JK Rowling movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them gets release date

JK Rowling’s forthcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie has been given a release date, after the news was first announced in March.

Fans of the Harry Potter author will have to wait until 18 November 2016, two days before the 15th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Based on a 54-page textbook set for Hogwarts pupils and published in 2001, the spin-off Warner Bros film is reported to be the first of three.

The cast, director and producers have yet to be confirmed, but JK Rowling has agreed to co-write the scripts, according to the New York Times.

The storyline follows “magizoologist” Newt Scamander, who dedicates his life to the search for magical creatures in an “extension” of Potter’s fantastical world.

Rowling hinted at some details in a Facebook post last September. “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films,” she wrote. “But Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.”

Rowling looks set to add to her overflowing coffers: the eight Harry Potter movies alone grossed over $7 billion worldwide to become the highest-grossing movie franchise ever.

In other Rowling news, a new stage play based on the Harry Potter series is expected to open in London’s West End within two years.

Co-produced by the author, it will tell the tale of Potter’s young years before he starts at Hogwarts. Acclaimed producer Sonia Friedman (The Book of Mormon, Chimerica) is believed to be one of the attached producers.