Which 2016 film was written by J.K. Rowling as a prequel-era story set in the wizarding world?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was the 2016 film written by J.K. Rowling as a prequel-era story set in the wizarding world.

The film follows Newt Scamander, a magizoologist whose magical creatures escape in New York City in 1926. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt, while the story also introduces characters including Tina Goldstein, Queenie Goldstein, and Jacob Kowalski. The screenplay was Rowling’s first produced screenplay.

Although the title matches a fictional textbook mentioned in Harry Potter, the film is not a direct adaptation of a conventional narrative novel. Rowling wrote the screenplay as an original story, drawing on the fictional textbook’s author and subject. The film therefore expands the setting into an earlier period and a different country.

The movie began a planned series of five films, though only three were released. Its sequels are Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. The 2016 film is the first entry in that film series.