The film was slated for release in November 2021, before it was pushed back to April 2022 due to theCOVID-19 epidemic. Much of the main cast from the first two films confirmed their involvement in March 2020.Principal photography was set to begin in early 2020,[4] but was postponed due to the epidemic,[5] eventually commencing in September 2020.[6]Johnny Depp returned as Grindelwald and filmed one scene for this film, but was asked to step down in November 2020 following the verdict of theDepp v News Group Newspapers Ltd court case;Mads Mikkelsen replaced him later that month. Filming took place until February 2021.
Albus Dumbledore andGellert Grindelwald briefly meet in aMuggle teashop, where they acknowledge their mutual feelings. Grindelwald vows to destroy the Muggle world, but Dumbledore calls the plan madness, saying he only supported it because he was in love with him.
InKweilin,China,Newt Scamander helps aqilin — a magical creature that can see into one's soul as well as the future — give birth.[10] Not long after,Credenceapparates in, and leads Rosier and Carrow to attack and kill the mother and kidnap the newborn. Unbeknownst to them, the qilin gave birth to another baby. Newt rescues this young qilin before collapsing of exhaustion. Awyvern from his travelling suitcase flies them all away.
Grindelwald's acolytes arrive atNurmengard and give him the newborn qilin. Intending to harness its ability of precognition, he kills it by slitting its throat.Queenie surreptitiously observes this with shock.
Newt and his brother Theseus venture to see Albus inHogsmeade, where they also meet his brother,Aberforth. Albus tells them that he cannot battle Grindelwald directly due to the blood troth that he and Grindelwald created.
Credence, struggling with the revelation that he is a Dumbledore, is visited by Queenie, who relays Grindelwald's suggestion that Credence seek out and kill Albus for abandoning him. Meanwhile, Jacob Kowalski is continuing on as a baker when he encountersIlvermorny Charms teacher Lally Hicks, who recruits him. Using a book as aportkey, they port into a Berlin-bound train to join Newt, Newt's brother Theseus, Senegalese-French wizard Yusuf Kama, and Newt's assistant Bunty Broadacre.Tina Goldstein is very busy heading upMACUSA and cannot join them. Newt relays Dumbledore's plan to defeat Grindelwald to them. He gives a fake wand to Jacob, a red and gold tie to Theseus, a book to Lally, and to Bunty, a note for her eyes only.
InBerlin, despite Newt's attempt to persuade him otherwise, the outgoing Supreme Head of the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW), Anton Vogel, acquits Grindelwald of all previous criminal charges. This allows him to run in the elections for the head of the ICW in a three-way competition against Vicência Santos and Liu Tao. Grindelwald and his acolytes, who have already infiltrated the GermanMinistry of Magic, overpower and arrest Theseus. Dumbledore apparates into Berlin and dispatches Newt to theErkstag, the secret German wizarding prison where Theseus is held.
Bunty goes off to have Newt's suitcase copied with six identical ones. Yusuf is planted as a spy in Grindelwald's inner circle. Grindelwald has Queenie use herlegilimency to test Yusuf's trustworthiness, and believes her validation.
Credence tracks down Albus and battles him in the streets of Berlin, but is quickly disarmed. Albus confirms to Credence that he is a Dumbledore, the son of his brother Aberforth, but gently assures him that they did not intentionally abandon him. Credence begins to question his loyalty to Grindelwald.
Meanwhile, Grindelwald plots to assassinate the competing Brazilian candidate, Santos, by slipping her a poisoned cup of wine, but she is saved by Lally at the last second. Jacob threatens Grindelwald with his wand to let Queenie go and is mistaken for an assassin. Lally casts a storm charm as a distraction and is able to activate the book portkey in time for her and Jacob to escape from the pursuing Helmut, a German Auror.
Newt finds Theseus in the Erkstag, but they are surrounded by a swarm of baby scorpion-likemanticores. Newt and Theseus are able to placate them by rhythmically dancing until a giant manticore attacks them and grabs Theseus. With the help of Newt'sbowtruckle Pickett andniffler Teddy, Newt saves him with the red and gold tie, another portkey that transports them toHogwarts.
