Alison Sudol’s witch whips up a tasty treat in the first clip for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, David Yates’ imminent Potter prequel that takes J.K. Rowling’s most beloved universe and steers it back to the Roaring ’20s.
Pegged for release on November 18th, Warner Bros. is aiming for the big, big time with its spinoff series, after green-lighting not one, nor two, but five Fantastic Beasts movies in total. So far, only the 2018 sequel has been dated, but it’s clear the studio has mapped out tentative plans to roll out a new installment every other year. Such is the magic of the Potter brand.
Then again, stepping out of the colossal shadow cast by the Harry Potter series is a tall order no matter how you frame it, and it’s only when David Yates’ fantastical offshoot arrives in a few weeks’ time that we’ll be able to gauge whether the Fantastic Beasts name has enough mileage for all five planned movies.
On board to ignite that budding new franchise is Eddie Redmayne, who headlines a starry cast as New Scamander, a brilliant, if mischievous ex-Hogwarts magizoologist who inadvertently unleashes chaos on the cobbled streets of a wiz-phobic New York City. Rounding out the ensemble are Alien: Covenant‘s Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Gemma Chan, Carmen Ejogo, and Ron Perlman as goblin gangster Gnarlak.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them bows on November 18 and will seemingly introduce Potterheads to a “much more grown-up world.” You can catch a glimpse of the film’s official IMAX poster beneath that first clip.
