J. K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

The Original Screenplay

Illustrations & design by MinaLima

The digital heart of the Wizarding World

www.pottermore.com

To the memory of Gordon Murray, real-life creature healer and hero

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay

Acknowledgments

Glossary of Film Terms

Cast and Crew

About the Author

About the Book Design

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

SCENE 1

EXT. SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE—1926—NIGHT

[Downloaded from eBookBB.com] A large, isolated, derelict chateau emerges from the darkness. We focus on a cobbled square outside the building, shrouded in mist, eerie, silent.

Five Aurors stand, wands aloft, tentative as they edge toward the chateau. A sudden explosion of pure white light sends them flying.

We whip around to find their bodies scattered, lying motionless at the entrance to a large parkland. A figure (Grindelwald) enters the frame, his back to the camera; ignoring the bodies, he stares out into the night sky as we pan up toward the moon.

MONTAGE:

We see various magical newspaper headlines from 1926 relating to Grindelwald’s attacks all over the world: GRINDELWALD STRIKES AGAIN IN EUROPE, HOGWARTS SCHOOL INCREASES SECURITY, ANTI-WIZARD FEELING ON THE RISE, WHERE IS GRINDELWALD?, IS ANYONE SAFE? He’s a serious threat to the magical community and he’s vanished. Moving photos detail destroyed buildings, fires, screaming victims. The articles come thick and fast—the worldwide hunt for Grindelwald continues. We push in on a final article displaying the Statue of Liberty.

TRANSITION TO:

SCENE 2

EXT. SHIP GLIDING INTO NEW YORK—NEXT MORNING

A bright, clear New York day. Seagulls swoop overhead.

A large passenger ship glides past the Statue of Liberty. Passengers lean over the rails, looking excitedly toward the oncoming land.

We push in toward a figure sitting on a bench with his back to us—Newt Scamander, weather-beaten, wiry, wearing an old blue overcoat. Beside him rests a battered brown leather case. A catch on the case flicks open of its own accord. Newt swiftly bends down to close it.

Placing the case on his lap, Newt leans in, whispering:

NEWT

Dougal—you settle down now, please. It won’t be long.

SCENE 3

EXT. NEW YORK—DAY

AERIAL SHOT of New York.

SCENE 4

EXT. SHIP/INT. CUSTOMS—SHORTLY AFTERWARD—DAY

Among bustling crowds, Newt walks down the gangplank of the ship as we push in toward his case.

CUSTOMS OFFICIAL (O.S.)

Next.

Newt stands at customs—a long row of desks by the shipyard, manned by serious-looking American officials. A customs official examines Newt’s very tattered British passport.

CUSTOMS OFFICIAL

British, huh?

NEWT

Yes.