Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling. The sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), it is the second instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise. It features an ensemble cast including 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. Set in 1927, it 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 Rowling confirmed in July 2016 that she had completed the script. Depp was cast in November 2016, causing some controversy due to domestic violence allegations made against him. 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 theatrically in the United Kingdom and United States on 16 November 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It grossed $654.9 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2018. It became the lowest-grossing instalment of the Wizarding World franchise upon release, which it remained until the release of its sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, in 2022. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, as it was viewed to have been filled with too many characters and "overburdened" with sequel-dependent details. At the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, the film was nominated for Best Production Design and Best Special Visual Effects. The sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, was released in April 2022.
Plot
In 1927, as the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) is transferring the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald to Europe to stand trial, Grindelwald escapes. Three months later in London, Newt Scamander requests the Ministry of Magic lift his international travel ban. While there, he runs into former Hogwarts classmate Leta Lestrange, the fiancée of his brother, Theseus. The Ministry will grant Newt's request if he agrees to help Theseus locate Credence Barebone, who is in Paris. Newt declines after learning he must work with ruthless bounty hunter Gunnar Grimmson. Albus Dumbledore (revealed to have indirectly but intentionally sent Newt to New York) also asks Newt to find Credence, believing Credence is Leta's long-lost half-brother, Corvus Lestrange V.
Newt is visited by his American friends Queenie Goldstein and Jacob Kowalski, a non-magical person. Jacob has regained his memories that were erased the previous year. Newt learns that Queenie's sister Tina Goldstein mistakenly believed Newt and Leta were engaged and began seeing someone else. Newt realizes that Queenie enchanted Jacob and came to London to circumvent the marriage ban between wizards and non-magical people. After Newt lifts the enchantment, Jacob refuses to marry Queenie, fearing the consequences she would face. Upset, Queenie leaves to find Tina, who is searching for Credence in Paris. Newt and Jacob follow soon after, using a Portkey, a magical transport method, to get around Newt's ban on international travel.
In Paris, Credence escapes the Circus Arcanus with captive performer Nagini, a woman cursed to transform into a snake permanently. Searching for Credence's birth mother, they locate half-elf servant Irma Dugard, who brought him to America for adoption. Grimmson, secretly a Grindelwald follower, kills Irma before she reveals who sent her. Tina meets Yusuf Kama, who is also hunting Credence. Newt and Jacob trail Yusuf to Tina, finding her being held hostage. Yusuf also imprisons them, explaining he made an Unbreakable Vow to kill Corvus Lestrange V, who he believes is Credence. Meanwhile, a distraught Queenie is brought to Grindelwald; knowing Queenie's abilities, he allows her to leave while manipulating her into joining him through her desire to marry Jacob.
Newt and Tina escape from Yusuf and infiltrate the French Ministry of Magic to search for documents confirming Credence's identity, but Leta and Theseus discover them. Newt and Tina reunite after Newt explains he was never engaged to Leta. They go to the Lestrange family tomb and find Yusuf confronting Credence and Nagini. Yusuf reveals that he is carrying out his father, Mustafa's, request to avenge his mother, Laurena: she was kidnapped by Corvus Lestrange IV using the Imperius Curse, and died giving birth to Leta, Yusuf's half-sister. Corvus IV remarried and had Corvus V. He sent Corvus V to America for adoption to keep him safe after discovering Yusuf's revenge plot. Leta reveals that she unintentionally caused Corvus V's death: sailing to America, Leta, unable to stand her baby brother's constant crying, switched her baby brother with another infant, Credence; the ship eventually sank, and Corvus drowned.
The group enters a rally of Grindelwald's followers. Jacob is searching for Queenie, who is among the attendees. Grindelwald displays a vision of a future global war, and rails against laws prohibiting wizards from preventing such a tragedy. As Theseus and the Aurors surround the rally, Grindelwald prompts his followers to spread his message across Europe. He conjures a ring of blue fire that kills the retreating Aurors and that only his most loyal followers can safely cross. Queenie and Credence cross the fire despite Jacob's and Nagini's protests, while Leta sacrifices herself to allow others to escape. As Grindelwald and his followers depart, the remaining wizards and the immortal alchemist Nicolas Flamel extinguish the fire. Newt joins the fight against Grindelwald.
At Hogwarts, Newt presents Dumbledore with a vial that Newt's Niffler stole from Grindelwald. It contains a blood pact that Grindelwald and Dumbledore made in their youth that prevents them from dueling each other; Dumbledore believes it can be destroyed. At Nurmengard Castle, Grindelwald presents Credence with a wand along with his phoenix, and reveals Credence's possible identity: Aurelius Dumbledore.
Cast
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, owner of a bakery, a friend of Newt's, and the primary love interest to Queenie. It is revealed in the film that Swooping Evil venom (used to obliviate New York City in the previous film) only erases "bad memories", and meeting Newt, Queenie, and Tina and learning of the wonders of magic is not a bad memory for Jacob—as such, he is able to continue engaging with the wizarding world. Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein: The beautiful and vivacious younger sister of Tina, who worked alongside her in the Federal Wand Permit Bureau after Tina was demoted. She is a powerful natural Legilimens and can read minds. She has fallen in love with Jacob Kowalski, despite American wizarding law 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 several different groups. Zoë Kravitz as Leta Lestrange: An emotionally damaged and confused young woman who still exerts some control over Newt, who was once, and possibly still is, in love with her. Ostracized by her fellow Hogwarts students, she was befriended by a young Newt. She is descended from a historically wealthy pure-blooded family infamous for embracing the Dark Arts. She is currently engaged to Theseus Scamander, Newt's brother, and works at the British Ministry of Magic as assistant to Torquil Travers, the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Thea Lamb and Ruby Woolfenden portray younger 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 when he 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 upon to help 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 teenagers, he and Dumbledore had become lovers. In the film, he escapes from MACUSA in New York and renews his efforts for pure-blood world domination. It was Depp's idea for the character to have heterochromia, as he said 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.