Are the Fantastic Beasts movies coming to an end?

Amidst a myriad of scandals and controversies, the magic has been flickering out of the wizarding world, making Fantastic Beasts the most cursed franchise in cinematic history.

As the third installment of the Harry Potter spin-off series releases this week, Variety reports about Warner Bros. contemplating the future of the Fantastic Beasts saga. According to the sources, there is no screenplay for the fourth installment of the franchise at the moment. Warner Bros. executives are waiting to see how Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore performs at the box office before green-lighting the subsequent sequels.

Franchise creator J.K. Rowling originally intended for the Fantastic Beasts series to feature five installments. Rowling went from being an esteemed author to receiving major backlashes over her transphobic standpoints. Harry Potter alums Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson strongly condemned Rowling’s contentious statements toward the trans community.

Are the Fantastic Beasts movies coming to an end?

The everlasting vexations for Warner Bros. started brewing in 2018 with the domestic abuse allegations against Johnny Depp, who starred as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The movie achieved the undesirable crown of being the lowest box office grosser for any Harry Potter movie. Warner Bros. requested Depp to resign from the franchise as Depp lost his libel case against The Sun. Depp was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen to play the role of Grindelwald.

Ezra Miller, who plays a pivotal role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise was recently arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment in a karaoke bar in Hawaii. Miller also stars in the long-delayed American superhero film The Flash which will be distributed by Warner Bros and is currently slated for a 2023 release. Miller apparently shouted obscenities at the patrons for singing Lady Gaga’s song shallow, grabbed the mic from a woman, and lunged at a man playing darts. Miller was charged and released a day before the London premiere of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Another controversy joins the movie’s sinking ship as Warner Bros. omitted two dialogues implicating Dumbledore’s homosexuality for the Chinese version of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. China, being the biggest movie market in the world requested the studio to remove six seconds of the movie where Dumbledore talks about his Affaire de Coeur with Grindelwald. In a statement released to SCMP, Warner Bros. pointed out,

"“A six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact.”"

With the latest movie’s declining performance in the international market and lukewarm response from the audience and critics alike, it is unlikely that Warner Bros. would be enthusiastic to green-light any further sequels.