Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (film)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2016 fantasy film directed by David Yates, with J. K. Rowling writing her first screenplay. It kicks off the Fantastic Beasts film series and stands as the ninth movie in the Wizarding World franchise, acting as both a spin-off and a prequel to the Harry Potter films. The movie draws inspiration from Newt Scamander’s guidebook of the same name, which Rowling wrote under a pen name in 2001 to raise money for Comic Relief.

The cast features Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo, Ron Perlman, and Colin Farrell. Warner Bros. first announced a new Wizarding World film series in September 2013, two years after the final Harry Potter movie came out. The next month, it was confirmed that producer David Heyman and writer Steve Kloves—both veterans of the Potter films—would return for the new series.

In August 2014, Warner Bros. said Yates would direct at least one movie in the planned trilogy, following rumors that Alfonso Cuarón might take the job, which Cuarón had denied three months earlier. Filming ran from August 2015 to January 2016 at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and on location in England. The film premiered at Alice Tully Hall in New York City on November 10, 2016, and hit theaters in the United States and the United Kingdom on November 18, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Critics gave it generally positive reviews, and it was a commercial hit, earning $814 million worldwide and finishing as the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2016. It got five nominations at the 70th British Academy Film Awards, including Best British Film, and won for Best Production Design. At the 89th Academy Awards, it received two nominations and won for Best Costume Design, making it the first Wizarding World film to take home an Oscar. Two sequels followed: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022).

In 1926, British magizoologist Newt Scamander arrives in New York City. He sees Mary Lou Barebone, the non-magical (called “No-Maj” or “Muggle”) head of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, preaching that witches and wizards are real and dangerous. While trying to recapture a Niffler that escapes from his suitcase full of magical creatures, Newt bumps into No-Maj Jacob Kowalski, an aspiring baker, and accidentally swaps suitcases. Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein, a demoted Auror for the Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA), spots the Niffler and arrests Newt for breaking magical law.

Since the suitcase Newt holds only has Jacob’s baked goods, he is released. At home, Jacob opens Newt’s suitcase, letting several creatures loose in the city, and gets bitten by one. Tina and Newt follow a trail of wreckage, find a sick Jacob and the case. To cure him, Tina takes them to her apartment and introduces Queenie, her Legilimens sister.

Jacob and Queenie feel an instant attraction, though it’s illegal for wizards to have any social relationship with No-Majs in America. To treat Jacob, Newt brings him inside his magically expanded suitcase, which holds various creatures, including an Obscurial from a deceased girl—a parasite that grows in magically gifted children when their abilities are suppressed; those afflicted rarely live past age ten. After Newt and Jacob recapture two of the four escaped beasts, Tina grabs the suitcase and returns it to MACUSA, but all three are arrested.

Officials think the Obscurial in Newt’s case caused a spate of destruction, including the killing of Senator Henry Shaw Jr., when actually a second Obscurial already in the city is responsible. Percival Graves, the Director of Magical Security, accuses Newt of conspiring with the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald and decides to destroy Newt’s case and its contents, and wipe Jacob’s recent memories. Newt and Tina are sentenced to death. Sensing this, Queenie rescues Jacob and helps Newt and Tina escape and retrieve the case before the sentences are carried out.

Later, in a speakeasy dive bar, a tip from Tina’s goblin informant Gnarlak leads the group to recapture the last two escaped creatures. Graves approaches Credence, Mary Lou’s adult adopted son, offering to free him from his abusive mother in exchange for help finding the destructive Obscurial. Credence finds a wand under his younger adopted sister Modesty’s bed. Mary Lou assumes it’s his, but just as Credence is about to be punished, the Obscurial kills Mary Lou and her elder adopted daughter, Chastity.

Assuming Modesty is the host, Graves dismisses Credence as a squib who broke his promise to teach him magic. Credence reveals he is the real host, having survived to adulthood due to the intensity of his magic, and attacks the city. Newt finds Credence hiding in a subway tunnel and tries to persuade him to come along, but Graves attacks him. Tina, who had tried to protect Credence from Mary Lou (leading to her demotion), attempts to calm the boy, while Graves tries to convince Credence to join him.

As Credence returns to human form, MACUSA President Seraphina Picquery and the Aurors arrive to counterattack, shattering the Obscurial to nothing in a barrage of magical blasts. Graves claims MACUSA’s laws protect No-Majs at the expense of the magical community and declares he no longer wants to live in hiding. He confesses his plan to unleash the Obscurial and expose the magical world, framing Newt and his creatures. Picquery orders the Aurors to apprehend Graves, but he defeats them.