Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was published back in 2001, more than a decade ago.
At the time it was billed as one of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbooks, but Warner Bros have persuaded the author to adapt the story for the big screen.
The movie house’ chief Kevin Tsujihara told reporters that there would be a trilogy of films based on Rowling’s book which details the story of a magizoologist named Newt Scamander, the author of the guide to magical creatures.
Unlike the Harry Potter books the story of Scamander is set in New York. Rowling has assured fans that Fantastic Beasts will neither be a sequel nor a prequel, but an extension of Harry Potter’s wizarding world.
Actress Emma Watson, who shot to fame playing the role of Hermione Granger in the record-breaking Harry Potter films, says Rowling had told her that she completed the draft script for the film in just 12 days.
Rowling, who generally is shy of the media spotlight, admitted in an interview that it was Tsujihara who persuaded her to adapt the book.
“We had one dinner, a follow-up telephone call, and then I got out the rough draft that I’d thought was going to be an interesting bit of memorabilia for my kids and started rewriting,” she told reporters.
“When Kevin got the top job, he brought a new energy, which rubbed off. He’s a very engaging person, thoughtful and funny.”
Tujihara took over the role of CEO at Warner bros only last year, with the first announcement for the films in September 2013.
David Heyman, who produced the Harry Potter series and who received recent acclaim for the film Gravity, has been confirmed as the trilogy’s producer.
“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,” said Rowling when the film was announced.
Rowling wrote the book between the publication of the fourth and fifth books of the Harry Potter seven-book series, more than 450 million of which have been sold worldwide. Interestingly, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set 70 years prior to when we first meet Harry.
But this is not the only Harry Potter spin-off Rowling has penned. She also wrote a short novel called Quidditch Through The Ages – supposedly another one of Harry’s school books as well as Tales of Beedle and the Bard later on.
Something tells us Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them won’t be the last we hear of the mythical wizarding world – at least on film anyway!
