How Fantastic Beasts Became Hollywood’s Most Cursed Franchise

Fantastic Beasts had all the makings of a slam dunk for Warner Bros.: spinning off from the hit Harry Potter series, luring author J.K. Rowling to make her screenwriting debut, casting newly crowned best-actor-Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, and enlisting David Yates, who helmed the final four Potter films, to direct. But somewhere between Johnny Depp’s public fall from grace and Vladimir Putin’s comparison of Russia’s plight to Rowling’s cancellation, Fantastic Beasts seemed to take on more baggage than it could carry. As the third film, The Secrets of Dumbledore, arrives in U.S. theaters this Friday, the series has already inspired… Read Full Article