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‘Fantastic Beasts’ News: Everything You Need To Know — Will The Movie Be Any Good?

By Trisha Faulkner
Published on: 14:54 PST, Nov 5, 2016

Harry Potter fans are just a few weeks away from sinking their teeth into the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Fans of the wizardly world of Harry Potter can rejoice in knowing there will be five movies in total before the Fantastic Beasts saga comes to a close. POP Sugar also confirmed that J.K. Rowling is the screenwriter in charge of writing all five installments of the saga.

While the official release date in the United States for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is not until November 18, many Harry Potter fans are having a hard time finding ways to keep entertained until the movie hits theaters. Fortunately, fans have been able to conjure up a lot of details about the first installment of the Fantastic Beasts saga. Keep reading to learn every detail released about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them before the movie even hits theaters.

The Origins of The Story

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was originally nothing more than the name of a textbook mentioned briefly during Harry Potter’s early days at the school of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Fast forward four years, J.K. Rowling made the decision to bring that textbook to life and published a real-world copy of the book. Keeping to the story, J.K. Rowling made the decision to credit the book to the fictional author and “magizoologist” Newt Scamander who has a portrait hanging in Dumbledore’s study.

The textbook, which is credited to be authored by Scamander in 1927, goes into details about 85 different magical species that can be found in and around the wizarding world. While Scamander was part of the Ministry of Magic’s Beast Division, he played a role in several pieces of magical legislation which included the 1947 Werewolf Registry as well as the 1965 ban on experimental breeding of magical creatures.

“Regarded as the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander is the author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which has been an approved textbook at Hogwarts since its publication in 1927 and can be found in most wizarding households.”

Above are the words that can be found on Scamander’s Chocolate Frog Card.

[Image by Warner Bros.]

How The Film Came To Be, The Plot Line, And More

It was in September of 2013 that Warner Bros. first announced they would be teaming up with Rowling to release a Harry Potter spin-off saga. Harry Potter producer David Heyman was also announced as being on board the project. It is important for Harry Potter fans to understand that this saga is neither a sequel nor a prequel to the original Harry Potter saga. It is a spin-off. The plot line of the movie will take place several decades prior to the Harry Potter saga in the 1920s in New York. The plot line will follow Scamander’s early adventures.

It wasn’t until a month after the announcement that J.K. Rowling first revealed that she would be writing the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts. Fans of the original Harry Potter saga rejoice in knowing she will be penning the screenplay for all five of the movies alongside screenwriter Steve Kloves and director David Yates.

In the trailer, fans learn Newt Scamander will arrive in New York City early on in the movie only for an accident to cause the monsters from his case to get out and terrorize Manhattan. This, naturally, will spark a conflict between the magical and the non-magical world.

Fans will get to watch wizards hard at work trying to fight to get the magical chaos under control while juggling a number of wizarding world politics. Meanwhile, Scamander will take a human named Jacob Kowalski with him on an amazing journey into the magical world.

Who Will Be Starring In The Movie?

Telegraph reveals that Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne will be taking on the role of Scamander, and comedy actor Dan Fogler will be taking on the role of Jacob Kowalski. Other actors and actresses set to star in the movie include:

  • Colin Farrell as Percival Graves
  • Katherine Waterston as Goldstein
  • Alison Sudol as Queenie

While the release date for the first installment in the Fantastic Beasts saga has not been released yet, it has been revealed that Johnny Depp will be cast for a role in the second installment of the saga. According to Movie Pilot, Harry Potter fans are furious to learn Depp will be in the movie.

Will The Movie Be Any Good?

Telegraph speculates that Warner Bros. has pulled out all of the stops in an attempt to make the Harry Potter spin-off saga as good as it possibly can be. In total, the movie had a budget of $225 million. Fans can only hope that with such a high budget, the Fantastic Beasts saga is going to be a good one.

Telegraph points out the fact that Warner Bros did a pretty incredible job bringing over a number of the team who made the original eight Harry Potter movies so successful. Fans can only hope the original team has done a great job with producing Fantastic Beasts as well.

The release date for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is November 18. Will you be going to the theaters to see this movie? Share your thoughts on this new Harry Potter spin-off in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Warner Bros.]

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