Johnny Depp out of ‘Fantastic Beasts’ after losing court case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Johnny Depp said on Friday that he is resigning from the “Fantastic Beasts” movie franchise after losing a libel case in Britain against a tabloid that called him a “wife beater.”

Depp, writing on Instagram, said that AT&T Inc’s Warner Bros. movie studio had asked him to leave his role as villain Gellert Grindelwald. “I have respected and agreed to that request,” he said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine)