"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is a 2016 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J.K. Rowling in her screenwriting debut. It is the first film in the Fantastic Beasts series and serves as a prequel and spin- off to the Harry Potter film series. The story follows Newt Scamander, a British magizoologist who arrives in 1926 New York City with a suitcase full of magical creatures. After some of these creatures escape, Newt teams up with a No-Maj (non-magical person) named Jacob Kowalski and two witches, Tina and Queenie Goldstein, to recapture them amidst rising tensions involving magical law enforcement and dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald

. The film explores a new part of the Wizarding World outside of Hogwarts and the UK, focusing on magical creatures and the magical community in 1920s America. It combines adventure, fantasy, and mystery elements, and introduces new characters and magical lore that expand the Harry Potter universe. The movie was well-received for its visual effects, world-building, and Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Newt Scamander. It was a commercial success and won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design

. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is also the title of a fictional textbook within the Harry Potter universe, written by Newt Scamander, that catalogs magical creatures. The film is inspired by this book, originally published by J.K. Rowling for charity in 2001

. The film is followed by two sequels: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), which continue the story leading up to the events of the Harry Potter series