Update on Fantastic Beasts 4

In this episode, we discuss the future for Fantastic Beasts and the new development that there may not be another film. Enjoy!

Topics/Summary:
·      Check out the interview with Eddie Redmayne here.

·      2:43 Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Depending on your view of the series, you may prefer different things. If you enjoy the films for the story and the characters, another film is exactly what you want. But, if you take the more critical path of analyzing the film, you might not enjoy the fourth film if Warner Brothers were to put it out. Whatever your view, returns on investment might point towards the fourth Fantastic Beasts film staying away from a reality.  

·      10:13 Where can we go from here? This is another question that we can’t have a correct answer to. It’s hard to think that this whole chapter of Harry Potter is going to fade into the background and amount to far less than what the filmmakers wanted to make and what we wanted to see. This is a dangerous and expensive game that, in this scenario, WB has lost. Now, we’re looking to WB for a continuation of the story.

·      15:26 How can the story continue? The perfect situation would be two more films to finish of the series, but let’s just assume that’s not going to happen. More realistically, I’m hoping they put out a sort of short film that wraps up the story that doesn’t cost more than $20 or $30 million to make. Unfortunately, that might not happen. What I think will really happen is some sort of statement from WB addressing this. They might say that they are planning the next films or say that the project is coming to a close. As consumers, we have no say in this. We just have to wait. 

·      22:12 Let’s make a plan. Warner Brothers can take this many ways. When/if they put out a statement, we can react accordingly. If they say that they are planning the next film(s), we can gear up for the next release. If they say that nothing is going to happen, we can put Fantastic Beasts up on the shelf and call it a day.

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Transcript

VO:
Welcome to the Potter discussion.

