Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

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Release Date: November 18, 2016 (3D/2D theaters and IMAX)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: David Yates
Screenwriter: J.K. Rowling
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Kate Upton, Saoirse Ronan and Dakota Fanning (all rumored so far)
Plot: Based on world-renowned, best-selling author J.K. Rowling’s world of witches and wizards, 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. Planned as the first picture in a new film series. Set in the wizarding world, the story will feature magical creatures and characters, some of which will be familiar to devoted Harry Potter fans. 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.



I like how people keep visiting this thread and then leaving. lol.
Hey don't look at me.



I really love the trailer!! I haven't read the books yet though, but I bought them and they're on their way. Cannot wait to start reading them. Although I am not sure if the movie will disappoint me hahah. I am a bit scared, because Divergent and The Hunger Games disappointed me a bit because I have read the books



Looks awesome to me, Harry Potter for an older audience (hopefully).



Death by butterflies
Still on the fence- the trailer hyped the movie pretty well, but I'm not entirely sold on the premise. If they wanted to do a spinoff film, I wish they didn't go this far back in time. There are so many Harry Potter secondary characters, they could have easily done a spinoff film in modern times, with mostly new characters, and peppered in character cameos from the UK visiting the US.



I read the original book when i was much younger, and i quite enjoyed that. I am not sure how they are going to translate that to a movie though. The book as i recall was more of a trivia book than anything else. I wonder if we will see the quidditch one soon.



As a potter fan, I'm definitely up for this. I can see though why people can be turned off, it feels too remote from the main series.

But with Rowling writing it, it's sure to be a gem. Still not crazy on Yates directing. He wasn't the strongest of the HP directors.



Hogwarts Professor
Some good -- but expected, mind you -- news: Fantastic Beasts is the highest-grossing spin-off film in history worldwide.

It's currently sitting well over $800 million globally, and is with that the fourth highest-grossing film internationally of 2016 after Civil War, Zootopia and The Jungle Book. Number eight worldwide, due to the not-as-strong domestic gross.
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This was a a bit of a disappointment for me.

I felt it was too busy planning the sequels to be any good as an individual film. This hit the nail on the head, from Vox:

"[...] The truer intent of Fantastic Beasts reveals itself as veteran Harry Potter director David Yates continues to swoop the camera like he’s mapping out a blueprint for Universal’s inevitable Fantastic Beasts roller coaster."

The worst parts of this film did indeed belong to its plot, which I cannot believe I'm saying given Rowling wrote the screenplay, while the best parts of it belong to the fantastic beasts. It was essentially all about setting the stage for four new films.
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It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. — Albus Dumbledore



Hogwarts Professor
This was a a bit of a disappointment for me.

I felt it was too busy planning the sequels to be any good as an individual film. This hit the nail on the head, from Vox:

"[...] The truer intent of Fantastic Beasts reveals itself as veteran Harry Potter director David Yates continues to swoop the camera like he’s mapping out a blueprint for Universal’s inevitable Fantastic Beasts roller coaster."

The worst parts of this film did indeed belong to its plot, which I cannot believe I'm saying given Rowling wrote the screenplay, while the best parts of it belong to the fantastic beasts. It was essentially all about setting the stage for four new films.
While I agree that this film mainly was a tool to set things up for far bigger and greater things in this universe, I still think the plot was incredibly strong. There was indeed a wealth of new characters introduced in this film, some of which got little development and screen time, but I absolutely loved the visual style and overarching plot. It's inevitable that some characters will have less focus.

Think about how extraordinary even those 'under-developed' characters were. It's the result of JK's phenomenal mind. I adore uniqueness, and this is why I place it as my favorite film of 2016, though I won't deny my love for the Harry Potter series has likely had its part in influencing this.



I see what you're saying there, Snape, about the variety and one-of-a-kind feel of the characters. I agree. But I just felt there were too many, and more importantly, too many unnecessary ones. Why give a large portion of the film to the characters in the orphanage when Credence's story could've been explained in a far more engaging and concise way, and thus give more time and development to the characters that really matter going forward? What in the world was the deal with the Shaw family and that senator son? I bet you at least 90 % of the people watching the film in theatres for the first time couldn't understand why he was killed off. And is that some sort of political subplot Rowling felt she was bursting to include in the script due to her intense engagement in real-life politics? If that is the case, I'm telling you, it's not good. I feel she was allowed to be way too wild with this screenplay.

There's going to be four sequels, we know that, so yes, there will be more time to develop characters, but the problem was that a majority of those thrown at us in this film, were given far too little expansion. They need to fix this going forward.


Sorry, had to get that off my chest, because I don't agree it was the best film of 2016. Note: I didn't dislike the film, it was just a disappointment in light of the huge bar Rowling and the crew set with Harry Potter. This didn't match that IMO, but I'm still incredibly excited to see what's up next.