'Fantastic Beasts 3': Filming Resumes In The UK

As economies in Europe slowly start to reopen, filming of big budget movies like “Fantastic Beasts 3” is set to resume soon. Production of movies like “The Batman,” “Jurassic World 3,” and “The Matrix 4” were stopped back in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Studios will now get back to the production sets cautiously with new guidelines for the safety of the cast and crew.

James Cameron’s “Avatar 2” has already resumed filming. The lockdown has ended in some of the countries like New Zealand and Czech Republic, but most of the studios have so far been reluctant to resume work because of the safety concerns for the cast and the crew.

According to The Guardian, the U.K. government and health bodies have now allowed studios to resume filming in the country. New guidelines have been approved that seek to help the cast and crew of major projects to resume work in a relatively safe environment. With the approvals in place, filming is expected to restart on some of the major projects by July.

The British Film Commission and the British Film Institute have come out with a set of guidelines about how to ensure the safety of the cast and crew while filming. These rules include advice on safety training, physical distancing, and testing the temperatures of people on the sets. The guidelines have been approved by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Health and Safety Executive, and Public Health England.

UK had lifted restrictions for studios to resume filming in the country last month (May), but Warner Bros. chose to remain cautious, Screen Rant reported. The studio, however, did have plans back then to restart filming of “The Matrix 4” in July, but there was no update on any of the other projects.

Smaller TV shows and movies that tend to have a fewer crew members on the set may be in a position to start work. The big budget projects that employ a large number of people may find it difficult to ensure everyone’s safety.

“Fantastic Beasts 3” is supposed to be released on Nov. 12, 2021. The script will be written by J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves, CNBC reported.