What was J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter screenplay, released as a film in 2016?

J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter screenplay released as a film was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film premiered in 2016 and was written by Rowling in her screenwriting debut.

The story is set in the wizarding world decades before the main Harry Potter narrative. It follows magizoologist Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, after he arrives in 1920s New York with a case containing magical creatures. The screenplay expands on a fictional Hogwarts textbook that Rowling originally published as a charity companion book in 2001.

The film began a planned series of five prequel films, although only three were released: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Crimes of Grindelwald, and The Secrets of Dumbledore. The film’s title therefore refers both to Rowling’s screenplay and to the earlier in-universe book.