"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" Explained

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
  Harry Potter is arguably one of the biggest franchises to ever grace the big screen. All together it pulled in about 7.7 billion dollars worldwide. You could say that was a success, or you could say that it is the second highest earning film franchise of all time. Beating out all twenty-four Bond films, and the entire Middle-Earth Saga! The only franchise that grossed more than Harry Potter is the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. So it wasn’t a big surprise when they announced that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, another story from this magical world, is coming soon to a theater near you.
  What has been confusing a lot of people is that these new films aren’t straight sequels to the Harry Potter franchise. Although they aren’t prequels either though. Sort of. Here’s my explanation...

​   Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the story of Newt Scamander, a wizard born in 1897 assigned to scribe the book from which the film gets its title. This book that he writes is eventually one that all first-year students at Hogwarts (including Harry, Ron, and Hermione) are required to read.  He travels around the world discovering all sorts of magical creatures, and chronically all he learns about them. Eventually, his travels lead him to New York.
  So how does this film relate to the overall Harry Potter universe? This film definitely isn’t a sequel, but it isn’t really a prequel either. It's more of a spin-off. Let’s draw a comparison to something we all know well, The Marvel Cinematic Universe. You wouldn’t consider Captain America: The First Avenger a prequel to Iron Man, or The Incredible Hulk. While it does take place in the same universe, it technically isn’t the same story. It simply takes place in the same universe, a long time ago. This film is very much like that. It does take place in the Harry Potter universe, but it is set in about 1920 long before the events of The Sorcerer’s Stone. Tom Riddle won’t be born until 1926. It’s safe to assume that this film will have little (if anything at all) to do with Lord Voldemort and his Deatheaters.
  I do believe that there will be a couple references here and there to the larger wizarding universe. Maybe there will be a brief cameo by a young Albus Dumbledore, or a reference to Tom Riddle’s parents. But nothing too major.
  This film is being directed by David Yates. Which is a good thing because he also directed The Order of the Pheonix, The Half-Blood Prince, and both Deathly Hallows films. Yates became quite familiar with this universe while working on those four films, so he definitely knows how to handle this magical franchise.
 The cast put together is also very notable. Leading the film will be Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander. You may recognize his name as he did win an Academy Award earlier this year for his performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Also currently cast are Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Ron Perlman, and Jon Voight. It’s safe to assume that the script is pretty good if it attracted this great of a cast.
  Speaking of the script, the Harry Potter author herself J.K. Rowling personally wrote the scripts for these films. This is perhaps the most promising fact that this series will have that same mystical vibe we learned to love about Harry Potter.

 ​That about sums it up. I am sure I missed a couple little things, but those are all the general things that you should know. Are you excited about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? Do you think that it will tie in with the Harry Potter franchise in any way? Let me know by commenting on this post! If you enjoyed this editorial, share it on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so check back then for more new Movie Reviews and Editorials!
 
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