Oscar:
Welcome back to the Potter discussion discussing Harry Potter fantastic piece in the Wizard Roll fandom. I'm your host, Oscar and this is episode 167. Thank you all for joining me today on this lovely day. It happens to be very cold outside. I'd say that's a pretty accurate descriptor of the day. I think it's like negative ten right now and like negative 20 or negative 30 with windshield. It's crazy. Definitely the coldest it has been this winter. So my walk this morning was with much layering of many scarves and hats, gloves, coats, everything I could possibly throw on to be warm, I did and I was like covered in ice when I got in. So it was really cold this morning. Luckily it's warming up, but it's still pretty cold. So perfect day for a lovely episode of the Potter discussion. So thank you for tuning in, even if you're listening to this on the wonderfully warm, sandy beaches of Aruba, or maybe you're in Australia or something like that, where it's nice and warm. Well, I envy you in this moment. But alas, we are here and we're talking about Fantastic Beasts because there have been some interesting developments in the recent weeks with Fantastic Beasts. And this is specifically pertaining to Fantastic Beast Four as that is now where the focus is turning to. Of course, we're giving WB a good buffer in terms of time because they took that. They did take a good hiatus before making The Secrets of Dumbledore and even before making The Crimes incredible. So the history of this filmmaking has definitely been with lots of time in between each film. So we're not going to assume anything at the moment. But Eddie Redmain, the actor plays Newt, did discuss in an interview that he had no contact about Fantastic Beast Four. He said, as far as I know, that's not in the cards. I'm paraphrasing that link to the interview. I think it was like NME.com or something like that. That link to the interview will be in the show us it'll be the first link in the shownotes if you want to see exactly what he said. But we're going to go off that for a SEC and discuss really what's the deal with that and what could possibly come out of that and what would happen if there is no Fantastic Beasts for. So let's get into today's episode. First off, this is something that I have been thinking about and I really cannot come up with an answer. So I think I might just discuss it with you so you can make up your own mind. But is this a good thing or is this a bad thing? Now, this is certainly something that we have to talk about because depending on your view of Fantastic Beasts, depending on your view of where the story is going and really your opinion of the film so far, you will be thinking different things about the continuation of this series. Me, personally, I really enjoy Fantastic Beasts and I watch it from a consumer standpoint, and I only watch it maybe once to make an episode about it from a very Harry Potter analyst standpoint, looking at the characters, the storyline, really where it can go. So I enjoy this Secrets at Devil Door for the story, for the characters. And there are absolutely things that I would have liked to see more of. But there's never going to be a film in the recent years or any time in the future that is like 100% perfect. Because, I mean, nothing can be 100% perfect. So that is something that I go in there thinking, okay, I'm not going to find this the most amazing piece of film that has ever existed. But I can certainly really enjoy the film for what it is. And I think I did that for sure when I saw it in theaters for the first time. I really enjoyed the film and I was really sad when it was over because, I mean, watching a great film for the first time is something that you don't get to do very often. So I really enjoyed the series of embledor, and I think it's definitely one of my favorites of the fantastic B series just as a whole. And granted, that's not a difficult title to get, as there have been only precisely three films, but I'd say my favorite was probably the first. And then it's because dumb. Or then it's crimes are going towald. I love the crimes are going towald. The music is great, the special effects were awesome, but the films before and after that were my favorite. So, good or bad, let's really dive into that. Is the currently nonexistent fourth Fantastic Beasts movie staying that way going to be a good thing or a bad thing? Well, from my standpoint, I am a little disappointed because there was a slight lull, and I will absolutely accept that, that there was a slight lull in the interest in the box office, in the whole situation right around the carnes Gunwald. The first film didn't do that bad, and then it was like a dip in Carnegie Gunnerwald and then didn't do exactly what they wanted next. So I think it was definitely a tough decision to either completely abandon the project or at least consider the fact that it might not go on forever. And I think that's certainly something that we can think about because, of course, this is a very difficult thing to be kind of going off of because there have been a lot of money that has gone into this. There's been a lot of difficult decisions and certainly a lot of strange situations and obstacles that the filmmakers have had to face. So really coming out of this with a fourth film isn't a really difficult thing. And I think it's definitely really hard when the box office just absolutely tanks because of course looking at fantastic piece and we're going to find them. The worldwide box office was like over 800 million which is like pretty good. Pretty good for even by Harry Potter standards that deserves a solid place in the box office hall of fame for Harry Potter. But of course, I mean, just about every Potter movie has made I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars even, even going into like the crimes of of Grindelwald where maybe the box office wasn't exactly what they have wanted to see. It still was like a lot of money. If I had that much money, I would be thrilled. The worldwide box office for that was just above 650,000,000, which is insane for just like a quick check for $650,000,000. But of course in looking at the fantastic reason where to find them, you kind of go like oh, like maybe it wasn't that great because it was kind of a big dip and a big dip is exactly the kind of thing that the filmmakers are deathly afraid of because money is really what drives this whole thing. Of course, if it was the interest of the fans they would be churning out films like it was no one's business but unfortunately they have to pay their actors and pay the film to film session, all that kind of stuff. And of course, as we know, the box office for The Secret Dumbledore was barely over 400 million. So the decision was basically already made before they even stopped the production of The Secrets of Dumbledore. The second they put it out and the second those numbers came in, I mean, the decision was basically final and I was hopeful. I really want there to be a fourth film. So I said I wanted to be fourth film. I'm hoping there is a massive prediction I locked it in, but unfortunately the tables may have turned. So overall I don't think this is a great thing. I would have much rather like to have seen a fourth film and I'm not someone who is like so offended by the horrible storyline, the horrible character choices that I'm glad it's not a fourth film. I mean, is there anyone like that? I think it's good that they are not trying to push this as far as they can, but they themselves, WB themselves can absolutely take these very simple steps and make a fantastic movie that the fans want to see. I think they definitely tried to make that film with the six of Dumbledore but they didn't talk to the right people, they didn't talk to