At this present time, the Harry Potter franchise are books with the original seven in the trilogy, along with the new play of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2. Now there is going to be a movie called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, due out at the end of the year. This film, though it hasn't been released as yet, already has a release date for its sequel.
As you can see, the Harry Potter franchise is the trifecta of book, play, and movies (and not just the movies based on the books). Fantastic Beasts and How to Find Them is based on a book that appeared in the Harry Potter books. If you think this sounds confusing, I'll attempt to simplify. When Harry took a class on magical animals, one of the textbooks was Fantastic Beasts and How to Find Them.
In real life, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them began as a book in 2001, who wrote it under the pseudonym of Newt Scamader. It is actually meant to be an in-universe textbook that Harry Potter purchases for his first year at Hogwarts. Rowling developed the book for the charity of Comic Relief, along with a companion book of Quidditch Through the Ages. These books raised about £17 million, and include some handwritten notes from popular side character and friend of Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley.
One cannot help but think that the movie based on the book from a book will be quite different from its textbook source material. As it stands, the film will be about Newt Scamander, who is played by Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne. The trailer seems to imply that these Fantastic Beasts mentioned in the title came to America via suitcase because...magic. Apparently, these mystical creatures have been set free, so much of the story of the film will be tracking them down.
There is also another plotline of the film which is about the American wizarding people dealing with prejudice with the No-Maj, or "no magic", with the New Salem Philanthropic Society, a group that is attempting to kill witches and wizards.
Perhaps Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them will answer certain questions that fans have about the series about how secret magic is in the Harry Potter world. At first it seems like it is something kept secret like in Men in Black, but later books and films reveal that magic goes way too public, and it could be known about in the real world, but it is ignored for certain reasons. It is possible that the real world ignored it because they feared it, and perhaps Rowling will delve more into this issue only hinted at in her original seven-book series.
This new series is one of a trilogy with a film appearing every two years, and the storyline takes place decades before the Harry Potter original book series storyline. This year, on November 18th, the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be in theaters. As for the second part, it will be released in November 16, 2018. There isn't any exact release date on the third movie, but it should be out in November 2020.
So then what happens? At this point in time, the only thing missing for the Harry Potter franchise is a TV series. I'm going to suggest Hogwarts, a series that takes place in the wizarding school, sometime not during the book series. I wouldn't be surprised if J.K. Rowling wasn't already working on it right now.
