Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald Filming Locations and Sets

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The Fantastic Beasts franchise by author JK Rowling is set in the same universe as the previous eight Harry Potter movies.

The film is set in 1927 and takes place in Paris, London, and New York. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was primarily filmed in England, at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden (southeast England), although the movie combines sets and CGI with real and beautiful filming locations.

Fantastic Beasts 2 Locations

The second installment of the series, after 2016' Where to Find Them follows the magical adventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), embarked on a quest to stop dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (played by Johnny Depp).

The magizoologist will team up with Tina (Katherine Waterston, who also starred in Alien: Covenant) and young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), teacher of the wizarding school Hogwarts.

The film features many connections between characters and storylines with Harry Potter's world. David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter movies and the first Fantastic Beasts film, is in charge of this super-production too.

Where was Fantastic Beasts 2 filmed?

Fantastic Beasts 2 Hogwarts Location
Fantastic Beasts 2 returns to the legendary Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Some scenes were filmed at Lacock Abbey, a country house which used to be a nunnery, located in Wiltshire near Bath.

The footage of Hogwarts with the lake and the bridge are all CGI creations.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Images courtesy of Warner Bros - Map


Where was Fantastic Beasts 2 filmed
The vaulted rooms and the cloister of Lacock Abbey were used for filming several scenes.

This National Trust property also served to film interior sequences for the first and the sixth Harry Potter movies.

However, the Great Hall (which was a set built at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden), was entirely made using digital effects for the short appearance in the movie.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros and Stephen Jennings


Catacombs of Paris
The historic Highgate Cemetery was the perfect setting to film the entrance to the Catacombs of Paris.

This Victorian burial ground is hosting some of the most interesting funerary architecture in the world and is the final resting place for many prominent figures, including Karl Marx or George Michael.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros and Elizabeth Ellis - Map


Newt Scamander house
The cast and crew were also filming in the center of London, in Lothbury (pictured).

However, the scene on the top of St Paul's Cathedral was not filmed on location, but using green screens on a soundstage. According to FilmFixer, Newt Scamander’s house is located at St Mary’s Gardens in Lambeth.

The night scenes in London with Newt and Albus were filmed with cast doubles at Lambeth Bridge and Albert Embankment, and the close-ups with the stars were recorded at the studio.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros and Google Maps


White Cliffs
There is a short scene showing Eastbourne's Seven Sisters Cliffs, where Newt and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) travel to the other side of the channel.

During the film also appear a few mountain landscapes as establishing shots, which some media reported to have been filmed in Switzerland.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros - Map

The magnificent sets featured in the movie

Where is Fantastic Beasts 2 set
The design in steel and glass of the French Ministry of Magic, blending Art Nouveau and Steam-punk styles, is inspired by Le Grand Palais, located in the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

The real location of this stunning exhibition hall was featured in the blockbuster Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

Art Director Martin Foley commented that this was the most challenging set to build at the studios in Leavesden for the movie. This is also one of the locations where Wonka was filmed.
Image courtesy of Warner Bros and Calips96 - Map


Fantastic Beasts 2 drehorte
Collider reported that the following locations were also completely built in a set: The huge underground amphitheater (pictured), the Circus Arcanus (home of Credence Barebone, played by Ezra Miller), and the ancient wizard Nicolas Flamel’s crooked house.


Street scenes soundstage
The detailed streets of the French capital were also reproduced in the studio. The outdoor French Diagon Alley set was filled with stores, an apothecary, and a female statue in a little square, that is the portal into wizarding Paris.

Also, a small section of Place de la Concorde and a roof next to the Eiffel Tower (Credence’s hideout) were created in a set and completed in post-production thanks to CGI imagery.

Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!

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6 comments
  1. I'm pretty sure that's Seven Sisters in East Sussex and not the White Cliffs of Dover.
    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=seven+sisters+cliffs&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj92Y6Tv5bhAhV_SBUIHXmCDi4Q_AUIDygC&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=ppFCnrvfrUbzlM:

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  2. In the begining they walk past st georges square in liverpool as well aa througg the bus loop by albert docks

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  3. WHere was the last scene filemd? THe one where crendence was in the castle in the mountains with grindewald.

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    1. Jungfrau is the peak, probably filmed around Schynige Platte. It might be even closer, Fex Lauterbrunnen. It's around the area of Grindelwald, Berner Oberland.

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  4. Lacock Abbey was a nunnery not a monastery.

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