After grossing $7.7 billion worldwide with the highest grossing one-character franchise of all time — not counting the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is slightly different — Warner Bros. could not let the “Harry Potter” IP sit idle. And so with some gentle prodding by J.K. Rowling, who already seems all too keen to return to the the wizarding world anyhow, the studio and author were up and running.
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So she created a kind of prequel. “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them” is an all-new adventure returning us to her magical world. Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) stars in the central role as magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” blockbusters. Here’s the official synopsis, which might not mean much if you don’t know what a Muggle is.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” also stars Katherine Waterston (“Steve Jobs,” “Inherent Vice”); Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”); Alison Sudol (“Dig,” “Transparent”); Ezra Miller (“Trainwreck”); two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (“In America,” “Sweet And Lowdown”); Oscar winner Jon Voight (“Coming Home,” TV’s “Ray Donovan”); Ron Perlman (the “Hellboy” films); Carmen Ejogo (“Selma”) plus Jenn Murray, Faith Wood-Blagrove, and Colin Farrell (“True Detective”) as what appears to be the villain, Percival Graves.
The screenwriting debut of Rowling, ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is due in theaters on November 18th.
