New Fantastic Beasts Movie Hits HBO Max May 30

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will be hitting HBO Max on May 30. The sequel was originally released stateside back in April.

The beleaguered Fantastic Beasts 3 has had a rocky ride to release, including star Johnny Depp exiting mid-project in 2021 (and reportedly earning $10 million or more after filming one scene) and being replaced by Mads Mikkelsen and this year having the worst US opening in Harry Potter history. Also, increasingly, any mention of the Harry Potter franchise automatically brings with it complicated associations with franchise creator J,K. Rowling's anti-transgender rhetoric. Relatedly, WB censored gay dialog in the film for its release in China.

Days before release, it came out that there was no screenplay in place for a fourth Fantastic Beasts installment, and that executives are waiting to see how the film performs at the box office to give the green light. Which means, well, if you are still rooting for the franchise, you'll want to help further support it on May 30 by streaming it on HBO Max.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was directed by David Yates, from a screenplay by Rowling and Steve Kloves, based on a screenplay by Rowling. The film was produced by David Heyman, Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram and Tim Lewis. Neil Blair, Danny Cohen, Josh Berger, Courtenay Valenti, and Michael Sharp served as executive producers.