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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2001 book written by British author J. K. Rowling about the magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe. It purports to be Harry Potter's copy of the textbook of the same name mentioned in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the first novel of the Harry Potter series.

In a 2001 interview with publisher Scholastic, Rowling stated that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a fun topic for which she had already developed a lot of information in earlier books. Rowling's name does not appear on the cover of the book, the work being credited under the pseudonym "Newt Scamander".

The book benefits the charity Comic Relief. Over 80% of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various places around the world. According to Comic Relief, sales from this book and its companion Quidditch Through the Ages have raised over £17 million.

On September 12, 2013, Warner Bros and Rowling announced they will be producing a new film series, set in the magical world of Harry Potter, inspired by the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them". Rowling herself will be the screenwriter. She came up with a plan for a movie after Warner Bros suggested the idea. The story will feature Newt Scamander as a main character and will not be a sequel or a prequel to the Potter adventures, but will kick off in New York, 70 years before Harry’s story starts.

Professor Newton Artemis Fido "Newt" Scamander, Order of Merlin, Second Class, (1897—1991/1992), was a famed Magizoologist and author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Scamander developed an interest in magical creatures early in life, influenced by his mother's breeding of hippogriffs. After attending, and graduating from, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scamander joined the Ministry of Magic. After spending two years in the Office for House-Elf Relocation, Scamander joined the Beast Division and put his knowledge of magical beasts to good use. In 1918, Scamander was commissioned by Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books to write Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The book became a best seller, making Scamander a respected expert in the field of Magizoology, which also led to an appointment as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In his personal life, Scamander married a woman named Porpentina, and fathered at least one child. By the beginning of the 1990s, Scamander was retired and living in Dorset. Professor Scamander would eventually die between 31 July, 1991 and 18 December, 1992.

CAST:

Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scramander, An eccentric globe-hopping English “magizoologist” wizard who’s far more comfortable around beasts and creatures than he is around other people. Comes to New York on a quest with his case full of magical habitats containing rare and endangered species.

Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein, played by Katherine Waterston: An ambitious worker at the Magical Congress of the United States of America [aka MACUSA, the U.S. version of the Ministry of Magic] who meets Newt. Tina is relegated to an office well below her abilities after she stood up for the wrong person. She longs to fight for what’s right.

Queenie Goldstein, played by Alison Sudol: Tina’s younger sister and roommate, a big-hearted free-spirit “legilimens” who can read minds.

Jacob Kowalski, played by Dan Fogler: An optimistic No-Maj factory worker/aspiring baker who gets introduced to the wizarding world when he meets Newt.

Percival Graves, played by Colin Farrell: A powerful auror and the right-hand man of the American wizarding world’s president.

Credence, played by Ezra Miller: Perhaps the cast’s most mysterious character. He’s Mary Lou’s troubled adopted son.

Mary Lou, played by Samantha Morton: The narrow-minded leader of the fanatical Second Salemers, a group looking to expose and destroy wizards and witches.

"Eccentric magizoologist Newt Scamander (Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne) comes to New York (for a reason we won’t disclose) with his trusty weathered case. This case is one of those way-way-way-bigger-on-the-inside magical devices, and within are expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from Newt’s travels around globe. He discovers the American wizarding community is fearfully hiding from Muggles (who are called “No-Maj” in the States ... ) and the threat of public exposure is an even graver concern than in the UK (remember the Salem witch trials?). Fantastic Beasts is the story of what happens when this uniquely skilled English wizard travels to wiz-phobic America and a variety of his creatures, some quite dangerous … get out of their case."

A Few Reminders:

1. We know very little about the movie so any news related stories should be posted here.
2. We can discuss the book and the movie itself on this thread.
3. Any spoilers we may encounter as early as now, please post under appropriate tags.
4. We are allowed to theorize & speculate on this thread.

RELEASE DATE (of first movie): November 18, 2016

What we know (so far):

• Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston have been cast as the two leads.
• It's based on Rowling's book of the same name.
• It will be a trilogy of "megamovies".
• The screenplay is being written by J.K. Rowling, produced by Steve Kloves & David Heyman, and directed by David Yates.
• It's neither a prequel nor a sequel to Harry Potter so it won't star any familiar wizards.
• 1, 2 and 3 will hit cinema screens in 2016, 2018 and 2020, respectively.
• It's being filmed in the UK.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FantasticBeasts; https://twitter.com/BeastsMovieUK

[scififan2009]

There are wizards in America?

tftnt

[baileycat]

Kind of the point of the movie scififan2009.

[GardenSirens]

Originally Posted by scififan2009 (View Post) There are wizards in America? tftnt

there are wizards everywhere!

[emptyMERMAiD]

I am a wizard!

[L i N d $ @ y]

to Eddie Redmayne!!!

[baileycat]

Wand designer discusses Fantastic Beasts wands:
https://www.pottermore.com/news/inte...-wand-designer

Molly Sole bustles into the room, greets me sweetly and lays an enormous piece of paper on the table in front of us. She inhales, smiles to herself and smoothes out the top right edge of the page. My heart skips a beat when I realise what we’re looking at. It’s the wands. We’re looking at 1920s wands. Newt’s wand. Tina’s wand. Queenie’s wand. The wand Colin Farrell used for swishing practice as his character, Graves. They’re all here on the page – beautiful, detailed illustrations for each of the main magical characters in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. They’re so exquisite, I find myself stroking the paper while we speak, trying to coax them into three dimensions. Molly is the junior concept designer on the film. Her first task for production designer Stuart Craig was to pluck details from J.K. Rowling’s screenplay and sketch up some wand options for the main characters. A total dream project, obviously. She’s practically Ollivander; if Ollivander was a 21st century woman with Photoshop. ‘I know from the Harry books that the wizard has to have an affinity with the wand. It picks them,’ she says. ‘It’s a bit like people and their dogs. I feel like you can see traces of the wand in the wizard and the wizard in the wand. So we had to imagine the feel and the material of the wand as a good partnership with the character.’ ‘This one has to be for Newt,’ I say, pointing to a modest wooden wand. ‘We wanted it to relate somehow to the animal kingdom,' she tells me, 'but we thought it was sort-of inappropriate to give him anything that might have a trophy feel to it. We didn’t think he would be into that at all. The main part of this one is wood. ‘Is this one Queenie’s?’ I ask, jabbing the table with my finger like I’m a contestant on some sort of impromptu ‘Guess the Wand’ game show. ‘That’s got to be the closest thing to a sexy wand I’ve ever seen. It can only belong to Queenie.’ ‘That’s Queenie’s, yes,’ Molly says. ‘[Alison Sudol] did have a little bit of influence on hers because she really likes Art Deco. We put her taste in that and it really helped us get the time period, the era, into the design. ‘Whereas Tina’s wand is more functional, more understated. David [Yates] didn’t want it to be too jazzy because that wouldn’t suit Tina. We used an antique conductor’s wand for the basis of Graves’s wand.’ ‘Have you held the real things? In your actual hands?’ I ask. It must be incredible for Molly to start the process of getting Stuart Craig’s vision on paper, taking it to director David Yates, feeding it through the whole art department, sending it off to props and getting it back in tangible form. ‘It’s fantastic. When I saw them for the first time, I just marveled at the detail. When you’re designing, you don’t have endless time to rationalise all of the elements to actually make the thing, so when you finally get to touch it, you’re like ‘oh, guys – you made it so good.’ It’s just amazing to see.’ Molly starts to shuffle her other enormous pieces of paper. She’s got so much more to show me. All in good time…

[scififan2009]

Too bad this can't take place in the wizarding world we're all familiar with. Still, it is something new.

[L i N d $ @ y]

Eddie looked great at the GGs. Here's to a win at the SAGs instead.

[GardenSirens]

Yeah, Eddie was one of the most stylish (I really liked what Dwayne Johnson and David Owelio ((I can't spell his name) were wearing also.

[L i N d $ @ y]

I can't wait until full promotions for this movie is well underway soon.

[GardenSirens]

he looks like Doctor Who there.

[L i N d $ @ y]

Originally Posted by GardenSirens (View Post) he looks like Doctor Who there.

There were a lot of assumptions that Newt is probably the 13th Doctor.

[Lauren James]

So this is a new movie in the same universe? I'm interested!!

[L i N d $ @ y]

Originally Posted by Lauren James (View Post) So this is a new movie in the same universe? I'm interested!!

Yes and a different story (and characters) that we're all not familiar with. I can't wait.