Newt and Theseus meet with Albus, Lally, and Jacob at Hogwarts, where Albus shows them their next location,Bhutan. Later, they eat in Hogsmeade, where Lally explains to Jacob that the qilin bows only to someone who is pure of heart, and was thus traditionally trusted to select the Head of the ICW.
Usingnecromancy, Grindelwald reanimates the dead qilin and charms it to bow to him to influence the election in his favor. Knowing that there was another qilin, he gives Credence a last chance to redeem himself for failing to kill Dumbledore by destroying it.
To thwart Grindelwald's henchmen, each ally of Dumbledore carries an identical suitcase, with only one containing the qilin. The team travels one by one via a portkey to the ICW vote in Bhutan. On arrival, they are confronted by Grindelwald's followers. Theseus, Lally, and Jacob are surrounded and have their suitcases taken, but when Helmut and his men open them, they releaseQuidditch balls, angry books with fangs, and rapidly multiplying pastries.
Jacob convinces Queenie to come back to him from Grindelwald, but they are caught. Newt meets with Henrietta Fischer, Vogel's attaché, and she tells him that she is with Dumbledore and tries to take his case. Newt is suspicious and resists, but is stunned by Zabini, another Grindelwald follower. When Newt wakes up, he tries to catch Fischer, who gives him back the suitcase, but it vanishes. At the election, the dead qilin that Grindelwald charmed bows to him, and he is elected as the new Head of the ICW, after which he immediately declares war on all Muggles and tortures Jacob with theCruciatus curse.
Credence arrives and reveals that Grindelwald's qilin is dead. Bunty, who has the real suitcase, produces the surviving qilin. The living qilin passes Grindelwald by and bows to Albus Dumbledore. Shocked, Albus thanks the qilin for the honour, but convinces it that there is another equally worthy. The qilin then bows to Santos, who had freed Jacob from Grindelwald's Cruciatus curse, and she is elected as the legitimate Head of the ICW.
Enraged, Grindelwald tries to kill Credence, who is simultaneously protected by Aberforth and Albus. As an act of defense of Credence, Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's clashing spells break the blood pact, and they fight each other, but are evenly matched, and cannot bring themselves to attack each other at close range. Grindelwald is cornered by all in attendance; he defiantly declares that he was never their enemy, anddisapparates.
In the aftermath, Aberforth accepts the dying Credence as his son and takes him home.[11] Back inNew York City at Jacob's bakery, Jacob and Queenie have an small wedding ceremony with a few guests. While preparing his speech, Newt steps outside as Tina arrives, and spots Albus Dumbledore watching from across the street. Dumbledore thanks Newt before disappearing into the night.
Jude Law asAlbus Dumbledore: An extremely powerful and influential wizard in the British Wizarding Community, known in the British Ministry of Magic and throughout the wider wizarding world for his academic brilliance, and teacher ofDefence Against the Dark Arts atHogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He holds a blood pact with Grindelwald, with whom he was in love and had a close relationship with as a young adult, preventing them from duelling each other.
Ezra Miller asCredence Barebone: The disturbed adopted child of Mary-Lou Barebone, who severely abused him and named him "Credence Barebone". Enraged by people's treatment of him, during the incident of 1926 he set his Obscurus parasite loose in New York City, causing widespread destruction. He survived in a tiny Obscurus fragment and was sought out by Grindelwald. He initially believed that he was Corvus Lestrange, Leta Lestrange's deceased half-brother. However, at the end of the second film, Grindelwald claimed that his real name is Aurelius Dumbledore and that his brother, Albus, would seek to kill him. In the third film, he is identified as being Albus's nephew rather than his brother, as he is actually the illegitimate son of Albus's brother Aberforth.
Dan Fogler asJacob Kowalski: An AmericanNo-Maj veteran of theFirst World War, owner of a bakery, friend of Newt, and lover of Queenie. When she returns, he later marries her and Newt serves as his best man.
