Is “Fantastic Beasts” 3 Being Pushed to 2021?

We have been learning a lot about the third Fantastic Beasts film recently. First, we learned that filming, which was slated to begin this summer, has been pushed to start in late fall. Fans initially believed this might be due to the box office numbers for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and was a bad sign. Then we learned from Dan Fogler that, supposedly, filming was delayed because this movie will be “bigger than the other two combined” and “they needed more time to prep.” We also know that Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein) is pregnant, which most likely contributed to the delay.

We could believe that, and a later start date for filming might not delay the movie’s release date. But now Warner Bros. has announced the release date for an upcoming big-budget picture, Dune. The movie, which is based on the novel of the same name by Frank Herbert, will be released on November 20, 2020.

Crimes of Grindelwald was released on November 16, 2018, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released on November 10, 2016, with November 20, 2020, the release date for the third film in the series.

The question, then, is how much marketing and money will be put into Dune? If Warner Bros. makes a big deal out of its release, there won’t be room left to promote Fantastic Beasts, even if they move that film’s release date to the week before (after all, the first movie was released at a bit of an earlier date).

Half of the Harry Potter movies were released in November and so were both Fantastic Beasts films. Hopefully, Warner Bros. will confirm the third film’s release date soon. We may be looking at a November 2021 release, which might be a little disappointing for fans.