Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Dvd

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling. A joint American and British production, it is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). It is the second installment in the Fantastic Beasts film series and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise, which began with the Harry Potter film series. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp. The plot follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they attempt to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald while facing new threats in a more divided wizarding world.

A second Fantastic Beasts film was announced in October 2014, and in July 2016 Rowling confirmed she had completed the script. Depp was cast in November 2016, causing some controversy due to domestic violence allegations recently made against him, and Law signed on in April 2017. Principal photography began in July 2017, at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England. Filming also took place in London, Switzerland, and Paris, and wrapped in December 2017.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald premiered in Paris on 8 November 2018 and was released worldwide on 16 November 2018, in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX 3D, 4DX, IMAX, and ScreenX Formats, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film grossed over $654 million worldwide, becoming the tenth highest-grossing film of 2018, but also the lowest-grossing installment of the Wizarding World franchise. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its entertainment value, as well as the direction and performances (particularly from Law and Depp), but also criticised the “needlessly complicated, low-stakes plot,” while feeling that it was “overburdened” with details setting up future sequels.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was nominated for two awards at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards in the categories of Best Production Design and Best Special Visual Effects. An untitled third film is scheduled for release on 12 November 2021.

Plot

In 1927, the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) is transferring the powerful dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) to Europe to be tried for his crimes. Grindelwald escapes, aided by MACUSA employee Abernathy (Kevin Guthrie).

Three months later in London, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is at the Ministry of Magic to appeal his international travel ban. While there, he runs into Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz), an old Hogwarts classmate and the fiancée of his auror brother Theseus (Callum Turner). The ministry agree to grant Newt’s request if he aids Theseus in locating Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) in Paris. Newt declines after learning he must work with the ruthless bounty hunter Gunnar Grimmson. Later, after being reprimanded by the Ministry for his recent actions, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) meets with Newt and is revealed to have indirectly sent him to America to release Frank the Thunderbird. Dumbledore requests that Newt travel to Paris and save Credence from Grindelwald and the Ministry; he believes he is Leta’s long-lost half-brother, Corvus Lestrange.

Later, Newt is unexpectedly visited by his American friends Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). Jacob, a Muggle, has regained his memories that were erased the previous year. Newt is disappointed that Queenie’s sister Tina is not with them; Queenie tells him that Tina is seeing someone after reading in Spellbound magazine that Newt and Leta were engaged. Newt explains that Leta is marrying Theseus, not him. Newt deduces from Jacob’s strange behaviour that Queenie enchanted him into eloping to circumvent MACUSA’s marriage ban between wizards and non-magical humans. After Newt lifts the enchantment, Jacob refuses to marry Queenie, fearing the consequences she would face. Upset, Queenie leaves to find Tina. Newt and Jacob follow her to Paris where Tina is looking for Credence.

In Paris, Tina searches for Credence at the Circus Arcanus. Credence and a captive circus performer named Nagini escape after causing a distraction. While searching for Credence’s birth mother, they locate a half-elf servant named Irma Dugard, who brought him to America for adoption. However, Grimmson, revealed to be a follower of Grindelwald, arrives and kills Irma. Meanwhile, Tina meets Yusuf Kama, who is also hunting Credence. Newt and Jacob follow Yusuf to Tina, only to find her being held hostage. Yusuf disarms Newt and imprisons him and Jacob along with her, explaining that he made an Unbreakable Vow to kill his half-brother, whom he believes to be Credence. Meanwhile, unable to find Tina, a distraught Queenie is found by a Grindelwald devotee and brought to him. Knowing Queenie’s abilities, Grindelwald allows her to leave while manipulating her into joining him using her desire to marry Jacob.

Newt and Tina infiltrate the French Ministry of Magic for documents to confirm Credence’s identity, but Leta and Theseus discover them. Newt and Tina reconcile after he explains he was never engaged to Leta. Their search for information about Credence leads them to the Lestrange family tomb, where they find Yusuf. He reveals that he is carrying out his father Mustafa’s request to avenge his mother Laurena’s death. She was kidnapped by Corvus Lestrange IV using the Imperius Curse, and later died giving birth to Yusuf’s half-sister, Leta. Leta reveals that Credence cannot be Corvus as she unintentionally caused his death; while aboard a ship to America, Leta, unable to stand his constant crying, switched her baby brother with another infant (Credence) shortly before the ship sank. Corvus drowned while Credence survived.

The group follow a trail to a rally for Grindelwald’s followers, where Queenie is among the attendants and Jacob is looking for her. There, Grindelwald shows images of a future global war, and rails against the laws prohibiting them from preventing such a tragedy. As Theseus and the Aurors surround the rally, Grindelwald prompts his followers to spread his message across Europe, and conjures a ring of blue fire that kills the retreating Aurors and that only his most loyal followers can safely cross. Queenie and Credence both cross the fire. Leta sacrifices herself to hold off Grindelwald so Newt, Tina, Jacob, Yusuf, Nagini, and Theseus can escape. As Grindelwald leaves, the remaining heroes unite alongside the immortal alchemist Nicolas Flamel to subdue and extinguish the fire. Newt realises he is now embroiled in a conflict with Grindelwald, and chooses to fight.

