The Harry Potter franchise is coming back in a big way with the release of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, and later this fall the first of an all-new trilogy will hit theaters. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will kick off the adventures of Newt Scamander set in the roaring twenties of New York City. Much like most of the Harry Potter films, Fantastic Beasts will have a PG-13 rating and the reason for why - at the very least - sounds pretty cool.
According to an official document from the Motion Picture Association of America, Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them will have a PG-13 rating for some "fantasy action violence." Nothing specific is revealed, but it doesn't take much imagination to guess that there will be a good dose of action in the film. It sounds like there will be at least a few wizard duels, not to mention action scenes revolving around all the escaped fantastical creatures. One of the trailers showed off a pretty massive one wrecking a shop in New York, so Newt won't be solving all of his problems with words.
Half of the Harry Potter movies are rated PG-13, so it doesn't come as a big surprise that Fantastic Beasts will follow suit. Much like the books, the first couple of films are pretty child-friendly before the stories start getting darker and more mature to match its audience. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Order of the Phoenix (oddly enough) all had a PG rating, while all the other films kicked it up a notch. Seeing as how Fantastic Beasts stars adults and not a bunch of 12-year-olds, the mature rating makes more sense.
If you want to see a taste of some of that fantasy action violence, then check out the trailer for Fantastic Beasts below.
Fantastic Beasts is directed by David Yates with a screenplay penned by the mother herself, J.K. Rowling. The film follows the story of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a Magizoologist traveling around the world studying and collecting magical creatures. While stopping off in New York City, his collection of creatures escapes, and Newt must find them before the non-magical community of the city learns of the existence of witches and wizards. The film also stars Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, and Colin Farrell.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set to hit theaters on November 18, 2016.
