The "Fantastic Beasts" movie franchise is "parked," director David Yates said in a new interview with Total Film magazine. The franchise, headlined by Eddie Redmayne, is a prequel to "Harry Potter" that was designed by author J.K. Rowling as a five-film series. Three films have been released — "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" (2016), "The Crimes of Grindelwald" (2018) and "The Secrets of Dumbledore" (2022) — but the lackluster box office returns to the third entry ($407 million...
Wychwood Picture Co.
David
Yates
Principal / Director / Producer
The prolific British director helmed the last four of the blockbuster Harry Potter films, bringing the record-breaking franchise to an epic conclusion with 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.” This year alone he directed two more mega-productions, each featuring tons of moving parts and cutting-edge VFX: the epic action adventure “The Legend of Tarzan” (which grossed $356 million), and the new “Potter” spin-off “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” a return to the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling, who wrote the screenplay.
Inspired by Spielberg’s “Jaws” as a teen, he began his career directing short films and cut his teeth as a television director with credits including the 2003 six-part political thriller “State of Play” (which won him the Directors Guild of Great Britain award), the adult two-part documentary drama “Sex Traffic” (2004), and the 2005 Richard Curtis drama “The Girl in the Café,” which won three Emmys. Those successes led to the Potter producers choosing him to direct the fifth film in the billion-dollar franchise, and he made his feature directorial debut with 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which instantly established him as a commercially successful director.
