Tuesday, March 8, 2016

J.K. Rowling Introduces Audiences to Magic in North America

New Original Writing by J.K. Rowling Invites Audiences to Explore the Wizarding World of North America on Pottermore.com

A Video That Serves as a Prologue to the New Writing Debuted Today, Setting the Scene for the Upcoming Feature Film “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading up to the November 18th, 2016 release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ highly anticipated feature “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” J.K. Rowling has crafted a collection of new original writing entitled Magic in North America, to introduce audiences to a new place and time in the wizarding world that she has created.

The first installment, “History of Magic in North America,” was introduced with the global launch of a 100-second specially produced video that serves as a prologue to the new original writing by J.K. Rowling. The writing will be posted on pottermore.com over four consecutive days beginning Tuesday, March 8th, 2016, at 6 a.m. PST. These four pieces will enlighten readers about a previously unexplored corner of the wizarding world: North American witches and wizards, their history and their magic. The video broke simultaneously on selected media sites around the world and links viewers to “History of Magic in North America,” which will soon be available exclusively at pottermore.com.

The video and the writing provide context and backstory for the feature film “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

Rowling, who first conceived the wizarding world in her enormously popular Harry Potter books, had introduced wizards and witches from other parts of Europe in the series, most notably in the Quidditch World Cup and Triwizard Tournament. However, this marks the first time we’ll learn the fascinating story of the history of magic in North America.


About “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”:
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” is an all-new adventure returning us to the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling. Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) stars in the central role of wizarding world magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” also stars Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, Carmen Ejogo, Jenn Murray, Faith Wood-Blagrove, and Colin Farrell.

The film marks the screenwriting debut of J.K. Rowling, whose script was inspired by the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, written by her character Newt Scamander.

The film reunites a number of people from the “Harry Potter” features, including producers David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.

Opening November 18, 2016, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

About J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories and translated into 79 languages, and have been turned into eight blockbuster films.

She has written three companion volumes in aid of charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in aid of Comic Relief; and The Tales of Beedle the Bard in aid of her children’s charity Lumos.

In 2012, J.K. Rowling’s digital entertainment and e-commerce company, Pottermore, was launched, where fans can enjoy her new writing and immerse themselves deeper in the wizarding world.

Her first novel for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy, was published in September 2012 and adapted for TV by the BBC in 2015. Her crime novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, were published in 2013 (The Cuckoo’s Calling), 2014 (The Silkworm) and 2015 (Career of Evil), and are to be adapted for a major new television series for BBC One, produced by Brontë Film and Television.

J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published in 2015 as an illustrated book, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination, and sold in aid of her charity Lumos and university–wide financial aid at Harvard.

In addition to making her screenwriting debut with the film “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” J.K. Rowling is currently collaborating on a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II, which will open in London’s West End in the summer of 2016. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne, based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.

About Pottermore:
Pottermore, the digital publishing, e-commerce, entertainment and news company from J.K. Rowling, is the global digital publisher of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. As the digital heart of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, pottermore.com is dedicated to unlocking the power of imagination. It offers news, features, and articles as well as new and previously unreleased writing by J.K. Rowling.

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