anyone. So getting the input from other people and fans who actually are watching the films, like doing a survey of 1000 or even 100 fans and just saying what they like most, but they want to have seen more where they want the story to go. Like I would love to do that, I would love to contribute to the information based. Because having a fan like contributed to movie of Fantastic Beast, of the story that we want to see, is an idyllic, ideal idea that we're working towards. And I think that is so hard to do that. It is really hard to do that. So I think that's why the fourth film is not going to come to light. But overall, I am disappointed because the story has so much more to do, it has so many more places to go and it has so much more room to grow that it is really too bad that it is being cut off so short and we're not going to be able to live in the world of Fantastic Beasts any longer. So we've established that it might not be the best thing for the fandom as a whole. I should say me personally, that Fantastic Four might not be as likely as we would like to assume. But what we can now do is move it to the section of the actual Harry Potter films in that we are now treating it as a finished series and one that we can now talk about in its entirety and not have to think about as something that is a continuing project. So what I want to kind of dive into now is where can we go from here? Because now that there are no films coming out and we don't have a clear path, what are the next steps? And I think this is another question that there's really no right answer to. So we really can't know for sure anything that is going on with anyone at this current moment. And maybe we're completely wrong. Maybe Eddie Redmayne got a call right when he walked out of the studio and said, hey, we love to do another film. You want to urine? Like, great. Yeah, maybe that happened, maybe it did. But I think for our purposes, we're kind of going to go down the route of assuming that maybe Eddie was correct in saying that. Maybe it's not on the cards for at the moment. So where can we go? Well, I think the main road that we kind of have to explore is how do we finish the story? Because that is the one thing that we are losing. If there is no film, there is so much more to be had. There are so many more characters to explore, so many avenues to go down, and so much more to see and do and experience. So where does that all go? Is that all just disappear the second they decide not to do that? Well, it can't, because this is a really important thing that we're missing out. And we're missing out on basically the foundings of the world of Harry Potter, both literally and figuratively. Because of course, we are experiencing the story like 100 years before it actually takes place. But also maybe it's a little less than 100 but we are also really seeing Dumbledore in his fighting days and his days in the field in his prime. So I think it's really difficult to assume that we're just going to lose that now. That element of the story, that layer of Harry Potter as a whole is just going to kind of fade into the background without the completion of the story. Because like I've been saying in previous episodes, the whole point of this is to really give the backstory of Harry Potter. And we don't have that right now. We have the lead up and maybe a couple of years before the climax, but that's it. That's kind of all we got. And it's really too bad because I would have loved to have seen the actual Final Battle. I would have loved to have seen something that is just this huge ending, not quite like Harry Potter because of course I have a feeling that nothing in the future is going to be anything like that, but something like that. The huge it all ends poster with the date of the release of the Deathly Hallows Part Two. That's exactly what I was trying to think forward to with because it is Potter. It is Potter. At the end of the day, everything that fantastic Beast is doing is related to Harry Potter. And that is of course why it sells these hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars and why it makes these monstrous amounts of money. But unfortunately it also spends that much and they just barely, barely broke even with the secrets of Dumbledore, which is not a great trend. So I can definitely see why they canceled it. But where we can go is finding a way to finish the story. I don't have an answer to how we can, I don't have any inkling as to where we might find that answer. But I do know that WB has to do something because they can't just say too expensive, see ya. I'm sure they'll want to, but I feel like they owe us something. They, they owe us some, some kind of finality and that's just an hour long little special. On skipping forward in time completely and skipping to the Final Battle and then that's, that I would be okay with that because that is still an ending. But like right now, even if they have like a ten little ten minute thing that's like the aftermath or whatever, like just give us something, that is really what I am looking to WB four, because this is something that we really need is something that we really can't, you know, really finish this comfortably without. So that is, I think, really where this needs to go. We need to find a way to end the story. But I want to explore this idea a little bit more of how can the story continue and what can WB actually do? So we've really established that it has to, but now let's kind of go into the details of how can it so I think let's start with what, like, the perfect situation would be. Obviously the perfect situation would be two more films in the fantastic B series to fully finish off this whole story. But let's just assume that that is not going to happen in a million years. And let's go with the WB is going to put out a very short kind of wrap up to this story. And that is, I think, the thing that I'm hoping for that they just put out, like, there's a little, like itty bitty, you know, 45 minutes or hour long. There's like little thing that is maybe like 20 or 30 million at most to film and completely do. And that, like, is probably going to make a good amount of money compared to how much it took to cost sorry, how much it took to make. So I think that and in that we see the finishing of the story. And I think either they have to of course, it's not very long, so what they will likely do is just either put the year, like it says, like 1944, and that is kind of what we see going on. And then we have the whole situation and the war progresses, and then we kind of have to skip forward to the final battle and then the final bat takes place. And then that's that that is like, pretty perfect. I would be happy with that. If there is no fourth film, I would be happy with that. Now, let's not forget that this is our ideal world for what is like the absolute perfect thing to possibly happen. That is the absolute perfect thing to possibly happen. So what else? Well, okay, so that is like, absolutely perfect. So what can we can assume might actually happen? What can you assume will likely be the case? Well, my initial thought would be they just put out this, like, statement or they write something or they make this little short story, or they have the author say something or something like that, that just gets it over with. That kind of rips the band Aid off. That says Dumb all the fight. Dumb blow wins and the day is saved and then New and Tina get married and then they're good. Like, I don't know about that one. That is unfortunately something that they have to consider because it is quite cost effective. And I think that is something that they are definitely looking for. If they're seeing these, like, $150,000,000 price drops in terms of, or rather return drops