Alison Sudol asQueenie Goldstein: The pretty and vivacious renegade younger sister of Tina, who worked alongside her in the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA). She is a powerful naturalLegilimens. After being convinced that Grindelwald will make her dream of marrying Jacob come true, she went rogue and joined his side, eventually abandoning her lover and sister. She later returns to Jacob and they marry at his bakery. Her sister serves as maid of honour.
William Nadylam as Yusuf Kama: A French wizard of Senegalese descent from an old Wizarding family and an ally of Newt, who previously attempted to kill Credence while falsely believing him to be his former stepfather's son, Corvus Lestrange V.
Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander: Newt Scamander's older brother who is a dedicated and loyal Auror, as well as the Head of the Auror Office in the BritishMinistry of Magic. He is famous for the title "war hero" for his excellent show of bravery and generosity in the First World War. He constantly tries to tame Newt into more elegance so that he is better accepted in society. He lost his fiancée, Leta Lestrange, in September 1927, after she sacrificed herself at Grindelwald's rally inPère Lachaise, Paris to save the Scamander brothers.
Katherine Waterston asTina Goldstein: An American MACUSA Auror and currently Head of the Auror Office in MACUSA. She is Queenie Goldstein's sister and Newt's love interest. She played a role in thwarting Gellert Grindelwald during the Obscurus incident of 1926, for which she and Newt were initially blamed.
Mads Mikkelsen asGellert Grindelwald: An infamous powerful dark wizard who caused mass violence, terror and chaos around the globe, seeking to lead a new Wizarding World Order based on his strong belief in wizarding superiority. He had a close relationship with Dumbledore as a teenager. Mikkelsen replacesJohnny Depp, who played Grindelwald in the first two films, due to the latter'slibel case with News Group Newspapers Ltd. over his alleged domestic abuse of his ex-wife,Amber Heard.[14][15][16] The story does not acknowledge or explain the change in Grindelwald's appearance between films, which Mikkelsen described as a "deliberate" choice.[17]
In minor and one-scene roles, Cara Mahoney as Waitress, a woman who attends Albus in ateashop; Maja Bloom as Carrow, a Grindelwald follower;Wilf Scolding as Frank Doyle/Workman, a relative of Lally; Paul Low-Hang as Zabini, a Grindelwald follower;Peter Simonischek as Warder, a guard of the Erkstag prison;Matthias Brenner as Otto, a leathercraftsman; Kazeem Tosin Amore as Workman 2, Noor Dillan-Night as Workman 3, Manuel Klein as Tall Auror, Jan Pohl as Ministry Official,Jacqueline Boatswain as Ida Webb, a British witch and member of the International Confederation of Wizards; Ramona Kunze-Libnow as Edith, a woman who welcomes Lally and Jacob in the Candidates Dinner; David Bertrand as Victor, a wizard who works with Vogel, Stefan Race as Karl, a dark-eyed waiter; Sean Talo as Ministry Wizard, Dónal Finn as Albert, a baker who works with Jacob, Jeremy Azis as German Muggle 24, Jessica Cartledge as "red-headed Ravenclaw", Radha Sthanakiya as "tiny witch 1", Isabelle Coverdale as "tiny witch 2", and Emilia Karlsson as Ministry Guest.
In October 2014,Warner Bros. Pictures announced the film as "at least" a trilogy with the third instalment to be released on 20 November 2020.[20][21] In July 2016, directorDavid Yates confirmed thatJ. K. Rowling had ideas for the third film's screenplay.[22] In October 2016, it was reported that theFantastic Beasts film series would comprise five films, andEddie Redmayne would be returning to all films to play the lead role of Newt Scamander, with producers Rowling,David Heyman,Steve Kloves, andLionel Wigram.[23] In November 2016, Yates revealed that he would be directing all five films, stating "I love making films, and I've got a great team, all of whom are like family."[24]
In October 2018,Johnny Depp hinted that he might return to portrayGellert Grindelwald for the third film, which would start filming in mid-2019.[25]
On 7 February 2019, it was revealed the film would be set in the 1930s, with the story leading up to the Wizarding World's involvement inWorld War II and exploring the magical communities inBhutan, Germany and China in addition to previously established locations including the United States and United Kingdom.[26][27] In November 2019, Warner Bros. put out a press release announcing the film's location of Brazil, a spring 2020 start of production, and that Steve Kloves, who had previously served as screenwriter on theHarry Potter films, had joined the project as co-writer.[28][29]
Mads Mikkelsen was cast to replace Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald.
