Return To J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World

November 14, 2016

By Jennifer Hackett

Expecto excitement! Wands and wizards are back on the big screen in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But don’t expect to see Harry Potter—he won’t be born for a few decades! Set in the 1920s, the movie features Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a “magizoologist” who just completed an around-the-world trip studying and collecting incredible beasts.

The movie starts with Newt’s arrival in New York City. He’s bearing a magical suitcase full of magical creatures that are accidentally set free after the case is opened. Some of them, like the long-nosed niffler, might be familiar to Harry Potter fans. But others, such as the birdlike screaming evil, are brand-new creations for the movie.

The fantastic beasts came from author J.K. Rowling’s mind, but it was up to visual effects artists Christian Manz and Tim Burke to bring them to life. “She was often very happy and excited at what we were doing while guiding us on what was right for her wizarding world,” says Manz.

“It’s all from Jo’s imagination,” says the movie’s producer David Heyman. “There’s magic, there are extraordinary things happening.”

Hot on the heels of the script book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which marked the first Harry Potter story in almost a decade, this movie is the first to depict the wizarding world since the final Harry Potter film came out in 2011. So, get ready to head to the movie theaters and say, “Accio popcorn!”