From: rclovely@aol.com   
      
   Following is a copy of an article by Maane Kihatchatourian for Varity.   
      
   RC   
      
   Following in the footsteps of "The Hobbit" franchise, Warner Bros. is planning   
   "three megamovies" for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spinoff, "Fantastic Beasts   
   and Where to Find Them."   
      
   The New York Times reports in its profile on WB CEO Kevin Tsujihara that the   
   hotly anticipated franchise will be a trilogy.   
      
   Back when the series was first announced in September, Tsujihara was   
   relatively tight-lipped about the project, only saying "The hope is that we're   
   going to build a film franchise."   
      
   Tsujihara persuaded Rowling to revive the Harry Potter movie magic by adapting   
   her Hogwarts textbook "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" for the big   
   screen. Rowling wrote the 54-page book in 2001 between publication of the   
   fourth and fifth Potter    
   books.   
      
   "When I say he made 'Fantastic Beasts' happen, it isn't P.R.-speak but the   
   literal truth," she said about Tsujihara. "We had one dinner, a follow-up   
   telephone call and then I got out the rough draft that I'd thought was going   
   to be an interesting bit of    
   memorabilia for my kids and started rewriting!"   
      
   Set initially in New York about seven decades before the start of the Harry   
   Potter story, the films will follow magizoologist Newt Scamander. They're not   
   prequels or sequels, but an "extension of the wizarding world."   
      
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