Watch The First 10 Minutes Of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore Online Now, If That's What You Want
Legend has it those "Harry Potter" movies are still chugging along, sans the whole Harry Potter bit. If you search your memory, you might recall a jaunty American adventure with an odd fella named Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and the occasional magical creature. If this is starting to ring a bell, it's probably because the Wizarding World prequel series "Fantastic Beasts" once had a place in fans' hearts, when it first arrived with its wondrous beasts in tow. But around its second entry, it pivoted to exploring the backstory of a young, hot Albus Dumbledore, retconning the past, and regrettably, shoehorning in Nazi references. So you're forgiven if you blocked the franchise from your brain before the third movie's release. Because among the few things people everywhere can agree upon, forgetting about "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" seems to be one of them.
After debuting in mid-April, "The Secrets of Dumbledore" limped into theaters with a record-low opening-weekend gross for the franchise. Things started out rough, with the film taking in $43 million domestically, which was a drop-off from the $62.1 million the previous film made in its first weekend. For any number of reasons (and there are many), moviegoers aren't flocking to screens to find out what Dumbledore's been hiding. When the movie first hit theaters, they were too busy vibing with the wholesome tales of a young Hedgehog. Now, the need for speed continued with a new chosen one. But for anyone who at least wants a glimpse of Jude Law's beautiful bearded face, "The Secrets of Dumbledore" made its streaming debut on HBO Max on Monday, May 30, after around six weeks in theaters. To celebrate, Warner Bros. dropped the first 10 minutes of the film on YouTube, which you can check out below.
The Secrets of Dumbledore opening scene
A Hogwarts professor and a wizard fascist walk into a bar ... and from the looks of it, they make sure "The Secrets of Dumbledore" wastes no time before dropping some truth bombs. There's one particular secret fans have been interested in for a while, so the franchise takes a big step forward with Dumbledore's admission to Grindelwald: "I was in love with you." But the news is hardly a focal point before their discussion of philosophy sets their mind-palace meetup space on fire. But at least we get to glimpse some fantastic beasts. The second scene sees Newt traversing the wilderness to help a scaly, deerlike creature (a Qilin) give birth to twins — only to be attacked by pesky wizard fascists, and escaping with only one of the infants. As for what's to follow, here's the synopsis of the film, directed by Wizarding World veteran David Yates:
Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald's growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?
Whether or not this marks the end of the "Fantastic Beasts" adventures has yet to be announced — while five movies were planned, the response has reportedly given Warner Bros. pause.
"The Secrets of Dumbledore" is now available to stream on HBO Max.