How JK Rowling Ruined Her Own Franchise

This video essay gives an overview/recap of the fantastic beast film series (Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, Fantastic beasts the crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts the secrets of Dumbledore) and where it went wrong. Taking a deeper review of JK Rowling's writing by comparing her to George Lucas and how he succeeded (and failed) with Star Wars and also how the controversies behind the scenes involving Ezra Miller and Johnny Depp affected the franchise. Also analysing the Harry Potter films and how writer Steve Kloves was a key figure behind that success.

I hope you enjoy the video!

[Essential_Cinema]

How would you rank the Wizarding World films?

[maxbaugh]

What we *wanted* was "The Adventures of Wizard Steve Irwin", what we *got* was "The Rise of OG Wizard Hitler"

[CaptainPikeachu]

Maybe this franchise would have been successful if it had actually stayed being about the fantastic beasts and Newt’s journey, not a Dumbledore and Grindelwald soap opera that had no business being in this story.

[Pbdave]

Fantastic Beasts should have been a Bond/Indiana Jones -esque movie series where he travels around the world visiting various ecologies and saving animals from poachers, going on adventures in dense jungles or arid desserts.

[themindofceline]

as soon as newt and the beasts took a backseat in the second movie I started to lose interest because they're what I loved about the first movie, newt's view on the world and his love for these creatures, not some wizarding world war story

[octosalias]

JK Rowling doesn't seem to understand the appeal of her own series, which is a slice of life escapist fantasy with some mystery elements of clues leading to a climax. It is NOT an end of the world plot heavy affair. Even in the later darker tone of the series it was largely about the characters interacting and learning about each other while they were in hiding and getting information slowly drip fed to them.

[spaghetti]

Fantastic beasts had so much potential. I have no idea why she made grindlewald and dumbledore a part of it instead of making another spinoff series separate from fantastic beasts. It’s not like we don’t have enough content, in fact we barely see many beasts except for the first fantastic beasts. Newt has literal been everywhere, it’s the perfect time to develop other parts of the wizarding world like Uganda with their chantless magic and Japan etc all with their own unique beasts.

[delfin]

The biggest problem is the she's not a screenwriter, writing a novel is very different from a screenplay. Newt is an interesting character and Eddie Redmayne is so dorky and charming, he can carry the film. I'd have loved a series of Newt finding new beasts and their stories. I hated the Grindelwald as Hitler storyline.

[charlottemears]

It seems like JK Rowling couldn't make her mind up on which story she wanted to tell, on the one hand you have a cute story with Newt to do with Fantastic Beasts and on the other hand you have the Dumbledore/Grindelwald drama. Neither story supports the other and you end up with a clash of tones and plots. Great video, really love your stuff!

[jacques_m]

Johnny Depp didn’t resigned, he was ASKED TO RESIGN. Whilst that gr00mer Ezra Miller still kept his role.

[barrie]

I think the cannery in the cold mine that JK Rowling had lost her touch was with the Harry Potter play. Although the play was written by someone else, she outlined the story and rather than a fun adventure with Harry's kids, we got an overly dramatic family melodrama with convoluted timelines and Voldemort's illegitimate child. Truly the plot points of a bad fanfic.

[clarie]

The fact that Newt was a side character in his own franchise from the second movie onwards 💀

[NaitomeIya]

I could never write a novel or a short story, but I have many story concepts and scenarios in my head. I am relieved to know that just because I am terrible at writing prose, it doesn't mean I'm ultimately doomed to fail at storytelling. This is such an eye-opener!

[mayas]

I was only a teenager when the first Fantastic Beasts movie came out and the whole premise really appealed to me as a kid who liked animals, worldbuilding, and Harry Potter. I wish the series had just been about magical beasts, there is so much potential there! All JK had to do was say X magical creature is causing havoc in the muggle world and Newt is the only one who can stop it/save it. Or literally anything having to do with magical creatures. Instead, the series is about completely unrelated things. I remember being excited because since CGI technology was coming along the audience would be able to see 'real' imaginative magical creatures, I was so disappointed in the end. I only saw the Crimes of Grindelwald because I had a friend group at the time but everyone left the theater dissatisfied.

[Micahstays]

I loved the first movie because of Newt, it felt so refreshing but now he’s taken a backseat in his own story

[bridgecross]

Five films. After seeing the second movie, I honestly wondered how they could squeeze five out this. Going into the third film, I had forgotten enough about the first two that I had trouble following the plot. And the kids in the theater were totally lost.

[rhaelicent]

I think the biggest issue with the prequels was that (after the first one) they didn’t know what they wanted to be. While, yes, darker themes are enjoyable, after the first movie being about literally… fantastic beasts, this doesn’t suit. It feels like we were thrust into the plot and like Newt wasn’t even a main character; he was just there for the sake of it. Accidentally stumbling along. If JKR wanted to write about the fight between gridnewald and dumbledore then she should’ve started with that. Newt has no business in these movies and frankly all the ‘fantastic beasts look!’ moments feel forced. They only seem to be there because that’s the main name of the franchise

[Wintermute]

Honestly impressed that Hamill could remember a line from his audition well enough for a post-release interview.

[brandogtv]

They just had to make Fantastic Beast an HBO series and it would have been great. Each episode is a new animal Newt is trying to tame or learn from. Really could have been a success.

[michacieslak]

I honestly don't really know why it's even named 'Fantastic Beasts', while it clearly focuses on Dumbledore and Grindelwald. And to be fair - I think Dumbledore and Grindelwald's relationship is very interesting, at least from the bits we've got in the books, and it's definitely something that could be transferred into a proper, interesting story. But... come on, either Fantastic Beasts, either 'Dumbledore & Grindelwald'.