Warner Bros. to release J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ spinoff
Muggles, rejoice: Warner Bros. is getting back into business with “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.
More than two years after the last film in the eight-picture series about the iconic boy wizard hit theaters, Warner Bros. announced Thursday that it will release a “Harry Potter” spinoff of sorts. Rowling is set to pen her first screenplay, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” based on a 42-page book the author wrote in 2001 to accompany her “Harry Potter” series.
In the first “Harry Potter” novel, the protagonist studied a textbook called “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” while at his Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Rowling’s new film will center on a character named Newt Scamander, who wrote that schoolbook, and will be set in New York 70 years pre-Potter. The movie will also feature some of the otherworldly creatures from the Potter franchise, and “the laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films,” Rowling said in a statement.
PHOTOS: Life after ‘Harry Potter’
The author is describing the new project as “an extension of the wizarding world” — not a sequel or prequel to “Potter.” Rowling, 48, said that when Warner Bros. proposed turning “Fantastic Beasts” into a film, she felt uncomfortable with the idea of another writer signing on to the project when she was so familiar with the “fisparency=”true”>
PHOTOS AND MORE
VIDEO: Upcoming fall films
ENVELOPE: The latest awards buzz
PHOTOS: Greatest box office flops
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
