Whether it is the lure of sorcery or the lack luster life of being a muggle since their ‘Harry Potter’ franchise came to an end, but Warner Bros. has announced that they have once again teamed up with renowned children’s author J.K. Rowling to revisit the wizardry world of The Boy Who Lived. But it won’t be in the manner you would think. Warner Brothers will be developing a franchise based on Rowling’s book ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, a novel that extends the world of ‘Harry Potter.’
The idea to revisit the wizardry world was actually first brought up by Warner Bros who had met with Rowling with the proposal. While she liked the idea, she did make a counter offer: to write the screenplay for the first film. As Rowling explained in a statement:
“As I considered Warner’s 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 Brothers.”
While Rowling has never written a screenplay before (there is a first time for everything and look how ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ turned out!), she felt compelled to head the writing duties for this film. As she puts it, “the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ realized by another writer was difficult. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.”
While ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ will not contain the familiar faces of the ‘Harry Potter’ family, it will have a lot of “Potter” elements in the film. As the author describes it:
“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 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 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.”
As previously mentioned, ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is only the first of what the WB hopes to become a flourishing franchise for the studio. And just like the ‘Harry Potter’ phenomenon, there will be more to ‘Fantastic Beasts’ than just the movies. Per Rowling’s deal with the company, video games, consumer products, enhanced links with Pottermore.com, and new attractions that will connect to existing ‘Harry Potter’ theme parks will also be in the works.
So if you are longing for more of the world of ‘Harry Potter’, you may not have long to wait! (Or at least as long as it takes for Rowling to write the screenplay!)
Source:Reuters
