But the Beasts prequel series is now more than halfway over, and it still lacks any sort of forward momentum or propulsive reason to continue.Īfter this latest offering, it’s clear the series is at war with itself, on many fronts: the second and third movies over where the plot should go the “Fantastic Beasts” half and the “Crimes of Grindelwald/Secrets of Dumbledore” half over what kind of tone and characters should take center stage and the creator, studio, and fandom over whether it’s even worth trying to press on.

That might seem an overly harsh assessment of a movie that eclipses its predecessor in quality-though given the disorienting mess that was 2018’s Crimes of Grindelwald, that’s not a high bar to clear. But I’m not sure how much I would have missed had the screen remained dark. All nine of us present in the audience on opening night could hear the advertisements, but not see them.īy the start of the feature presentation, the visuals had flickered on, so my viewing experience for the third Beasts film was not compromised.

Throughout all of the pre-film rigmarole-commercials and trivia, some previews and announcements-the screen didn’t work. Notably, Dumbledore and Grindelwald are the only canonically gay coupling (as of now) of the entire Harry Potter extended universe.The theater where I saw Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore had a problem. The lines in question were: “I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love,” spoken by Dumbledore. removed dialogue in the film for the Chinese market, lines that allude to a romantic relationship between Albus Dumbledore (played by Jude Law) and the series’ antagonist, Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen). It was revealed this week that Warner Bros. The latest development of the Fantastic Beasts world, The Secrets of Dumbledore (out April 15th), is facing backlash once more from fans, this time for deleting dialogue that references queerness between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. Prior to the third movie premiering, the series made headlines when the studio delayed its recasting of Gellert Grindelwald ( then played by Johnny Depp) following Depp’s abuse allegations. The Fantastic Beasts series - a spinoff off the mega Harry Potter franchise - is not new to controversy.

Harry potter the secrets of dumbledore