'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' Wizard Movie To Feature Fictional Author Newt Scamander; JK Rowling Debuts As Screenwriter

Novelist J.K. Rowling has something up her sleeve, and it's going to be magic: she will make another one of her magical characters come to life in the upcoming movie "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." 

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is the first in a series of movies that Rowling will take on as a screenwriter.  It is to be about Newt Scamander, the fictional author of the textbook of the same title which Harry Potter and the students at Hogwarts used.     

The writer issued an official statement regarding her screenwriting debut with Warner Bros.  She said: 

It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into a film.  I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realized by another writer was difficult.  Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood. 

As I considered Warners' proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn't dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros. 

The 48-year old author said that while the new movie is an extension of the wizarding world that Harry Potter fans are all very familiar with, the story happens long before the events in the Harry Potter series.  The film takes place seventy years earlier, and on the other side of globe - in New York. 

"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 concluded. 

A real book entitled "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" was released in 2001. Penned by Rowling, it was published under the name "Newt Scamander" and served as a supplement to the Harry Potter books.