Warner Bros. is set to dip again into the Harry Potter universe, with a spinoff trilogy of movies connected to author J.K. Rowling’s 2001 book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them now confirmed. The news comes from a New York Times profile on WB CEO Kevin Tsujihara, following up on the studio’s 2013 confirmation that there would be a “series” of films, video games, and other products based on Fantastic Beasts.
The Tsujihara profile reveals that three “megamovies” are planned, with the stories focused on the exploits of magizoologist Newt Scamander. The whole thing is set seven decades before the events of the Harry Potter series, with Scamander’s tale opening in New York. The short book – conceived as a real-life version of one of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts “textbooks” – doesn’t have enough to support three movies worth of stories, but Rowling herself is fleshing out her earlier work as the trilogy’s writer.
None of this comes as a particular surprise. Warner Bros. saw massive success with the eight films that adapted Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books. There’s definitely still a demand for more stories set in that universe, and a new trilogy – one that Rowling herself will craft the stories for – is a no-brainer, from the perspective of delivering content that’s going to generate Scrooge McDuckian levels of coin.
There’s no release timeframe set yet for the Potterverse’s Hollywood return.
