Summary
- The Fantastic Beasts prequel series started as a standalone adventure but evolved into a larger narrative connected to the Harry Potter series.
- There are three Fantastic Beasts movies: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
- Originally, there were plans for five Fantastic Beasts movies, but due to various factors, including poor performance and controversy, the series will not continue beyond the third installment.
How many Fantastic Beasts movies are there, and how many were there supposed to be by the end? The Harry Potter prequel series started as a standalone adventure, with Newt Scamander collecting information about the world's mythical creatures as he traverses the globe. But things changed along the way and instead of it being a fun side story set in the Wizarding World, much of Fantastic Beasts' overarching narrative has established a path to the Harry Potter series. By the third movie, Newt Scamander and his friends ended up embroiled in a war between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald, who wanted a revolution.
The original movie was inspired by the textbook Harry Potter had in his possession but grew into something much bigger. In many ways, it rivaled the scale of the original series. This also changed the Fantastic Beasts focus completely, and it didn't help that the story involving Newt was just kind of tacked onto the story of Dumbledore and Grindelwald's legendary battle. Since that battle never happened and won't happen now on the big screen, it ruined the purpose of the franchise.
There Are 3 Fantastic Beasts Movies
To answer how many Fantastic Beasts movies are there, the total is three and that is likely it for the franchise. The Fantastic Beasts movie order is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018), and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). The first two Fantastic Beasts films were written entirely by J.K. Rowling. The first film saw Newt arrive in America and head out on some adventures before learning of evil within the Wizarding government. The second movie brought in Dumbeldore and introduced the evil Grindelwald into the mix.
The Secrets of Dumbledore saw Steve Kloves return to co-write. He wrote the screenplays for every Harry Potter movie except Order of the Phoenix. This final movie saw Dumbledore and Grindelwald end their blood pact and set up their eventual war with each other. All three movies are available to stream on Max, which also has all the Harry Potter movies as well.
There Were 5 Fantastic Beasts Movies Planned
While there are three Fantastic Beasts movies, there were five Fantastic Beasts movies planned. Shortly before Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in 2016, it was announced that four sequels were planned that would take place between 1926 and 1945, tackling a different series of events in each installment. Not only did 1945 mark the end of the Second World War but also the end of Dumbledore and Grindelwald's feud canonically, so that was the year the final Fantastic Beasts movie would have taken place. Rowling said all five movies had the story mapped out (via Movie Web).
"As with the Harry Potter books, it is all mapped out. In fact, when we announced the five films, I talked about that. It's always possible that some details will change along the way, but the arc of the story is there. It's been an amazing opportunity to tell parts of the backstory that never made it into the original books. I'm thinking particularly of one character that I think fans will be surprised to meet in this movie."
Initially, the answer to the question "how many Fantastic Beasts movies are there?" was a bit different. Fantastic Beasts was originally planned as a trilogy, but once the full story was mapped out, two additional films were announced. In some ways, it's similar to what happened with James Cameron's Avatar sequels, which added additional movies as the story plan unfolded. However, with Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore's lackluster performance, it won't happen. Fantastic Beasts 4 had no planned release date — a stark difference from The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore, which always had release dates.
Why Fantastic Beasts Is Finished After Three Movies
A number of factors saw the Fantastic Beasts movies grind to a halt after the third installment rather than moving on to the planned sequels. The Secrets of Dumbledore performed very poorly, making further series ventures a financial risk. Additionally, Ezra Miller, who played a crucial Fantastic Beasts character, Credence Barebone, was the source of significant controversy lately with several legal matters involving the actor, even though his Flash movie still saw its release. Finally, even within the world of the films, the story didn't necessarily have to continue.
The Secrets of Dumbledore already saw Dumbledore and Grindelwald battle and wrapped up Credence's arc. While the spectacle of a full-scale Wizarding World War would be undeniably thrilling, the series already seems to have done enough to close out its major narratives. However, there are three Fantastic Beasts movies, and there are no more on the way because of one major announcement. Max is rebooting Harry Potter with a 10-season series, retelling the stories from the books. With all the money going to the new Max series, Fantastic Beasts has seemingly officially ended once and for all.