Harry Potter author JK Rowling is to make her screenwriting debut on a spin-off film based on a minor character in her stories about the boy wizard.

《哈利·波特》作者J.K.羅琳將首次嘗試創作電影劇本，這部電影衍生劇的主人公是《哈利波特》系列故事中的一位次要角色。

The film, called Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, is inspired by the textbook of the same name given to pupils at Hogwarts school and will feature its fictitious author, Newt Scamander.

電影片名為《神奇動物在哪里》，出自霍格沃茨魔法學校學生的課本名稱。影片講述了課本的虛構作者紐特·斯卡曼的故事。

Miss Rowling said on her Facebook page: "It all started when Warner Bros came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them into a film."

羅琳小姐在其臉書主頁上寫道：“華納兄弟聯系到我，并提出要把《神奇動物在哪里》改編成電影。”

"I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realised by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt."

“我覺得這是個很有趣的想法，紐特·斯卡曼是《神奇動物在哪里》的虛構作者，但要通過另一個作者的視角把他呈現出來并不是一件容易事。我在自己虛構的世界中生活了很長時間，我很想保護好這個世界，同時也對紐特十分熟悉。”

"As I considered the proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros."

“就在考慮這個提議的過程中，我頭腦中漸漸形成了一個揮之不去的故事原型。這就是我要親自執筆而不是把電影想法丟給華納兄弟的原因。”

"Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets under way."

“《神奇動物在哪里》不是《哈利波特》系列的前傳或后續，而是另一部魔法世界的衍生作品。紐特的故事設定在紐約，要比哈利波特早70年。”

The commercial success of the Harry Potter books and films, which made stars of Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, guarantees the new film will be a hit. The last film in the series, Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, took £23million in the UK and Ireland in its opening weekend alone.

《哈利波特》系列小說和電影在商業上取得巨大成功，還成就了丹尼爾·雷德克里弗和艾瑪·沃特森等電影明星，這些都為該部衍生電影熱賣打下了堅實基礎。最后一部系列電影《哈利波特與死亡圣器2》上映僅一周，就在英國和愛爾蘭取得2300萬英鎊的票房收入。