More Harry Potter Films to Come as Warner Bros. and Rowling Make New Movie Deal

Emily Grossberg  ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor
For the millions of Harry Potter fans out there, the adventure may not be over.
Warner Brothers and the series author J.K Rowling announced that they will begin work on a new string of movies based on Rowling’s previous books such as the Hogwarts textbook and Harry Potter extension book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them.” According to a press release issued by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Fantastic Beasts will be an original story and will also serve as Rowling’s screenwriting debut. Rowling believes these films will serve to the die-hard “Potter” fans. “Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world,” she said in the statement. She also said the movie’s subject will follow the fictitious author of textbook, Newt Scamander, and will take place in New York seventy years before Harry’s story even starts. The company also stated that “Fantastic Beasts” will be developed into a video game, consumer products and even enhance its presence on the popular site, Pottermore.com. The “Harry Potter” series has also expanded well beyond the books. Warner Bros. also created the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Party theme park, currently located in Orlando, Florida, as well as a breadth of websites, video games, consumer products and other digital attractions. “We are incredibly honored that Jo has chosen to partner with Warner Bros. on this exciting new exploration of the world of wizardry which has been tremendously successful across all of our businesses,” Kevin Tsujihara, the Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment said in the release. The statement did not reveal when production was set to begin on the films.a The eighth and final “Harry Potter” film was released in 2011 and earned $438.2 million, which allowed it to be listed as the fourth highest grossing film of all time and the highest grossing film of 2011. There are a total of seven “Harry Potter” books written by Rowling. The first, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone” was released in 1997 and the final book “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” finished the series in 2007.  The series has sold around 450 million copies worldwide.