The Fireside

Last night I saw Fantastic Beasts , the new entry into the Wizarding World by J.R. Rowling. This isn't quite a Harry Potter prequel. Well...it is and it isn't. It isn't because it has nothing to do with Harry himself whatsoever. It takes place in 1926, and the Harry Potter films begin in 2001. I know the Potter books take place in the '90s, but how else can you explain the flat screen owned by the Dursleys in Prisoner of Azkaban , or that bridge that collapses in the beginning of Half-Blood Prince ? Anyway, so it takes place decades before Harry's born. Because of that, the film slightly distances itself from Harry and Hogwarts, both by the time period, and the fact that it takes place in New York. This film doesn't 'set up' the main Harry Potter series, though there are some similarities. We are, after all, dealing with the same universe and mythos, so some connections will be there. This is a spoiler-free review, so that's all I'll say for...

It was revealed today that the Fantastic Beasts series of movies went from 3 to 5. “I can say one thing, we were doing some script sessions the other day and we always knew it was going to be one movie. We always knew that from the start. We said a trilogy as a placeholder because we knew there would be more than one movie. Now I think we can say, I’ve done the plotting properly so we’re pretty sure it’s going to be five movies.” Fantastic Beasts: Part 2 is expected November 2018, and Part 3 of the then-planned trilogy will follow in 2020. If that trend continues, expect Part 4 to come 2022 and Part 5 in 2024; though 4 and 5 are guesswork on my part. We'll see if this is a wise move. There are times where too many films in a franchise can be a bad thing. We'll have to wait and see, but expanding '3 to 5' sounds ok, as they always had more films planned, but as the quote above mentions, now that they sat down and plotte dit out, it seems they have their focus. ...