JK Rowling strikes again

Lela Miller and Mariyam Siddiqui|December 23, 2015

Courtesy Image

Two girls, one new movie and a whole bunch of opinions

The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling is back with a new move trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Ever since the first Harry Potter novel was published, whether it’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone’ or ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,’ people around the world fell in love with the magical world of Hogwarts that J.K. Rowling created. When the books and movies were done, however, it seemed that the rest of Harry’s world would be brought to life by the fans. Occasionally, Rowling would post something on Pottermore, which is the official Harry Potter website where the user can go through Harry’s world, or release companion novels that are from Harry Potter’s world such as ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’ ‘Quidditch Through the Ages,’ and ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard.’ But then, after much speculation, Rowling announced that the official story of Harry Potter would continue with three prequel movies, the first one being ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.’

This announcement has been many years coming as the fandom, or the group of fans of a certain group, have been calling for a new Harry Potter book or movie since the final book, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,’ was published. Many times, Rowling has said to different sources that Harry’s story is done, but still people wanted more. Harry’s world was one that many people grew up with. People wanted more of their childhood idol, which Harry was because all the readers could relate to Harry as he matured and grew up.

With the books such as ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ or ‘Quidditch Through the Ages,’ the fans of Harry Potter had another window into the world of Hogwarts and Harry’s story. But once those books were just as worn as the original books, the fans once again asked for more of Harry’s world.

That is where Pottermore came in. On August 4, 2009, the website was released to the public. On the website, people could follow Harry’s story as a student at Hogwarts. They could brew potions, practice spells with their picked wand, and join one of the Hogwarts house. If they find everything in a level that relate to a chapter in one of the books, then the user can read exclusive materials about a character. However, despite this website sounding amazing, Pottermore has a lot of bugs that have made it unusable for some. Recently, Pottermore has gone through yet another change in its design. So far people seem to like it.

But with the problems that Pottermore has, it almost seemed like an apology when Rowling announced that she would be penning three new movies that are going to be a prequel to the Harry Potter series and a trilogy based off of the short ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ novel. The first one movie is called, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ and is planned to come out November 18, 2016, in America. The next movies will be released 2018 and 2020.

As Rowling breathes life into the Harry Potter series once more, the fans hope that the new movie will be just as magical as original ones and the books.

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Four years after the release of the final chapter of the well loved franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Warner Brothers studio has released the first official trailer of the next addition to the series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. In other words, fangirls all over the world, including myself, are currently jumping up with joy, and eagerly researching everything and anything relating to the trailer. Their heads are bursting with ideas of what will happen in the actual movie based on what was seen in a approximately two minutes of video footage. Of course, we expect nothing less from the fandom. It seems quite unreal that after four years the fans are going to be able to adopt another set of characters to ogle over, and more background information of the wizarding world.

Fantastic Beasts will be the first of an upcoming trilogy of movies. J. K. Rowling has stated that the movie will start of in New York, around 1920, seventy years before the boy who lived was set on the doorstep of 4 Privet Drive. It is still unclear as of now whether or not the rest of the film will be set in New York.

In the actual Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a textbook written by Newt Scamander that teaches the students of Hogwarts about the mythical creatures that live in the wizarding world. The movie follows Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander, a magizoologist on a search for the rare and unusual supernatural creatures that he accidentally released. Along with searching for these creatures, Fantastic Beasts tells the story of the American magical community dealing with the prejudice of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, a group of No-Maj (the American’s name for muggles) that are set out to kill wizards and witches. The group is led by Mary Lou played by Samantha Morton.

Upon returning to the Harry Potter franchise, Rowling said “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.” She stated that the idea of seeing Scamander “realised by another author was difficult,” hence her decision to be the film’s screenwriter, which brings high hopes for fans as the movie is in safe hands.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set to be released in Nov 18, 2016.