It was a shock to everybody, including the cast, when it was announced that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them would be expanded to encompass five films. But was the shock a good one, or a bad one? If nobody really knew they were getting themselves involved in that many movies it's possible some might not have been that excited, however, star Eddie Redmayne says he doesn't have a problem with it.
I didn't, because I'd love who she'd written. As an actor, if it's your dream to tell stories, getting to tell stories within the imagination of one of the greatest storytellers in the world is all you can hope for, really. Long may that continue.
When Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was originally announced, it wasn't clear whether it will simply be a standalone film or part of a new series. There was talk that the movie might be part of a trilogy, and then we received word that J.K. Rowling had already written the first draft of a sequel, but it wasn't until the Fantastic Beasts fan event that we learned that the plan was actually for five films. From what we've heard, the actors in attendance were learning that news for the first time along with the rest of us. Eddie Redmayne's comments to Variety make it sound like he'd do five more if he could.
There was a time, not that long ago, when actors involved in big franchises ran a risk of being typecast. It would seem that with a proliferation of franchises in Hollywood, and many actors getting involved in more than one, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Whether you're somebody who made their name in smaller independent movies or somebody who's already a big star, it would seem that everybody is willing to jump into these sorts of movies and to commit serious time and effort to them.
The anticipation of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is as high as anything hitting the screen. Fans of the Harry Potter franchise are anticipating a new entry in the Wizarding World, however, since this series is entirely new nobody really knows what they're going to get. Overall, the reviews of the film have been positive, though our own Gregory Wakeman found just as much that didn't work in the movie as he found things he liked. Regardless of the film's overall quality, Fantastic Beasts is expecting a huge opening weekend.
Elsewhere in the interview with Variety, Eddie Redmayne says that he hasn't seen the script for the next film, and doesn't expect to for some time, The word is that that new films will come every two years so it can't be that long before the script arrives as the next movie would need to go into production in about a year, give or take.
