How a charity textbook became the foundation for a global cinematic wizarding expansion
In short: In 2001, J. K. Rowling wrote a short guide to magical creatures for Comic Relief. Fifteen years later, that fictional textbook evolved into a major film franchise. This prequel to the Harry Potter series transports audiences to 1920s New York, revealing a hidden world of American magic and dangerous secrets.
The 2016 film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them marked J. K. Rowling’s debut as a screenwriter, expanding the Wizarding World franchise two years after the final Harry Potter film. Directed by David Yates, the project was part of a planned trilogy that eventually grew into a series. The narrative follows Newt Scamander, a British magizoologist who arrives in 1926 New York City, where he accidentally unleashes magical creatures and becomes entangled in the political tensions of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA).
At the heart of the conflict is the Obscurial, a destructive parasite that develops in magically gifted children whose abilities are suppressed. While the film’s characters, including the demoted Auror Tina Goldstein and the aspiring baker Jacob Kowalski, navigate a society that strictly segregates wizards from non-magical people, they are pursued by Percival Graves, the Director of Magical Security. The plot culminates in the revelation that Graves is actually the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, who sought to expose the magical community to the non-magical world.
The production was a significant commercial success, grossing $814 million worldwide and becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2016. It achieved critical recognition, winning the Academy Award for Best Costume Design—a first for the Wizarding World franchise—and the British Academy Film Award for Best Production Design. The film’s immersive depiction of 1920s New York was crafted at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and on location in Liverpool. Following its release, the series continued with two sequels, The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018 and The Secrets of Dumbledore in 2022, further exploring the history of magic in North America.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)
- Also: Wikidata — Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them · CC0
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