As Harry Potter author JK Rowling has confirmed to pen down remaining four screenplays for Fantastic Beasts, the franchise has also expanded from three to five films and director David Yates is on board to direct all of them.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Yates said that he has committed to Warner Bros' entire prequel series. "I love making films, and I've got a great team, all of whom are like family," Yates told at the world premiere of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The commitment is not official, and it isn't daunting to him, either: "I only look at it movie-to-movie."
As JK Rowling is planning to write the remaining four of this prequel series, Yates said, "feels so different from this [first film]. Much more haunting, like a dream. What she's doing is really interesting; she's not repeating herself."
Meanwhile, Yates is in pre-production for the second film, which is scheduled to hit the theatres on November 16, 2018.
While talking to Variety, Rowling revealed a few new plots about the story: "originally, to tell you the truth, we said a trilogy as a placeholder. We wanted to be honest with people that it was going to be more than one movie, but we were feeling our way."
"Then, there came a point in the drafting of our story where I said to David (Yates), 'You know, this feels like five movies,' and I think I'm pretty certain about that. It's pretty ambitious to tell it in five to be honest because we're spanning 19 years, but I can see an arc to five – so that's how it happened," she added.
The first film of this prequel series Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set in New York City and is ready to hit the screens on November 18. It stars Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Ron Perlman, Alison Sudol, Carmen Ejogo and Dan Fogler.
