Muggle Monday: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Movie Adaptation

It's time for Muggle Monday, in which I highlight a significant piece of news from the Harry Potter franchise. This is somewhat inspired by the Mundane Monday posts by The Mundie Moms.

But let's be real as to why I made up this feature: I just want the opportunity to post something about Harry Potter.


Jo is truly full of surprises. Although I think this latest piece of news is even more surprising than the announcement of The Cuckoo's Calling, the book she published under a pseudonym.

Warner Brothers has announced that they have made an agreement with J.K. Rowling for her to screenwrite a movie series adaptation of her book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The movie adaptation will tell the story of Newt Scamander, the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (one of Harry's textbooks and also an actual book written by J.K. Rowling for charity):

"Warner Bros. announced on 12th September 2013 that J.K. Rowling would be making her screenwriting debut with 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them', the first in a new film series which is part of their expanded creative partnership with J.K. Rowling. The films will be inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook of the same name, and will feature the book’s fictitious author, Newt Scamander.

“It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of 'Fantastic Beasts', realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.

As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros."

Jo goes on to say that while this proposed new movie series will take place within the wizarding world, it will NOT be a prequel or a sequel to Harry Potter, but will follow Newt's story, 70 years prior to Harry's, in New York:

"Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. 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, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.

I particularly want to thank Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. for his support in this project, which would not have happened without him. I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”

So, could this news be any crazier?! I mean, it's pretty much one of the last things I would expect to come out of Jo, after a secret book written under a pseudonym. But I'm not complaining - as you might expect, I'm pretty freaking excited actually!

There are a number of strange things about this news that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around though: a) Jo will be writing the screenplay for a movie and no book will be involved; I'm so curious to see how her authorial skills will translate to screenplay writing rather than regular fiction book writing, b) the movie series will take place 70 years before Harry's time (so, in the 1920's); most of the characters and references will be unfamiliar (it's a completely new story!), and c) the movie will take place in New York; this will be incredibly strange for me because I wholly associate the Harry Potter series (not to mention her two post-HP books) as being completely and utterly British.

This movie has great potential though. For one, we know that J.K. Rowling has intricate and intriguing backstories for many of her secondary characters that we never learn about in the original series; Newt Scamander's (brilliant name, by the way) story is no different: he spent 10 years researching and exploring the globe for magical creatures in order to write Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Second of all, readers of Fantastic Beasts know that there are a myriad of fantastical beasts that Jo describes that are inventive and eccentric; it would be so cool to see these beasties come to life! Third of all, Queen Rowling herself will be writing the screenplay; there is no way I would be on board with this if another screenwriter were to be writing the script.

So in summation, a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie is a bit hard for me to wrap my head around, but on the other hand: it's J.K.-freaking-Rowling!! Writing a movie. About a beloved character who probably has an interesting story to tell. I absolutely cannot wait to hear more about this project - it's going to be GOOD! Thoughts?