Harry Potter Prequel ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them’ to Film at Leavesden Studios
Warner Bros has confirmed that Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the Harry Potter spin-off film, will be shot at Leavesden Studios in Watford, UK. Leavesden has been the home of all Harry Potter films since the first outing in 2001 and has since become a home for fans to tour and visit the sets of the successful series.
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is based upon the companion book of the same name written by author J.K. Rowling between the publication of book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The adaptation is set several decades before the original series and will begin with magizoologist Newt Scamander travelling from New York to exotic parts of the world on the hunt for magical animals.
The screenplay is being adapted by J.K. Rowling herself, not referring to the film as a prequel but rather an “extension of the wizarding world.” Rumours were flying around that Alfonso Cuaron was in talks to helm the film, after his stint with the franchise in 2004 directing Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Cuaron has denied such rumours claiming that after his ground breaking special effects work for last year’s Gravity, he is cleansing himself of all special effects-centric pictures and his current slate will be smaller fare, stating:
“I have a lot of love for that universe and I tremendously admire J.K. Rowling, but today, for the present, projects based around lots of visual effects don’t attract me. I’m coming out of a five-year process of doing visual effects and now I sort of want to clean my palate of that a little bit.”
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them has a release date of November 18, 2016.
Source: Variety
