Can ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Bring Rowling Back To The Top Of The Box Office?

As Potterheads count down the days for yet another release, we can’t help but wonder- will it be worth the hype?

After many fans felt disappointed with July’s release of Cursed Child, the Potter universe questions whether Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them can possibly live up to the original books.

The film is written by J.K. Rowling herself and has the advantage of fans not already knowing the story. Unlike the first eight films, fans won’t be complaining about favorite scenes that got left out. Though, to be fair, some of those missing scenes are what made the books so much more magical than the movies.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them opens in theaters this Friday (November 18th) and Rowling’s screenplay will be available in bookstores the same day. The film series is set to have five films, though it is still unknown if Rowling will publish the screenplays for each one. Throughout each film, the story will contain more details fans are already familiar with from the original seven books and will follow the rise of the powerful dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald. Grindelwald is known in the Potter books for his famous duel with Hogwarts headmaster, Dumbledore, in 1945.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them started as a book for Comic Relief, a charity for impoverished children, in 2001. It was written as one of Harry’s textbooks, complete with annotations by Harry and Ron. Warner Brothers approached Rowling about turning the book into a movie and she came up with a story following the fictional author, Newt Scamander.

Source: Amazon

The first Fantastic Beasts film takes place in New York City in 1926 (54 years before young Harry was born) and follows Newt Scamander, a magical zoologist (magizoologist) whose collection of magical creatures escapes in the city.

The film is projected to make $78 million opening weekend and a gross of $210 million. This is less than any of the Potter films, though would still be incredibly successful.

Source: Amazon

Source: Amazon

Will you be seeing or reading Fantastic Beasts this weekend?

YouTube Channel: Warner Bros. Pictures

 

Featured image via Fuse

h/t Business Insider