J.K. Rowling will write her first screenplay and expand the Harry Potter world.
On Thursday Warner Bros. and Rowling announced that the author's wizarding textbook, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," would be transformed into a movie with the book's fictitious author, 21-year-old Newt Scamander, as the focus.
However, Rowling made it clear that the film would not be a sequel or a prequel to the Harry Potter series. "The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt's story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry's gets underway," wrote Rowling on her Facebook page.
Rowling added that Warner Bros. had approached her about the idea. "Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt," said Rowling.
"I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it," the author concluded.
The film has no release date set but more information is coming soon.
The Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful franchises of all time making over $7 billion dollars worldwide. The films were also universally praised and received a 12 Academy Award nominations.
Warner Bros. is known for expanding upon its franchises. A few years ago the company decided to reboot "The Lord of the Rings" with "The Hobbit" trilogy. The company also decided to expand the Marvel universe by combining both Batman and Superman in a movie that will be released in 2015, while the next Hobbit film will be released in 2014.
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