At Hogwarts, Newt presents Dumbledore with a vial stolen from Grindelwald, by his niffler. It contains a blood pact Grindelwald and Dumbledore made during their youth that prevents them dueling each other. Dumbledore believes it can be destroyed. At his base in Austria, Nurmengard, Grindelwald tells Credence that his true identity is Aurelius Dumbledore, Albus’ long-lost brother, and presents him with a wand and narrating the legend saying that a phoenix will appear to any Dumbledore in time of need, which then comes to Credence. Grindelwald tells Credence/Aurelius that he is the only person powerful enough to defeat Albus Dumbledore. Credence then proceeds to demonstrate magic with his first wand.

Cast

Cast of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con. From left to right: Eddie Redmayne, Claudia Kim, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterston and Jude Law
Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander:
A British Ministry of Magic employee in the Beasts Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, as well as a self-proclaimed magizoologist. He played a part in remedying the events of a violent attack on the City of New York in December 1926 involving dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. He is a confidant of Albus Dumbledore, despite being an outcast from certain circles of British Wizarding society due to his checkered past. Joshua Shea portrays a young Newt.
Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein:
A promoted MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America) Auror. She played a role in thwarting Gellert Grindelwald during the Obscurus incident of 1926, for which she and Newt were initially blamed.
Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski:
A No-Maj veteran of World War I and current business owner of a bakery, a friend of Newt’s, and the primary love interest to Queenie.
Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein:
The pretty and vivacious younger sister of Tina, who worked alongside her in the Federal Wand Permit Bureau after Tina was once demoted. She is a powerful natural Legilimens, and has fallen in love with Jacob Kowalski, despite wizarding laws forbidding relationships with No-Majs.
Ezra Miller as Credence Barebone:
The disturbed adopted child of Mary-Lou Barebone, severely abused and downtrodden. Enraged by people’s treatment of him, during the incident of 1926 he set his Obscurus parasite loose on the City of New York, causing widespread destruction. He survived in a tiny Obscurus fragment, and is now sought by Grindelwald.
Zoë Kravitz as Leta Lestrange:
An emotionally damaged and confused young woman who still exerts some control over Newt, who was once in love with her, and possibly still is. Ostracized while a fellow Hogwarts student, she was befriended by a young Newt. She is descended from a historically wealthy, pureblood family infamous for embracing the Dark Arts. She is currently engaged to Theseus Scamander, Newt’s brother, and is now working at the British Ministry of Magic as the assistant to Torquil Travers, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Thea Lamb and Ruby Woolfenden both portray young versions of Leta.
Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander:
Newt Scamander’s older brother who works in the Auror Office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, fought in World War I, and is described as a “war hero”. The two brothers share a tentatively warm relationship, slightly marred by their disparate personalities and beliefs. He spent the previous year hunting Grindelwald with a team of British Aurors. Theseus is currently engaged to Leta Lestrange.
Claudia Kim as Nagini:
The main attraction of a wizarding circus and freak show called Circus Arcanus and a Maledictus, who carries a blood curse that will eventually transform her into a snake permanently. For as long as she can remember, Skender has exploited her transformative powers. Nagini befriends Credence Barebone, who works as a menial worker at the circus. Nagini will eventually become the infamous companion of Lord Voldemort.
William Nadylam as Yusuf Kama:
A French-Senegalese wizard who has spent many years obsessively searching for Credence and has finally tracked him down in Paris at Circus Arcanus. Isaac Domingos portrays a young Yusuf.
Kevin Guthrie as Abernathy:
Tina and Queenie’s previous MACUSA supervisor, now a loyal follower of Grindelwald.
Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore:
An extremely influential and powerful wizard in the British Wizarding Community, known in the British Ministry of Magic and throughout the wider wizarding world for his academic brilliance, currently a professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As a teenager, he and Grindelwald had become “closer than brothers”. A strong ally of Newt Scamander’s, he is called to resist Grindelwald’s reign of terror. Toby Regbo reprises his role from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 as a young Dumbledore.
Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald:
An infamous powerful dark wizard who caused mass violence, terror and chaos around the globe, seeking to lead a new Wizarding World Order based on his strong belief in wizarding superiority. As a teenager, he and Dumbledore had become friends. Escapes from the MACUSA in New York and renews his efforts for Pureblood world domination. It was Depp’s idea for the character’s heterochromia, saying that he saw Grindelwald as “more than one… almost as though he was two people.” Jamie Campbell Bower reprises his role from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 as a young Grindelwald.
Carmen Ejogo briefly reprises her role as Seraphina Picquery, the President of MACUSA, from the first film. Brontis Jodorowsky portrays Nicolas Flamel, a 14th-century, 600-year-old Parisian scribe and alchemist believed to have discovered the Philosopher’s Stone, who is a friend and colleague of Dumbledore. The character was mentioned previously in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Fiona Glascott portrays a young Minerva McGonagall. Poppy Corby-Tuech portrays Vinda Rosier, Grindelwald’s loyal right-hand follower. Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson portrays Grimmson, a powerful bounty hunter. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson portrays Skender, the cruel head and ringmaster of Circus Arcanus. Deceased French actress Danièle Hugues portrays Irma Dugard, Corvus’ half-dwarf nanny. David Sakurai appears as Krall, Grindelwald’s ambitious and sulky henchman. Victoria Yeates portrays Bunty, Newt Scamander’s assistant. Jessica Williams portrays Eulalie “Lally” Hicks, a professor of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who contacts Flamel. Isaura Barbé-Brown portrays Laurena Kama, Leta Lestrange’s mother. Derek Riddell, Wolf Roth and Cornell John portray Torquil Travers, Spielman and Arnold Guzman, respectively. Keith Chanter plays Corvus Lestrange IV, Corvus V’s father.