Author JK Rowling will be making her screenwriting debut, it has been announced by Warner Bros.
The writer will be debuting with a “Harry Potter” spin-off movie, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
According to a post by JK on her official Facebook page, this is “the first in a new film series which is part of their expanded creative partnership” with the author.
The new films are 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” wrote JK.
“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.”
The author continued; “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.”
The film series is set to be neither a prequel nor a sequel to the iconic Harry Potter series but an extension of the wizarding world that JK Rowling has created.
According to the author, the films will be visiting some familiar aspects of the now famous magical society but Newt’s story will actually be start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s story begins.
The author concluded; “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.”
The eight Harry Potter films, which were based on the seven books, generated close to $8 billion in global box office revenues.