in the money that they are making for each film, they would want to spend as little cash as possible just to shut the fans up and give them like, okay, this is it. This is what happens. I hope you enjoyed that. That kind of thing is just like, at that point, why even bother? Because what we want to see is the finale. What we want to see is the actual finish line of Fantastic Beasts. And as it stands, we're really not getting that. I mean, we're really not getting that. And I would really appreciate just a little bit of a nudge in the right direction from WB and whether that is like, hey, I know, Eddie, we haven't talked to Mr. Redmayne about this yet, but we're certainly going to get going on the fourth project they put on that, and in the next couple of months it'll be like, great. Fantastic. And of course if they don't, then we're going to be like, okay, so let's assume that they're going to do something. But again, this is the waiting game. This is the waiting game and we have nothing to do but wait and see what happens. Which is so annoying because we're really waiting for this amazing product of magic to come out of Warner Brothers Studios and nothing is going to happen until they tell us anything. And that is really what is a quite unfortunate part of being on the consumer end of anything. We don't know what's happening. We don't know the inner workings. We don't know the plans. We don't know what anyone is thinking inside of HBO. What the heck HBO inside of Warner Bros. Until they give us the all clear or they tell us anything about what's going on. So right now we just have to hope that they I mean, if someone's listening to this at WB, like, here are calls. You can make a fantastic film. You just have to talk to us. That is what I would say. I would put a movie star move and just write in a letter and just say, like, you need to listen to us. And then just say I'll just go like French Revolution style and just say, you need to listen to us from Jacques. That would be funny. And then I just put it in an envelope and send it to the I forgot the name, the CEO of Warner Brothers and just see how they respond. That would be funny. But well, that's a bit of a side note. But the intentions there are exactly what I want to say. I think if anyone's listening to this or if anyone knows someone who works at WB, just get them thinking about how they can make a fantastic film with the help of the fans because I think it's really a cheat code. We want to see what we want to see. So if they ask us, what do you want to see? We'll tell them we want to see this. And they say, Great, let's do that. It's really simple and something that they somehow are not quite getting. So I don't know what the deal is. I don't know what the future is. We have to wait and see how this can unfold. Ideally, it would be a quick short film to finish it up. It might just be a statement, but we can always help. And we are going to have to wait to finish out this episode. I just want to kind of do a quick like, what's next? We've gone over a lot of what we can expect of a lot of what's going to happen. But let's just make a battle plan and something that we should stick to, because this is something that we have to keep a close eye on, because this is going to be a pretty big deciding factor in the future of a fandom. And that is a statement of fact right there. So we really have to be thinking closely about where this is going to go. So what can we do right now? Well, right now what we should do is just wait. Because unfortunately, like I just said, that's basically the majority of what our time as consumers have to be spent doing is just waiting. So let's just do that and let's wait until WB does anything. And that might be years. We saw it was like a four year gap in between some of these films and that is not a good that is a big gap between the sex assembled and the crimes are going to fall. There's four years in between and even between the fantastic bees and we're going to find them and the crimes grinnell. It was two years. That's a lot of years for just making a quick decision. So definitely let's just wait. It might be a long time, but that is unfortunately what we have to do in order to get that fourth film. We have to be patient and we have to play by their rules. So let's wait until they say something and then once they do, we'll act on it. And if they say, we're going to go ahead and make the next film, we understand that it may not make us money and we might lose some money, but let's go ahead and do it. I will applaud them immensely and I will definitely be supporting that decision. If they say no film, sorry, we're going to lose money. We don't want to do that. Our families need to eat, too. So unfortunately, we're not going to be able to be mink in that film. Sorry. That's the kind of thing I'd be like, okay, so now let's start talking about it. And if that does happen, then we have to do something. So I think either we'll start finishing I had to say it, but if WP won't do anything, we have to finish the story ourselves. And if nothing happens, then if they say nothing, then that will be it and that will be that. And we'll put it away. We'll close the door and put it up on the shelf and dust it off, put it in a frame and call it good. And that is not a process that I am going to be sad doing because that is something that we did with Harry Potter before and we still can admire it today. Maybe we're not still painting the picture, but you can still look at it. So I think that is kind of what these films are going to turn into, a relic of the past. And it's unfortunate that we're not living through the era of Fantastic Beasts anymore, but we're still living in the era of Harry Potter and I think we always will be. So that is something that we can be comforted by, that it's not going to go away. We might just not have anything else to admire. So I think, unfortunately, that is where we are right now. It is the waiting game. It is the waiting and seeing what is happening in Gay. And that is unfortunately not one that I enjoy, but I do think it is one that is necessary. So I think that's just about all I have here today. I do want to thank you for tuning into today's episode. I want to remind you that if you have any questions, comments, topics or any kind of suggestion for the show, you can send me an email. My email is the Potter discussion@gmail.com, that is the Potter discussion@gmail.com. And if you want to send me a DM, my Instagram is at the Podder discussion. I love chatting with fans on there and you can also check out some cool memes and stuff there if you want to. So again, that DM on Instagram is at the Podder discussion. The Quill and Ink, like I said last week, is coming out this weekend. Again, it is a weekly newsletter that is diving even deeper into the Harry Potter topics that you know and love. We just had this conversation last week, but I did add a little bit more. So if you enjoyed this show and you want to go a little bit deeper into the world of Harry Potter, we do sometimes preface some topics there before trying them out on here. And we do have some information that you definitely will not be able to read about or listen to on the Quill and Ink that is included. So make sure you go subscribe to the Quill and Ink. And when you do sign up, you get a free list of some of my favorite Easter eggs in Harry Potter that just make me smile whenever I see them. So make sure you go to that. And of course, if you enjoyed the show, leave a review. It helps others people find the show and it helps me out a lot. So with that, I think we'll call it Good. As always, remember that happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light. I will see you later.

VO:
This was The Potter Discussion.