Variety confirms that Warner Bros. has edited out references to Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Gellert Grindelwald's (Mads Mikkelsen) homosexual relationship in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. A total of six seconds have been removed from the movie, including the lines "because I was in love with you" and "the summer Gellert and I fell in love."
While we may only be talking about a matter of seconds here, the response online to this news has not been a positive one. With the Fantastic Beasts franchise already running on fumes, the studio is looking to make as much money as possible, something the Chinese box office can obviously help with (especially at a time when the Middle Kingdom is releasing few U.S. blockbusters).
Despite the fact this decision was made to increase box office revenue, Warner Bros. has released a statement defending the cuts. "As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors. Our hope is to release our features worldwide as released by their creators but historically we have faced small edits made in local markets."
"In the case of ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,’ a six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros. accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact," the statement adds. "We want audiences everywhere in the world to see and enjoy this film, and it’s important to us that Chinese audiences have the opportunity to experience it as well, even with these minor edits."
The studio needs all the help it can get with Fantastic Beasts as a separate report from the trades notes that there's currently no screenplay for a fourth chapter. Instead, studio execs are waiting to see how The Secrets of Dumbledore does before giving that or a fifth instalment the green light.
It would be a shame to see this story end prematurely, but as we noted in our review, it already feels like too many mistakes have been made. However, turning the next two movies into one might not be the worst idea. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore arrives in theaters this Friday.