‘Harry Potter’ Spinoff ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ To Be Directed By David Yates
Potterheads who just can’t get enough of Harry Potter can now look forward to a spinoff of the wildly popular wizard fiction series. David Yates, who directed four out of the eight Harry Potter movies, has reportedly been tapped to direct the first of a trilogy which are a spinoff of the original Harry Potter series, according to Variety.
The trilogy is from a set of books written by J.K. Rowling by the name of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. While no deals have been finalized, Variety reports that negotiations have begun, but at this time Warner Bros. has not offered any other information.
However, here is what we were able to find out:
The project was announced when J.K. Rowling decided to take on the task of writing the screenplay for the trilogy, which is based off of the books by the same name. The story follows the exploits and adventures of a character by the name of Newt Scamander, who holds the rank of a “magizoologist.” The movie will be set in New York seven decades before Harry Potter is ever born.
As far as whether or not the trilogy is intended to be a prequel or a sequel to the original Harry Potter series? J.K. Rowling offers the following insight:
“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.”
As of this article, no actor has been approached to play the leading role of Newt Scamander, and a production schedule has yet to be announced.
New York Daily News reports that once all these details have been ironed out, the new Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will have quite a reputation to live up to. The eight Harry Potter films grossed a whopping $7.7 billion in revenue, which means that the collection of movies is the highest grossing compilations of films in box office history.
