Variety is reporting Warner Bros Pictures wants four-time Harry Potter director David Yates to tackle the new Harry Potter film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Author J.K. Rowling’s writing the screenplay for the film which will focus on the Hogwarts textbook and is set 70 years before Harry Potter series. The first film of the planned trilogy will feature characters and creatures not seen in the Harry Potter movies.
On her official website, Rowling spoke about making her screenwriting debut with this Harry Potter story which is neither a sequel or prequel. “It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood. As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros.”
Both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages were published in 2001 to aid Comic Relief, and to date sales of the books have raised more than £17 million.
Warner Bros Pictures will release the film version of Fantastic Beasts on November 18, 2016.
The Book’s Synopsis [Courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing]:
As featured in the first year set texts reading list in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an extensive introduction to the magical beasts that exist in the magical, non-Muggle world. Some of the animals featured in the A-Z you will have already met in the existing Harry Potter books: for example Hippogriff, Flobberworm, Kappa – others you certainly won’t: read on to find out exactly what a Chizpurfle is, or why one should always beware of the sinister Lethifold . . . As Albus Dumbledore says in his introduction, this set text book by Newt Scamander has given the perfect grounding to many a Hogwarts student. It will be helpful to all Muggles out there too . . . On reading the book you will also find that Harry, Ron and (in one instance) Hermione – couldn’t resist graffitiing the book, and adding their own hand-written opinions.
-By Rebecca Murray
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