On Friday, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them took the world by storm. The story comes from the same wizarding world as the worldwide phenomenon Harry Potter. The movie was directed by the same man who directed the Harry Potter movies, David Yates, and the screenplay was written by the author herself, J.K. Rowling.
For Harry Potter fans everywhere, including myself, this movie was a pretty big deal. Fans know that the main protagonist, Newt Scamander, is briefly mentioned in the Harry Potter series. He wrote a book that is mentioned in the series called "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" which is, of course, where the movie's name was derived from. The book is used in the series and J.K. Rowling actually wrote the book and it is published in our "muggle" world as well. Newt is mentioned again in the series when his portrait is seen in the Headmaster's office, which implies that he was once a Headmaster of Hogwarts, however none of this has been totally confirmed yet. At the end of the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood, a friend of Harry's, is seen married to Rolf Scamander in a 19 years later fast forward, who is the grandson of Newt.
The movie itself has already been seen as a huge success. The movie made $27.9 million just on Friday alone, its opening date. Fantastic Beasts takes place in 1926 New York. The story follows Newt Scamander, who has travelled to New York in order to continue his research with animals and to, in particular, release one of his animals to Arizona. When he arrives, he has a run-in with a "No-Maj" (or muggle, which is a non-magical human) named Jacob Kowalski. They accidentally switch cases and Jacob opens the case, which lets many of Newt's creatures loose in the city. The movie has many other plots entwined with Newt's story, including that of Gellert Grindewald, who is mentioned in Harry Potter's time as the darkest wizard of all time before Voldemort.
While in New York, Newt meets his future wife, Porpentina "Tina" Goldstein and her sister Queenie. At the end of the movie when he leaves New York, he promises to bring Tina a copy of the book he plans on publishing. His book is then published for the first time in 1927 and became a textbook for Hogwarts in the mid 1990s which is where the book is first mentioned in the Harry Potter series.
Newt's past and future play a huge part in the Harry Potter series. The movie goes way more in depth of the Harry Potter world as well as the creatures in it. There are mentions to characters and names in the Harry Potter world such as Dumbledore, Grindewald, and even the name Lestrange which help the fans stay connected to the Harry Potter world as well as introduce a brand new view of the same world. All of us fans are so thankful that J.K. Rowling has given us a new look into the wizarding world and are so grateful to her for keeping the magic alive. The Harry Potter fan base and the world itself it something really amazing that not many movie/book franchises have. Everyone from the fan base has a home at Hogwarts and, as JK Rowling said, "Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."