In March 2020,Jude Law,Johnny Depp,Ezra Miller,Alison Sudol,Dan Fogler,Callum Turner,Katherine Waterston,Claudia Kim[30] andJessica Williams were revealed to be reprising their roles from previous films, alongsideEddie Redmayne.[31]Kevin Guthrie, who played Abernathy in the first two instalments, was set to return but was fired before production began due to his trial and eventual conviction in a sexual assault case.[32][33] In November 2020, Depp announced he would not reprise his role as Grindelwald after being asked by Warner Bros. to resign due to negative publicity resulting from the libel caseDepp v News Group Newspapers Ltd.[34] Depp shot only three scenes in London after production began in September 2020, and his contract stipulated that he be paid regardless of whether the film was completed or not.[35] Depp's salary was reportedly somewhere between $10–16 million.[36] On 25 November, Warner Bros. announced thatMads Mikkelsen would replace Depp in the role of Grindelwald.[14][34][37] Mikkelsen opted not to emulate Depp's performance, stating in an interview that it would be "creative suicide", but acknowledged that there still needed to be "some sort of bridge between what came before."[17]
Filming officially commenced inLondon in September,[35] with safety precautions in place to keep the cast and crew safe from COVID-19.[6] On 3 February 2021, filming atWarner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in the UK was halted after a crew member tested positive for COVID-19.[38][39][40] ComposerJames Newton Howard confirmed later that month that production had wrapped filming.[41] Although the film is partially set inBerlin andBhutan, it was not filmedon location. These areas were reimagined and reconstructed on the vast backlot and sound stages ofWarner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, augmented by visual effects, led by production VFX supervisorChristian Manz.[42][43]
The film marketing campaign began in September 2021, the same day the title was announced asFantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.[44] On 10 December 2021, a sizzle reel promo was released by Warner Bros. Pictures to celebrate the Wizarding World's twentieth anniversary, showing clips from previous films and events of the franchise and ending with a quick teaser for the film, while also announcing that a full trailer would be released the following Monday.[45] The film's official trailer was officially released on 13 December 2021, with a teaser poster being released the following week.[46][47] On 22 February 2022, 18 posters featuring characters from the film were released online.[48] A second trailer was announced to be released on Thursday, 24 February 2022 by actor Jude Law through the film's social media, but was later delayed.[49] The trailer was eventually released on 28 February, along with the official poster for the film.[50][51] The official hardcover screenplay was scheduled to be released on 19 July 2022, three months after the film's theatrical release.[52]
Warner Bros spent over $21 million in television advertisement and promotion merchandise, with the film generating over 958 million impressions on airing channels NBC, ABC, TBS, CBS, and SyFy during theMarch Madness,Winter Olympics,NBA games and other sports and events. The film was one of the many merchandise that includesWarner Bros. Consumer Products's limited edition art prints fromMinaLima callingHarry Potter: The Exhibition, Insight Editions'Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore: Movie Magic, Wizarding World's Niffler Figure with 1 card,Hot Topic's casual clothes and t-shirts, LeSportsac's bag and accessories,Build-A-Bear Workshop's character plushy that includesNiffler,Bowtruckle and more, andFunko Pop's action figure out of characters based on the film.[53] Warner's internationalYouTube channels received 125.1 million views from Indonesia, Brazil, Ireland, UK, Spain and more countries for the film's promotional material, and was one of the strong viral reposting rates with 18:1.[54]
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore premiered at theRoyal Festival Hall in London on 29 March 2022.[55][56] It was first released to cinemas in Belgium and the Netherlands on 6 April 2022, followed by other European countries, Australia, China, and Japan through 8 April,[57] the United States and Argentina on 15 April, and the Philippines on 16 April. In the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Lebanon, the film was released on 28 April 2022.The Secrets of Dumbledore was made available to stream onHBO Max on 30 May 2022.[58]
The film was initially scheduled to be released on 12 November 2021,[59] but following Depp's departure, his role's recasting with Mikkelsen and the COVID-19 epidemic, Warner Bros. shifted the release to 15 July 2022.[60][61] In September 2021, the film's release was pushed forward three months early to 15 April 2022.[44] It was later announced that the film would be released a week earlier in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 8 April 2022.[62]
