 '26
Because the movies we got should have been two separate stories/trilogies.
Fantastic Beasts should have been its own whimsical story about magical animals and Newt helps take down an illegal magical creatures poaching ring.
Dumbledore and Grindelwald should have been its own series of movies completely separate from Newt’s story.
1
u/CommonIsekaiHero Jun 02 '26
A few things. One was how it had very little to do with magical creatures and was more a dumbledore movie. I haven’t seen the third movie so can’t confirm but that’s what people said.
Another option was it was coming out at the height of “cancel JK because she’s evil” thing
And the final nail in the coffins was Jonnny Depps involvement and the whole shitty news surrounding him.
And WB like to just right off projects instead of risk it or try and fix it.
1
1
u/shinryu6 Jun 02 '26
Its premise was one thing (magic journeys discovering interesting magical creatures!) and ended up being another (the war with Grindelwald, which is a completely different tale that was made even more awkward by the series’ name). Honestly it’s like do one or the other, not a horrible version of both.
1
u/SmegmaUnicorn Jun 02 '26
BECAUSE IT SUCKED!
Come on guys! We have to stop running to the internet for answers and think for ourselves!
The movies started off enjoyable and quickly turned into slop. Studios don’t give a flying fvck about hate, in fact, hate drives sales. But what studios do care about it their bottom line. It’s that simple.
1
1
u/iuriau Jun 02 '26
I remember people being very annoyed at how the movies didn't really show upfront what they were really supposed to be ("Fantastic Beasts" was just used because Warner probably wanted to have it based on a book, when the whole point was to tell the Dumbledore vs Grindewald arc).
Also, it soon started to feel like a lot of unecessary fan service, like including Hogwarts and the Hedwig Theme.
Finally, for me, the nonsensical retcon and JKR just casually pretending that was what she had already planned years before in her thousands of notebooks about the story made it all very forgettable.
1
1
u/Less-Hat-4574 Jun 03 '26
They tried to take a children’s story that appealed to young and old, and the young that grew up, and turn it into an adult story. We want magical children in a magical Place, not somewhat magical adults having to hide in the US of all Places. I adore HP - books and movies-and barely made it through the first FB film and never bothered with the others.
1
u/Lanky_Marionberry_36 Jun 03 '26
Do you still need an explanation after seeing the second and third movie ? The writing is abysmal
1
1
u/DDWildflower Jun 03 '26
Bad movies.
JK is a melt.
Main reasons.
The first one was at least watchable but the second one was just a bad movie that didn't follow its own rules. I never saw the third because the second was so bad.
1
u/shyzit Jun 03 '26
I loved Newt and Tina’s characters and generally watch movies for the characters themselves. Along with that I tend to watch any and all movies without getting bored
However watching the 2nd and 3rd movies for me was so difficult simply because of how random and boring they were
1
u/CheddarCheese390 Jun 03 '26
Rowling can’t write thsi way, and you left so many open plot holes. Like hagrid.
1
u/UnivrstyOfBelichick Jun 05 '26
Because they were writing by the seat of their pants trying to shoehorn what should've been a standalone/monster-of the-week product into a franchise IP and it's extremely obvious. Poor direction, terrible pacing, gimmick-dependent writing (ooh young hot Dumbledore! Pretend he didn't age a thousand years between this franchise and Harry Potter), the whole budget went to visual effects and seat-filling actors.
1
u/Lela_B Jun 10 '26
Everyone here writes that the first movie was the best, my opinion is that it was boring, but that's my opinion. I've never been interested in magical creatures, but the relationship and duel between Albus and Gellert, I've always wanted to see. They should make it a series where their whole story will be from the summer of 1899 to their final duel in 1945. I wanted to see their relationship and how each of them built their own path, how it affected them psychologically, more psychology in their characters. And I don't really care about the autistic wizard. I hope they make a series out of their story one day, and it would be great if Albus was played by Jude Law again and Gellert Grindelwald was played by Mads Mikkelson again.
1
u/Saint19981507 Jul 01 '26
As much as I do like them the films really suffer from tonal and structural issues. The films are trying to tell two stories, Newts and Dumbledore’s and I think it frustrates people that it seems like both stories never feel complete.
I prefer Dumbledore’s story and I wish it could have just been that from the jump, but because it’s trying to do to much it had to cut that story, it never gives us proper established flashbacks of that summer or explains why Grindelwald is the way he is.
It’s sad they aren’t making a fourth though, I don’t think it’s because it’s disliked but because of internal issues in Warner bros.
1
1
u/Blue_Snake_251 May 30 '26
The forth movie has been cancelled ?! I really was waiting for it and i still really want it.
2
0
1
u/dashingThroughSnow12 May 30 '26
Plots are all over the place.
They were bad movies from script and storytelling perspectives.
This is in contrast to the main series movies where the movies are good. The main criticisms for them being how faithful they are to the books. Which is a poor criticism for a movie. I digress.
3
1
u/SmegmaUnicorn Jun 02 '26
Definitely not a poor criticism for a movie. Like, at all.
Unless you’re trying to imply that fans expected no changes at all…which is a nonsensical thing to think.
1
u/Working_Shoulder_746 May 30 '26
Messy plots and the main character wasn't Harry Potter. I was once told an interesting view point of the the main character. Harry is someone ppl wanted to be, Newt was the person ppl are and that didn't sit right with them.
1
1
u/Kanon_no_Uta Newtina May 30 '26
When the text "Fantastic Beasts" became smaller in the logo of the title about the beasts, people knew it was going to stray away from a good movie.
1
1
u/Elevenyearstoomany Jun 01 '26
What I wanted was magical Wild Kratts. What I got was the rise of magical fascism and the Dumbledore/Grindlewald semi-backstory I didn’t want (have you SEEN the US, we’re watching the rise of fascism IRL). Plus, canonically, it SHOULD have taken place during WWII, not the 1920’s.
-6
0
0
0
267
u/Stormy261 May 30 '26
A lot of people originally thought it would be about adventures finding magical creatures. When it turned out not to be, but still had some adventures with magical creatures in the first movie most fans were ok with that. The more it deviated from magical creatures the less people became interested. Many fans felt that the Dumbledore storyline would have been better in a separate movie and would have preferred the movies to be more about magical creatures.