The Fantastic Beasts franchise has definitely proven to be something of a mixed bag, with a solid opening chapter that was followed by a mostly awful sequel. Now, the hope is that The Secrets of Dumbledore can get this series back on track and it looks as if the story will have room to breathe.
According to a listing from the BBFC (British Board for Film Classification) Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is going to be the longest instalment of this franchise to date at 136 minutes. That 2 hours and 16 minutes runtime means it's just a few minutes longer than its predecessors, but is way down the lost as the eighth-longest instalment of the entire Harry Potter series on screen.
In related news, the first social media reactions have started surfacing and they're fairly positive. While it certainly doesn't sound like this movie will go down as a classic, the overall consensus appears to be that The Secrets of Dumbledore is a major improvement over The Crimes of Grindelwald.
"Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world," reads the official synopsis for this third instalment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. "Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?"
The movie stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Jude Law, Mads Mikkelsen, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, William Nadylam, Richard Coyle, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, and Callum Turner. Harry Potter vet David Yates returns to direct the movie from a screenplay written by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set to be released in theaters on April 15, 2022.