‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Delayed Until Summer 2022, Johnny Depp Still Receiving 8-Figures In Pay-To-Play Deal

Following its very public drama with Johnny Depp who exited the franchise, Warner Bros.’ has delayed the release of “Fantastic Beasts 3” from its originally intentioned November 2021 premiere, to July 15, 2022.

READ MORE: Johnny Depp Resigns From ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Role At The Request Of Warner Bros.; New Sequel Gets Delayed To 2022

“The Fantastic Beasts” franchise hasn’t had it easy these last few years and Warner Bros.’ who wants the “Harry Potter” spin-off to be its new cash cow has been dealing with tons of public relations headaches. For one, ‘Potter’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’ creator, producer, and screenwriter J. K. Rowling has been obstinately and deeply transphobic over the last few years, constantly being dragged on social media and the subject of myriad socially aware movie think pieces for her hateful comments. Then you have Johnny Depp, recently ousted from the franchise—Warner Bros. asked him to resign from the series and he did, following the loss of his defamation suit against the U.K. Sun for calling him a “wife-beater,” after horrible allegations from his divorce trial from ex-wife Amber Heard came to light.

READ MORE: Daniel Radcliffe Responds To Johnny Depp’s ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Casting Controversy

Now, THR has a deep-dive into Warner Bros.’s decision to fire/ask Depp to resign. For one, yes, in case you were wondering there’s absolutely no coincidence the decision was made just days after Depp lost his defamation lawsuit. The trade said the trial was “closely watched” by Warner Bros. brass and the studio’s film chief Toby Emmerich, actually made the call one day before the news became public, just two days after Depp lost his case.

READ MORE: Disney Will Save $90 Million By Not Hiring Johnny Depp To Star In ‘Pirates’ Reboot

WB apparently wanted to wait and see what happened with the outcome of the trial before making any premature move, but once Depp had no legal leg to stand on for the allegations of abuse against him, Emmerich pulled the trigger. The big “however,” though, is Depp’s salary which WB will have to eat.

READ MORE: Emma Watson Voices Support For Trans Community After J.K. Rowling’s Transphobic Comments

Although Depp had only shot one scene as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald since production began on “Fantastic Beasts 3” on September 20 in London, like many A-list stars the actor had a pay-to-play deal. That means, no matter what, once a deal is signed, that star is getting paid whether the film is made or not, or whether they are recast.

There was no morality clause in the contract either, though it apparently was amended with each new film. ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is a five-film franchise, and Depp was originally scheduled to appear in four of the five films (he took over from Colin Farrell in the first sequel, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” after the character shapeshifted into the new form of Johnny Depp).

Given that Depp was not fired and was asked to leave, Warner Bros. had no choice, but to pay him his full salary which is said to be an undisclosed eight-figure sum and it’s unclear what recourse the studio would have had if the star refused to leave the franchise.

For Warner Bros, though, much of this was probably tearing off the band-aid now before the story got worse. Depp is also suing Heard for defamation in Virginia in a case that has already been delayed because of the pandemic, would have possibly interfered with the current ‘Fantastic Beasts’ shooting schedule, and only made the public drama worse for the studio and a franchise that hasn’t taken off as they had hoped.

THR says the next Fantastic Beasts entry was described as a three-hander, with Depp, Jude Law, and Eddie Redmayne sharing equal screen time. Now they have to recast and fans are already calling for Farrell to come back, but one has to wonder if he wants any part of that drama. Disney has a similar situation with the “Pirates Of The Caribbean” franchise which they are on the hook for with the inclusion of Depp. Their way around it, for now, is to pivot to a spin-off film with Margot Robbie.