The Secrets of Dumbledore is the first Wizarding World film to openly address Dumbledore's sexuality, depicting him and Grindelwald as having been lovers. Although Rowling firmly stated in 2007 that Dumbledore was gay, none of the novels in the franchise ever mentioned this. The two dialogues in the film referencing Dumbledore's homosexuality were censored for the film's release in China.[63][64]
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was released fordigital download on 30 May 2022, and onUltra HD Blu-ray,Blu-ray andDVD on 28 June 2022.[65] Over its first month of streaming inHBO Max, the film was streamed in an estimated eight million households.[66]
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore grossed $95.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $311.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $407.2 million.[67][3]
In the United States and Canada,Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was projected to gross around $40 million from 4,200 theatres in its opening weekend.[68][69] The film made $20 million on its first day, including $6 million on the Thursday night previews.[70] It went on to debut to $42.2 million,[71] topping the box office but marking the lowest opening of the Wizarding World franchise. Women over 25 (38%) were the largest demographic, followed by men over 25 (33%).[54] The film grossed $14 million in its second weekend, dropping 67% and finishing in third place behindSonic the Hedgehog 2 andThe Bad Guys[72] marking the second-worst second weekend drop for the Wizarding World franchise afterHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 saw a 72% second weekend drop in 2011.[73]
Outside the U.S. and Canada, the film earned $56.9 million from 22 international markets in its opening weekend. In Germany, the film's $9.2 million debut was the best opening for Warner Bros. since 2019'sJoker.[74] The film made $71.7 million in its second weekend. This included openings of $7.1 million in both France and Mexico, the latter of which was the second-biggest opening for Warner Bros. during the pandemic.[75] It added $38.3 million in its third international weekend, crossing the $200 million worldwide mark.[76] It crossed the $300 million mark in its fourth weekend.[77]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 248 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore avoids some of the pitfalls that plagued its predecessor, but lacks much of the magic that drew audiences into the Wizarding World many movies ago."[78]Metacritic assigned the film aweighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews[79] and marking the lowest score on the site for a Wizarding World film.[80] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, tied for the lowest of the franchise withThe Crimes of Grindelwald, while those atPostTrak gave it an 81% positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.[54]
A particular focus of praise from some reviews was that Mads Mikkelsen outperformed Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald.[81][82][83]
TheFantastic Beasts film series was initially speculated to be a trilogy, but in October 2016, Rowling announced that the series would be composed of five films,[23] later confirming that the story of the series would consist of a sequence of events that occurred between 1926 and 1945.[86] In February 2022, producerDavid Heyman revealed that work on the script for a fourth film had not yet begun.[87] In April 2022,Variety reported that Warner Bros. greenlighting the final two instalments would be dependent on the critical and commercial performance ofThe Secrets of Dumbledore.[88][89] Mikkelsen believed that Depp could return as Grindelwald in another film.[90][91]
In November 2022,Variety reported thatWarner Bros. Discovery was not actively planning to continue theFantastic Beasts series or develop further films in the Wizarding World franchise.[92][93][94][95][96] In October 2023, Yates made comments that the series had been "parked", while also disclosing that the idea of it being a five-film series had been a "surprise" after many had only initially committed to doing a single film.[97][98] In October 2024, Redmayne stated thatThe Secrets of Dumbledore was likely to be the lastFantastic Beasts film, pointing to theUniversal Orlando Resort attraction in Florida as the next place to feature Newt.[99] In the same month, Law also stated he did not foresee more films being made, citing Warner Bros. focusing on the development of the forthcomingHarry Potter television series.[100]
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