David Yates Returns to Harry Potter for 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful of all-time, if not the most successful, spanning eight movies and nearly $8B in total box office. In short, every studio wants their own Harry Potter, but what if you're Warner Bros. and you already have access to it? How do you ensure a new 'Potter' series like J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them reaches the same heights? One way is by luring David Yates, director of four Harry Potter movies, back into the wizarding world.

Yates, who is currently directing another potential blockbuster in Tarzan, has agreed to helm Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. This would be his fifth Harry Potter film after he took over with 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Rowling is writing the screenplay for what is expected to be a brand new trilogy taking place decades before the arrival of Harry Potter and centering on magizoologist Newt Scamander. The story, which begins in New York rather than London, will follow Scamander as he catalogs amazing creatures for his reference guide.

Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) had briefly circled the directing job but one has to believe Warner Bros. is more than happy with Yates. While the book doesn't include Harry, Ron, and Hermione, don't be surprised if they find a way to fit them in somehow. [THR]

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Alfonso Cuaron Turns Down 'Harry Potter' Spinoff 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

Fans of the Harry Potter franchise were ecstatic when it looked as if Oscar winning director Alfonso Cuaron, who directed the popular Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, would return to the franchise for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But sadly it seems he's had a change of heart and won't be returning to the Wizarding World after all. Cuaron tells the Global Post...

Cuaron: "I have a lot of love for that universe, and I tremendously admire J.K. Rowling, but today, for the present, projects based around lots of visual effects don't attract me. I'm coming out of a five-year process of doing visual effects and now I sort of want to clean my palate of that a little bit."

And that makes a certain degree of sense after Cuaron directed Gravity, a film that required incredible amounts of technological precision and heavy visual effects work. There probably won't be too many people complaining if he returns to the smaller, character-driven work from earlier in his career. So the search is on for another to direct J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which is to open on November 18th 2016

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Alfonso Cuaron in Talks to Direct 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'

It may seem like a lifetime ago but Warner Bros.' Harry Potter franchise didn't get off to the most solid of footing. Chris Columbus directed the first two films and while they performed well at the box office, creatively they were lacking the magic of J.K. Rowling's books. It wasn't until Alfonso Cuaron came aboard with The Prisoner of Azkaban and injected a maturity and wonder into the series that it really took off and never looked back. And maybe Rowling recognizes that and wants to get her Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, off on the right foot.

According to Nikki Finke (hey, forgot about her), Cuaron is in "deep talks" to direct the spinoff, which is envisioned as a trilogy set 70 years before the arrival of young Harry Potter. The story is inspired by the titular textbook and follows the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander, exploring the many magical creatures and characters that will be familiar to fans of Rowling's books and movies.

Cuaron is coming off seven Academy Award win for Gravity, including one for Best Director. He's familiar with the wizarding world and said last year he may be interested in returning to direct the spinoff...

Cuaron: "Akzaban was fun to make, and when I did it, I was invited to do the next one, but I didn’t want to overstay the welcome, because it was such an experience. But now? Why not? I do have stuff that I want to do [next], but a J.K. thing ..."

Looks like that's exactly what is going to happen. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set to open November 18th 2016.

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'Harry Potter' Spinoff 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' Set for November 2016

Only three years have passed since Harry Potter and the Death Hallows put in a pin in Warner Bros.' longest-running and most lucrative franchise, and the studio thinks that is more than enough time without an injection of that Potter cash. Last year came word that J.K. Rowling herself would be penning an adaptation of Potter textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and now the film has been given a November 18th 2016 release date.

Designed as a trilogy, the story will take place some seventy years before Harry Potter's birth and follow the adventures of Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who attended Hogwarts and served on the Ministry of Magic. The book is little more than a bio of all the magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe so what kind of narrative Rowling intends to build from that remains unclear, along if she intends to link the past with the present.  And if she does, is there any hope of Daniel Radcliffe or other familiar cast members coming back? Probably not but you never know.

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'Harry Potter' Spinoff 'Fantastic Beasts' Planned as Trilogy

This will come as a shock to absolutely no one, but Warner Bros. wants J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spinoff adaptation, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, to be a jumbo-sized trilogy. It was just last year we learned Rowling would be making her screenwriting debut penning the big screen version of Harry Potter's textbook, and at the time it was described as the first in a potential franchise. In a profile by The New York Times, Warner Bros. Pictures CEO Kevin Tsujihara has elaborated on that by saying three "megamovies" are in the works....

"Wherever he learned the skill, his deft touch became clear to Hollywood's creative community last September. That is when Warner announced that Ms. Rowling had agreed to adapt for the big screen her 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,' a 2001 book billed as one of Harry Potter's Hogwarts textbooks. Three megamovies are planned. The main character will be a 'magizoologist' named Newt Scamander. The stories, neither prequels or sequels, will start in New York about seven decades before the arrival of Mr. Potter and his pals."

Rowling has said previously that 'Fantastic Beasts' is neither a prequel or sequel, and is set in New York about 70 years before Harry Potter, following the magizoologist Newt Scamander.

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J.K. Rowling to Pen 'Harry Potter' Spinoff Series 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them'

Ever since Harry Potter concluded a couple of years ago with Deathly Hallows pt. 2, Warner Bros. has been trying to find another franchise to replace it. But replacing the most successful franchise in movie history is no easy task, and so far they haven't had any luck. It turns out the answer to their troubles may have been staring at them right in the face all along, and it's going back to author J.K. Rowling for an adaptation of Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Warner Bros. announced the deal today, revealing that Rowling will make her screenwriting debut on the film, which will be an original story designed to be the first in a franchise. The 2001 novel is said to be a copy of Harry Potter's textbook from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, written by the mysterious magizoologist Newt Scamander with a forward by Albus Dumbledore. Rowling had this to say about the book and how it would translate for the silver screen....

“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.”

No word on when production could begin but clearly it's very early on in the process as a director needs to be found. Will Warner Bros. turn to some of the former Harry Potter directors, like perhaps David Yates, to assure a seamless transition?  Will we see completely new actors brought in, or is there the possibility of a few familiar faces? These are just some of the questions that need to be answered, but this is incredibly exciting news.

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