Fantastic Beasts will be comparable to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Entertainment Weekly has secured a quote from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them producer David Heyman in which he gives us a better idea of which Harry Potter movie this prequel will most emulate in terms of tone, namely 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Mike Newell-directed entry which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Heyman should know, too, because he produced all eight films in the Harry Potter cycle!
”[Fantastic Beasts has] got the charm of the fourth,” Heyman said. “It’s like the fourth. Mike talked about the fourth as being like an Indian musical — and it’s not that, but it’s got the humor of of that film. It has the romantic comedy, that fish-out-of-water humor, that very human, natural character comedy. And now David is always looking for truthful, human moments, it’s never just a gag, he’s grounding [the storytelling moments] in a reality. [Beasts] is very funny, it’s got a big heart, and there’s darkness too.”
Fantastic Beasts sees Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander coming to 1926 New York from England, for reasons they won’t disclose, with his trusty weathered case, a magical bag that is bigger on the inside and houses habitats for a number of magical creatures. In his travels, he discovers that American wizards are quite fearful of being outed to the public, who they call “No-Maj” instead of “Muggles,” and it’s in this wizard-phobic world that something happens causing Newt’s bag to burst open, setting free the magical monsters.
The David Yates-directed, J.K. Rowling-penned film also stars Katherine Waterston as Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein, Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein, Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, with Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Ron Perlman, Jenn Murray, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo, Gemma Chan and newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is being produced by David Heyman, producer of all eight of the blockbuster Harry Potter features; J.K. Rowling; Steve Kloves, who scripted all but one of the “Harry Potter” films; and Lionel Wigram, who served as an executive producer on the last four installments of the franchise. Rowling herself is supplying the screenplay.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set for a worldwide release in 3D and IMAX on November 18, 2016.
