July 15, 2011 was the last day that Harry Potter fans had something new to feed their addiction. It’s been over two years since a new movie has given Muggles access to the fictional world ruled by the Ministry of Magic.
Since then, other fandoms, such as The Hunger Games and Divergent, have taken over the entertainment industry, putting Harry back into the cupboard under the stairs. No one predicted, not even Professor Trelawney, that fans would get another Harry Potter film, but that is exactly what is going to happen.
In September, Warner Brothers Entertainment announced that J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a field guide that features all of the creatures found in the Wizarding World, would be turned into a movie.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them follows Newt Scamander as he catalogs the beasts for the fictitious publishing company Obscurus Books.
The movie is rumored to be set in the Roaring Twenties in New York, the same setting of the novel and film The Great Gatsby, although the two films will surely be different.
Director David Heyman, the director of several Harry Potter films, has many avenues to explore with this film.
Heyman could continue the route he has been on with the Harry Potter films and bring fans what they expect, although one change is inevitable: there will be no Hermione, Ron, or Harry.
All of those who are working on the film have stressed that this will not be a Harry Potter film.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” Heyman said to Entertainment Weekly. “[Rowling] doesn’t have to go back to this world, but something pulled her back. This is not Harry Potter. This is not Harry, Ron, and Hermione. This is a separate story within a universe related to the Potter universe.”
With that difference already being vocalized by the crew, it will be interesting to see what will set this movie apart from previous Harry Potter films.
Since it is set in the 1920s, Heyman has the option of making the new film model the silent, black and white films of the time period.
The black and white style would also set the film apart from not only previous Harry Potter movies but also films in general. By turning to the past, films such as The Artist have received several Oscar nominations. If Heyman does decide to do this, he will have an opportunity to show that great cinema—not just great book adaptations—can come from Rowling’s books.
It will also be exciting to see if and how Heyman incorporates the handwriting notes that Harry, Hermione and Ron left in the book. For those who have not read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the three friends left sporadic anecdotes, comments and doodles throughout their textbook.
These annotations bring the book back to where it all started for readers, Hogwarts. Although this is not a Harry Potter film, I believe we all would appreciate the occasional allusion to the original books that started it all.
