Why this eyesore in our countryside is magical news for Harry Potter fans
MILLIONS of Harry Potter fans worldwide who are still mourning the end of the film series can smile again – as this exclusive picture reveals a castle being built for a spin-off movie.
An army of workmen has been building the spectacular set for the latest films from the imagination of J.K. Rowling.
The castle is rapidly rising at the Warner Bros Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, where the much-loved Harry Potter books were filmed.
Construction is still three months from completion and filming is due to begin in the summer on the first of three movies in a new Fantastic Beasts series.
The spin-off films, based on Rowling’s 2001 mock Harry Potter textbook Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, are due to be released in 2016, 2018 and 2020.
The films mark 49-year-old Rowling’s screenwriting debut and the trilogy will be directed by David Yates, who made four out of the eight films in the Harry Potter series, including the last one, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2, in 2011.
Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them is about the magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe. It purports to be the boy wizard’s copy of the textbook of the same name.
The new film follows the adventures of the fictional author Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.
The book claims Scamander had been travelling the world researching magical creatures since 1918, culminating with the publication of his masterpiece in 1927.
The Harry Potter film franchise remains the most successful in history, making £5billion at the box office and propelling actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint to stardom.
The Harry Potter books have sold more than 450million copies and the brand is worth an estimated £10billion.
A spokesman for Rowling said she was not available to comment on the film’s script or the production process.