Warner Bros had a lot of marketing in place for the MTV Movie Awards, as they not only released a new trailer for ‘Suicide Squad,’ but also released a brand new full trailer for ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’ the highly anticipated continuation of the Harry Potter saga, set many years before the Potter films. The trailer does not give away much in the way of plot, but it does a wonderful job of setting up the world that Newt Scamander lives in, as well as the character himself. In the
In the trailer, we learn that Scamander was expelled from Hogwarts for endangering lives with a magical beast, though Albus Dumbledore himself argued against Scamander being expelled, as Dumbledore clearly saw something special in the boy. All of which is especially interesting as a similar story happened to Hagrid in the original ‘Harry Potter’ series, having been expelled because everyone thought he opened the Chamber of Secrets and released a dangerous magical creature upon the school, and both Hagrid and Scamander both had Dumbledore stick up for them.
Also of note in the trailer is the city itself, early New York of the 20th century, which is a fantastic world to set a new magical story in. As most of the “technology” of the ‘Harry Potter’ universe clashes horribly with modern technology, it will be interesting to see how magic and wizards interact with early tech, which was much more analog, and similar looking to devices that Wizards use. The trailer shows us a number of interesting magical devices in Scamander’s possession, most importantly being his briefcase, which can apparently go into “muggle mode’ for passing customs, and is big enough inside for Scamander to walk right in, which leads me to believe the suitcase is most likely his own private little storage Zoo, where he keeps all the creature he collects (as proved by the claw that can be seen peeking out of the briefcase in the customs scene).
The trailer definitely feels like it hits the right magical ‘Harry Potter’ tone, but the real question is whether it is enough to exist in that universe to be successful. Without any of the original cast returning, Warner Bros has got to be worried about whether or not fans of the originals will return for this new story, especially since it is not based on a book, so we have no idea what the story is going to be like, or whether Rowling can bring the magic back in script form. Check out the trailer for yourself below, and then share your own thoughts in the comments below!
Directed by David Yates, ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them’ stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, and Carmen Ejogo and will appear in theaters on November 18, 2016.
