Which J.K. Rowling screenwriting project introduced Newt Scamander to film audiences?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduced Newt Scamander to film audiences.

Released in 2016, the film is set in 1926, decades before the main Harry Potter story. Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, is a British magizoologist who arrives in New York with a case containing magical creatures. Several escape, drawing him into a conflict involving the American wizarding community and a dangerous magical force.

Rowling wrote the screenplay, making it her first produced screenplay. The project expanded from a fictional Hogwarts textbook into a separate film series. In the Harry Potter books, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is associated with Harry and Ron’s schoolwork and is credited to Newt Scamander.

The film’s full title is often shortened to Fantastic Beasts. It should not be confused with the book edition of the same name, which is presented as a reproduction of a Hogwarts textbook and has a different format and purpose.