Harry Potter author JK Rowling is working on not one, not two, but 3 new wizard-based movies to be released starting in 2016, studio giant Warner Bros announced on Wednesday (Oct 15).
The first movie (announced last month), “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them“, will be directed by David Yates (who directed the last 4 Harry Potter films), produced by David Heyman (who produced all Harry Potter films), and reunite the same film-making team. It is described as “set in an extension of her familiar wizarding world, featuring magical creatures and characters inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook and its fictitious author” 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, but Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway”.
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But that’s not all. A second movie is set for release in 2018 and a third in 2020, the studio said.
Rowling, who has sold more than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books, announced that Warner Bros had approached her about doing Fantastic Beasts. She explained her decision to write the screenplay:
I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realised by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it.
Warner Bros did not announce who will direct or star in any of the 3 new scheduled films. But we’re crazily excited anyway!
Meanwhile, here are some Harry Potter-inspired posters for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. Although they’re not official posters, we must say that they are pretty impressive! Check these out:
Rowling’s Harry Potter books – which were published from 1997 to 2007 and tell the story of the young wizard and his friends at the Hogwarts school of magic – spawned a string of hit films and the Pottermore website. The movies made global celebrities of its actors, principally Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” is set for release on 18th November 2016.