Which film did J.K. Rowling write the screenplay for in 2016?

J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, released in 2016.

The film premiered in 2016 and marked Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is set in 1926, decades before the Harry Potter story, and follows magizoologist Newt Scamander during a visit to New York City. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt, while the story introduces a different period and group of characters.

The movie is based on the fictional Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which Rowling originally published as a charity tie-in book in 2001. The film is not a direct adaptation of that textbook; instead, it uses the book’s title and creature-focused premise as part of a new narrative.

The 2016 film began a planned series connected to the wider Wizarding World. Its sequels are The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore.