Harry Potter producer David Heyman revealed in a new interview with The Telegraph that author/screenwriter J.K. Rowling has finished the script for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with shooting scheduled to begin early next year. He also confirms that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows director David Yates is returning to direct.
"Jo [Rowling] has written a wonderful script. It's early stages. David Yates is directing and we start filming next year. I'm just really excited about it."
The spinoff, which will be the first in a new trilogy, is hitting theaters November 18, 2016, with the sequels arriving on November 16, 2018 and November 20, 2020. The story is set in the Harry Potter universe, yet takes place in New York City, 70 years before Harry Potter first arrives at Hogwarts. The plot follows fictitious author Newt Scamander and and his adventures with numerous magical creatures and other characters.
Fantastic Beasts takes place seventy years before The Boy Who Lived’s story, and will follow young Newt Scamander as he sets out to document various magical creatures of the Wizarding World, starting with those that exist (unseen by Muggle eyes) in New York. WB has already gone ahead and reserved dates for two Fantastic Beasts sequels in the future, with Rowling on standby to script the additional installments – assuming they move forward, that is.
No cast members have been announced at this time, but with the screenplay now complete and shooting confirmed to start next year, we could be hearing more about who will star in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them very soon.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them comes to theaters November 18th, 2016. The film is directed by David Yates.
Fantastic Beasts will round out an important franchise-building year for WB, what with both Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad getting the Shared DC Universe fully underway; Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur arriving that summer, and potentially kicking off a six-film retelling of the Arthurian legend; and the first LEGO Movie spinoff, the ninja adventure Ninjago, launching in theaters. We’ll have to wait and see which end up being hits and which are misses, once the dust settles.
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