A seemingly "Harry Potter" prequel is finally coming to the cinemas on the third week of November. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", a book written by J.K. Rowling in 2001, is brought into live action starring the Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne as the Magizoologist Newt Scamander.
CBC News reported that Rowling disclosed at a fan event in London last month that four more sequels of the movie are impending, making the franchise a pentology. The upcoming Warner Bros.' film takes us 70 years prior to the era of Harry Potter, which prompted a speculation of its correlation with the young wizard's life.
The character of Newt Scamander primarily set the search for the cast of the production. According to producer David Heyman, Eddie Redmayne was the moviemakers' first and only choice for the role, as reported by Inquirer. "Eddie is brilliant at getting under a character's skin and exploring every detail of a role, yet all that effort is invisible," commends Heyman.
Despite being an Oscar winner and nominee for both "Theory of Everything" and "The Danish Girl"; however, Redmayne expressed that he had mixed emotions about playing the role, as he is a self-proclaimed Potter fan and is afraid to be the one to "screw it up." His character, Scamander, is a gawky British wizard specializing in magical creatures who arrived in New York in the 1920s.
The conflict starts when the magical beasts from Newt's suitcase are accidentally released into the world of No-Maj (most commonly known as "muggle" in the Harry Potter series). He meets three people whom he later forms a bond with and helps him in his course to resolve the prevailing problem with the beasts. While these may all be known, the main plots of the story are not yet being revealed, with strict instructions throughout the whole production of keeping secret the plot details.
Having directed the final four parts of the Harry Potter series, David Yates takes over this magical beginning of the new Rowling-originated film. Besides Redmayne, other stars featured are Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Carmen Ejogo, Ron Perlman, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, and Johnny Depp.
After the film's world premiere in New York City last Nov. 10, its releases in the different parts of the world vary. It hits the theaters in 2D, 3D and IMAX on Nov. 16 in countries such as France, Belgium and Indonesia, while Nov. 17 in Australia, Germany, Denmark, Philippines, Malaysia, and many others. The United States, Canada and United Kingdom are among those to release the film on Nov. 18.