Fantastic Beasts

Fantastic Beasts is a film series directed by David Yates and a spin-off prequel to the Harry Potter novel and film series. The series is distributed by Warner Bros and consists of three fantasy films, beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), and following with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). Following the 2001–11 film series directly adapting the Harry Potter books, Fantastic Beasts is the second film series in the Wizarding World shared universe media franchise.

Rowling wrote the original screenplays for each film, with Steve Kloves, a writer on the Harry Potter series, returning to rewrite parts of the third film. The main story arc following Albus Dumbledore and his agents' quest — principally, Newt Scamander during his magical creature-saving safaris — to overcome Gellert Grindelwald, his lost love, as the First Wizarding War and Second World War approach.

It stars Eddie Redmayne as the protagonist Newt Scamander, with Jude Law portraying Albus Dumbledore, and Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp, and Mads Mikkelsen all portraying the third leading character, antagonist Gellert Grindelwald. Also starring are Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Victoria Yeates, Jessica Williams, Callum Turner, and Richard Coyle.

Production of the series was led by David Heyman of Heyday Films and lasted over six years. The Fantastic Beasts series has been commercially successful, having collectively grossed over US$1.8 billion across three films, three times more than the budgeted costs. The first film received positive reviews, while the later two films have received mixed reviews, with some critics deeming the series to be inferior to the Harry Potter films.