Maybe it’s that it’s still six months away, and maybe it’s that the just-debuted stage play “Harry Potter And The Cursed Child” has been sucking up some of the publicity oxygen, or maybe it’s the general sequel fatigue that seems to have set in this year, but the buzz for “Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them,” the upcoming prequel/spin-off thing to the “Harry Potter” franchise, seems to be a bit muted so far.
Written by J.K. Rowling herself, and the first of a planned trilogy, the new film (directed again by David Yates, who helmed the last four ‘Potter’ movies) is set in 1920s New York, dropping the original cast and focusing on a new set of characters, and principally Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) a young wizard with a particular interest in magical creatures.
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We’re expecting a new trailer any day now, but a big featurette for the film just arrived with quite a lot of new footage, the firmest plot details so far, and a particular focus on Scamander. Any fears that this would be the “Phantom Menace” or “Hobbit” to the previous Potter films look to be misplaced — it all looks pretty good, and we’re keen to check it out.
Also starring Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, Carmen Ejogo, Jenn Murray, Faith Wood-Blagrove and Colin Farrell, the film opens on November 18th, 2016. Watch the clip below, along with a new poster.
