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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Harry Potter Returns in New J.K. Rowling Story on Pottermore Website

On the day Universal Studios' Diagon Alley opens up at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, author J.K. Rowling has written her first new piece on the boy wizard in years. Early this morning she posted a piece over on her Pottermore site, essentially a gossip piece by snarky columnist Rita Skeeter, about the Quidditch World Cup finals. Attending the games were the original members of Dumbledore's Army, including a grown-up Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

The story talks about Harry's marriage to Ginny, as well as the relationship between Ron and Hermione. It also mentions that the graying Harry, now approaching the age of 34, has a scar on his cheek that may or may not be from his top secret work as an Auror. The gossip rag tries to stir up some controversy by suggesting it could have been the result of a curse by his wife.  Ron is now running the family joke shop while Hermione, referred to as the group's femme fatale, is now the Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

As you might expect, the 1500-word story caused a mad rush to the site that crashed it for a good length of time. It should be up now, though, and if you're interested in checking it out just go here and register.

Rowling's not done with the world of Harry Potter. She's set to make her screenwriting debut on spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

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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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