The first look at the Harry Potter prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , has officially been released. Along with revealing the first glimpses of Eddie Redmayne in action, the trailer also provided a few hints about the storyline in J.K. Rowling’s newest movie.
The trailer, which can be viewed on The Verge , mainly focuses on Redmayne’s character, Newt Scamander, and his arrival in New York. The movie, which is set in the same world as Rowling’s most famous wizard, Harry Potter, centers on Newt’s adventures capturing magical creatures that have gone loose in the city.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set in 1926 and follows Newt as he searches the famed city in what he expected was only going to be a quick stop in America. However, as was teased in the trailer, Newt will be up against more than just magical creatures in the film, making his visit to New York not only more complicated, but also last a little longer than previously expected.
According to Time , Newt’s adventures begins when he meets a non-magical American citizen, whom the film calls a No-Maj instead of a Muggle, named Jacob. Upon his meeting with Jacob, a few of Newt’s captured creatures escape his magical suitcase and are unleashed upon the residents of the city. Apparently, it takes more than a magical suitcase and a wizard to keep the creatures locked up.
While the task of wrangling the missing beasts might seem routine for someone as skilled in the arts as Newt, his mission is complicated with the introduction of a resistance movement within the city that threatens to put a stop to all things magical. In order to elude the anti-magic group within the city, Newt must keep a tight lid on his operations as he attempts to uncover the missing creatures.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first time Rowling has tried her hand at screenplay writing. In fact, in all of the Harry Potter related films, the best-selling author did not write any of the screenplays. Given her mega success in the writing industry and talent for crafting amazing stories, there is little doubt that Rowling will be able to awe and inspire fans when Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hits theaters in the winter of 2016.
In addition to Rowling, the upcoming Harry Potterprequel will also see the return of David Yates, who is set to direct the movie. As fans will recall, Yates was the director for each of the final four Harry Pottermovies, which were met with a high degree of critical success. Additionally, the upcoming film is being produced by David Heyman, who had a hand in all of the Harry Potterfilms to date.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is loosely based on a Hogwarts textbook that was written by Rowling for the Harry Potter series. At this time it is not known which creatures in the original textbook will be included in the movie, but fans can expect to see some of the more interesting creature in the magical world show up on the big screen.
Starring alongside Redmayne as the lead character are Katherine Waterston (Porpetina “Tina” Goldstein), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski), Colin Farrell (Graves), Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein), Ezra Miller (Credence), and Samantha Morton (Mary Lou).
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 18, 2016. Until then, fans can look forward to additional promotional materials being released as producers gear up for the premiere of the highly anticipated movie.
Tell us! Check out the trailer for the Harry Potter prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and let us know what you think in the comments below.
[Image via Warner Bros]