Alfonso Cuaron In Talks To Direct HARRY POTTER Spinoff FANTASTIC BEASTS

As his follow up to last year’s mesmerizing Gravity, director Alfonso Cuaron may be returning to the world of the boy wizard Harry Potter to direct the franchise spin-off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

The currently website-less Nikki Finke tweeted out the news earlier today –

https://twitter.com/NikkiFinke/status/468417366855278592

Given that from a directorial standpoint, Cauron’s previous contribution to the Harry Potter franchise, 2004’s The Prisoner Of Azkaban, was the highlight of the series. But just the fact that he is already familiar with the world of Harry Potter as well as having worked with franchise producer David Heyman on Gravity as well makes Cuaron not only an obvious choice but a great one.

The spinoff series will focus on Newt Scamander, a scholar who literally wrote the book on the various magical beasts that exist within the secret world of wizards and witches that Harry Potter and his classmates use in their studies at Hogwarts Academy.

Given that Warner Brothers has scheduled the film for a November 18, 2016 premier, they’ll be needing to have their directorial choice locked down pretty soon. In order to meet that release date, they’ll have to start shooting early next year and with a project as doubtlessly ambitious as this one, that director will need all the pre-production time they can get.