Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

[Skywalker]

I looked and looked for an established thread before deciding to start this one, because I know we've discussed it before, but I couldn't find it. So, if there is a recent thread and I missed it, I apologize. If not, this is a good time to start up a new one, because we now have a full trailer for the movie!

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I think it looks great. It looks like the tone will be slightly more mature since the story features adults instead of children, but at the same time it looks like they haven't completely gotten rid of the more light-hearted side of the Potterverse.

 

[JD]

Yeah, that does look like a lot of fun. I'm very curious to see if Ms. Rowling can write movies as well as she does books.
The only thing that makes me nervous is the stuff I heard about her History of Magic in America being a complete disaster. Hopefully this will be separate enough from the movie that it's issues won't bleed through into the movie.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

This was the old thread: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/jk-rowling-to-revisit-harry-potter-verse-for-new-movie-series.225616/

 

[Mr Light]

What I want to know is, what's the premise? Who's the bad guy? It can't just be about rando animals running around.

 

[Christopher]

What I want to know is, what's the premise? Who's the bad guy? It can't just be about rando animals running around.

Why not? Lots of monster movies are about trying to prevent hordes of dangerous creatures from wreaking havoc. The old saw from English class is that the main categories of conflict are "man against man, man against nature, and man against himself" (pardon the gendered language). This looks like it might be a mix of the latter two categories, since the creatures' escape is Scamander's own fault, so he'd feel compelled to fix his own mistake.

 

[Richard Baker]

Yeah, that does look like a lot of fun. I'm very curious to see if Ms. Rowling can write movies as well as she does books.
The only thing that makes me nervous is the stuff I heard about her History of Magic in America being a complete disaster. Hopefully this will be separate enough from the movie that it's issues won't bleed through into the movie.

The last series of the Harry Potter books were written more as movie adaptations than books. Towards the end I checked out the entire book series and read them back to back and you can see the shift in writing style to more of a visual one and the scenes seemed constructed more along the lines of movie edits.

On a side note I saw an advertisement in a book store for two more Harry Potter novels- IIRC the 'Cursed Child' parts one & two 9or something like that, I was leaving at the time and saw the posters on the doors).

 

[Arrrrgggh]

For some reason, the apparent lead has a face that I want to smash a frying pan into.

Other than that, it does indeed look like a fun movie. I'm guessing there's some kind of Pandora's Box thing going on.

 

[HIjol]

There are SAG rules against that...

...plus, Yikes!

 

[Starbreaker]

What I want to know is, what's the premise? Who's the bad guy? It can't just be about rando animals running around.

Wikipedia says is an organization dedicated to the destruction of wizard-kind.

 

[Arrrrgggh]

I think someone stole half of your post, Starbreaker. Damn dirty wizards.

 

[JD]

The last series of the Harry Potter books were written more as movie adaptations than books. Towards the end I checked out the entire book series and read them back to back and you can see the shift in writing style to more of a visual one and the scenes seemed constructed more along the lines of movie edits.

On a side note I saw an advertisement in a book store for two more Harry Potter novels- IIRC the 'Cursed Child' parts one & two 9or something like that, I was leaving at the time and saw the posters on the doors).

That's the script for Rowling's post Hogwarts HP play. I'm pretty sure it's just being released as the script, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Skywalker]

I don't mind Eddie Redmayne, but I do wish Matt Smith had gotten the part, instead. I wonder if things might have gone differently if Redmayne hadn't won that Oscar. Oh well.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

I enjoyed reading the textbook of this but I'm not sure about the movie.

However, I'd be all for a Quidditch Through The Ages movie.

 

[publiusr]

That would be a good idea--lots of story fodder.
Cloud Atlas for Magick

 

[Skywalker]

New trailer!

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I'm really looking forward to this, it looks like a lot of fun. I love the inclusion of a No-Maj as one of the main characters, given the heightened tensions between the wizarding world and the mundane world in America.

 

[Mr Light]

Looks cool, but I'm still not sure what the actual plot is beyond "creatures escape".

 

[Christopher]

Looks cool, but I'm still not sure what the actual plot is beyond "creatures escape".

As I said the last time, there's no shortage of monster movies based on that plot. But I get the impression that the plot will be a catalyst for exploring the tensions between Scamander and the American wizarding culture, and maybe the tensions between American wizards and "No-Majes" (ick) as an allegory for racism.

 

[kirk55555]

I liked that trailer. Its an interesting look at a different part of the HP universe. It looks like it will be a good movie.

 

[Mage]

Of all the stories that fans have been wanting to see in movie-form (early years of the Marauders, founding of Hogwarts, the first Wizarding-war against Voldemort...) WB chose an encyclopedia to turn into a movie..... Smart move.....

 

[Christopher]

Of all the stories that fans have been wanting to see in movie-form (early years of the Marauders, founding of Hogwarts, the first Wizarding-war against Voldemort...) WB chose an encyclopedia to turn into a movie..... Smart move.....

I would assume it was Rowling herself who chose the story.

And I can think of at least one successful work of fiction "based on" an in-story reference work: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Not to mention How to Train Your Dragon, though I'm only familiar with the movie/TV version of that. Maybe you could also count Asimov's Foundation (nominally about the people compiling the Encyclopedia Galactica) or Marie Brennan's Lady Trent series (presented as the in-universe memoirs of an acclaimed naturalist famous for her work on dragon biology). In a sense, you could count any story about the staff of a newspaper. Or maybe even Dracula, a book in which the process of the book's own creation (in-universe) is an integral part of its narrative.

Really, having the main character be a researcher or scholar is a terrific Macguffin. It gives them a built-in incentive to seek out novel situations and get themselves into trouble. Having them be a researcher into monsters or magical creatures in general is even better, since you can get as many different stories out of that as you have creatures in your imagination.