Harry Potter fans, rejoice! This month the wizarding world of Harry Potter is returning to theaters on the 18th to showcase the ultra-mysterious spin-off and prequel film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. If you haven’t already seen the trailer, stop what you’re doing and watch it right now! Seriously. Ignore that paper you’re trying to write or put that Whitey’s shake down and enjoy this video… we’ll wait.
This spin-off comes from the enchanted mind of J.K. Rowling, relating to a particular book Harry Potter picked up and read in the first book of the series, “The Sorcerer’s Stone.” Rowling made this fictional book into a real book and published it in 2001 as Harry’s copy, which included notes from him, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.
It was announced in 2013 that Fantastic Beasts was going to be made, but it was recently confirmed that the film will be the first of three. The second part will be released in 2018, and the third in 2020. How crazy is it to think that we still will be able to carry out grade school memories well after we graduate from college?
With J.K. Rowling screenwriting, David Yates and David Heyman producing, the distinctive creative nature will remain the same, but the cast of the characters are renewed. Oh, and there’ll be more thestrals and billywigs too.
“It’s a beautiful script,” Yates said to Pottermore. “These characters are special, they’re really moving and funny. You see bits of yourself in them, or you see people you know.”
The film stars Eddie Redmayne (who you may recognize from The Theory of Everything or The Danish Girl) as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist. The Fantastic Beasts films will be set in 1920’s New York, so we will finally get a glimpse of what the new wizarding culture is like in America.
The plot of the film has been kept ultra-secret, with the cast under an unbreakable vow to not reveal any details. Entertainment Weekly had one of the first exclusives here.
Here’s what we do know: Scamander comes to the Big Apple with his trusty “suit case” in hand. His case is one of those endlessly deep magical devices, and within it are expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from his travels around the world. He discovers on his stop that the wizarding community is fearfully hiding from Muggles and the threat of their exposure is an even graver concern than in the UK (where the Harry Potter films are positioned). The plot thickens when a variety of his creatures, some quite dangerous, get out of their case in wiz-phobic America.
A trailer that was released in April includes the famous “Hedwig’s Theme” melody is bound to give you chills while listening to it. Warner Bros. also has the distorted logo we have all come to associate with the Harry Potter series, and the magic is still present. It appears that Albus Dumbledore will be making an appearance in this movie as well. His name is dropped in the trailer here:
Unfortunately, we still have some time before we can see this masterpiece in the making. So curl up with some popcorn and relive Harry’s journey until Fantastic Beasts is released on the 18th!
Interested in celebrating the film release here in the QC area? Then check out this free Davenport Public Library event.
Image/GIF Credits: Cast, Clapping GIF, Bloody Hell GIF