With the future of the Fantastic Beasts franchise up in the air, director David Yates appears to be working on a contingency plan. According to Deadline, the filmmaker has set up his next project at the Cannes Film Market, a thriller titled Pain Hustlers, with Emily Blunt attached to star.

Pain Hustlers is written by Wells Tower. The story follows Liza Drake, a high school dropout who, after dreaming of a better life for her and her young daughter, lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida. Liza’s charm, guts and drive catapult the company and her into the high life, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences. Production is set to begin on August 22, and the project will be introduced to buyers at the Cannes Film Market.

Yates is coming off of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third film in the Harry Potter spinoff series, which opened to mixed reviews and disappointing box office reception in April. It’s the lowest-grossing film in the Wizarding World franchise, which has proven to be a problem area for Warner Bros.

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Image via Universal Pictures

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After a largely successful first film, 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the franchise experienced a noticeable dip with 2018’s sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Combined with a ballooning budget because of the pandemic and dwindling fan interest, Warner Bros. had its work cut out as it debuted the make-or-break third installment. The studio was said to be evaluating the performance of the film before committing to more sequels. The Fantastic Beasts series was originally supposed to be a trilogy, but was subsequently announced as a five-part series, with Yates directing each installment.

In fact, Pain Hustlers will mark his first film outside the Wizarding World franchise since 2016’s The Legend of Tarzan, a would-be franchise-starter that never got a sequel. Yates had also directed the last four films in the Harry Potter series to major critical and commercial success. Before that, he had made a name for himself on television. Blunt is perhaps best known for her breakout role in The Devil Wears Prada, and Sicario, Edge of Tomorrow, The Girl on the Train, Looper, Mary Poppins Returns and the two A Quiet Place movies.

Lewis Taylor and Ben Everard serve as executive producers on Pain Hustlers. Lawrence Grey is producing through his Grey Matter Productions banner along with Wychwood Pictures. Cyrus Mojibi, Patrick Wade, Lawrence Kao and Lloyd Everard are co-producing. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.