The most successful franchise in film history comes to an end with tonight’s midnight opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Director David Yates has been at the helm of the last three (or four, if you count Deathly Hallows as two films) Harry Potter entries, and he’s done a remarkable job bringing the series to a close. Now that the director is out of Potter books to adapt, everyone wants to know what he’ll be doing next. Given his great success with the franchise, he’s pretty much got his pick of the litter.

When Steve recently sat down with Yates, the director stated his intention to make a really small film next year before diving back into big-budget studio fare. What might that big-budget studio fare be? Well reports have surfaced suggesting he’s eyeing an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand as well as an Al Capone origin story called Cicero to possibly star Tom Hardy, in addition to a number of other projects on the director’s radar. Hit the jump for the details.

Here’s an interesting rumor: director David Yates (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) may be attached to helm an adaptation of Bill Willingham’s comic book series Fables.  You may remember (and you have a very good memory if you do) that in December 2008, we reported that ABC was adapting the books for a new TV series.  For those unfamiliar with the comics, Fables centers on characters from fairy tales, myths, etc. living in New York after their homeland is overtaken by a figure known only as “The Adversary”.  Presuming this film adaptation is in the works, then I think we can assume the television version is dead.  Also, the project would be set up at Warner Bros. since they own publisher Vertigo Comics, which is a subsidiary of DC Comics.

Pajiba stresses that this is a rumor, but it makes sense that Warner Bros. would be trying to get a Fables movie into production. Every studio wants a re-imaging of a fairy tale ever since Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland smashed up the box office.  Hit the jump for a list of other re-imaginings in development along with why Yates is a plausible choice for the gig.