Warner Bros is hooking up with bestselling author/Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling. on a new film series. The project steams from Rowling’s world of witches and wizards and inspired by Harry Potter’s Hogwarts textbook “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and the adventures of the book’s fictitious author, Newt Scamander, according to a Warner Bros Entertainment news release today.
“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,” said J.K. Rowling in the release. “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.”
This film series is the latest extension of a partnership, which has grown into theme parks, video games, and other entertainment products. It all began with Harry Potter. Rowling’s Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, have sold over 450 million copies worldwide.
Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter eight blockbuster films reportedly have grossed more than $7.7 billion at he worldwide at the box office — making Harry Potter the largest-grossing film franchise in history.
