Earlier today, Warner Bros. held a special IMAX event for their highly-anticipated adventure Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, where fans were the first to see a brand new four-minute preview from this magical adventure. In case you missed the party, we have the preview right here, where author J.K. Rowling reveals new details about this story, set decades before her original Harry Potter movies and novels. The four-minute preview offers plenty of new footage, while we also hear from several cast members as well. Plus, there's a very cool Harry Potter tie-in that is sure to excite fans.
This adventure is not only set decades before the original Harry Potter stories, but it is also set on a completely different continent, showing how magic evolved in America. J.K. Rowling reveals that Warner Bros.' Fantastic Beasts shows some of the history that was hinted at in her original novels. Now she has the chance to showcase these stories on the big screen. She also added that magic was developed in America much differently than it was in the United Kingdom, with new footage showing that these American wizards are forced to hide their powers or be persecuted by the "No-Maj," which is the American word for muggle.
When Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander arrives in New York City, one of his creatures escapes, which results in his immediate arrest, because creatures threaten to expose the secretive magic community to the outside world. We hear from Colin Farrell in this preview, whose character Percival Graves is the "head auror," who is tasked with investigating anything "detrimental to magic-kind." J.K. Rowling also adds that this movie finds ways to connect to the Harry Potter books that she thinks fans will find "surprising," with the video revealing a newspaper headline for a story about the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. J.K. Rowling says this.
"In Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, you're learning about a part of history that's talked about in the Potter books, but you never see. There are ways in which we connect to the Potter books, that I think people will find surprising. They're talking about the first time a wizard rose and threatened a world order. This was always where I was interested in going. This is what I wanted to do."
It was established in the original Harry Potter stories that Gellert Grindelwald was once friends with Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who both had an interest in finding the Deathly Hallows at one point in time. They were both instrumental in the International Statute of Secrecy, which allowed both the wizarding world and the muggle world to co-exist in secret. Director David Yates confirmed during the fan event that Grindelwald will be featured in the background of Fantastic Beasts, although it's possible he could have a larger role later on, especially after the news that this trilogy has just expanded to five movies.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident...were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds. The film marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, whose beloved Harry Potter books were adapted into the top-grossing film franchise of all time. Her script was inspired by the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by her character Newt Scamander.
Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) stars in the central role of wizarding world magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter blockbusters. The film also stars Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, Carmen Ejogo and Colin Farrell. The film was produced by David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram. Take a look at this new preview for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as we get ready for its November 18 release date, along with a screenshot of the newspaper headline from this preview.
