6 Things to Do on Your iPhone Before Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them

What if a movie franchise that you know and loved, which hadn’t seen a new entry in years, suddenly sprung back to life? What if everything you’ve known and everything you think you know about JK Rowling’s world of wizards could be put to use exploring an all-new set of characters and creatures? If you’re like every other fan of the Harry Potter series, you know that these aren’t hypothetical questions. This week, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them arrives in movie theaters around the world.

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes movie goers back to the Harry Potter franchise, but at a different time. It’s set before the events of the first eight movies that Warner Brothers released before 2012. Redmayne stars at Newt Scamander, the author of the school book that Harry, Ron and Hermione use for research on magical creatures. J.K. Rowling wrote the movie, while David Yates directs it. Yates also directed the last four Harry Potter films.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will land at theaters worldwide beginning tomorrow, November 17th. You probably don’t have a wand nearby to prepare, but you do have an iPhone or Android device. Here’s some things you can do on either to get ready for the new film.

Before Fantastic Beasts, Buy The Harry Potter Movies

The first thing anyone heading to a theater to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them this weekend should do is find the time to watch the old films. If you own them already, you’ve got everything that you need. Watch them on your iPhone or device running Android.

There’s a massive Harry Potter sale going on in the iTunes Store, Windows Store and Google Play Store. All of the movies are available in one bundle for $59.99. High-definition versions of each film are $12.99 to buy. Rentals are as low as $2.99.

Though they exist in the same universe, Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them isn’t a prologue to the early films.

Before Fantastic Beasts, Read The Book

One piece of media that is readily available and directly related to the new movie is the small Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them novel that J.K. Rowling wrote for charity. Amazon Kindle has the digital version of the book available for $6.99.

Kindle has apps on iPhone, Android and Windows.

Before Fantastic Beasts, Learn About the Wizarding World in America

The premiere place to learn about everything Harry Potter related has always been J.K. Rowling’s own Pottermore website. If you have the time, definitely check the site out again. The writer has added a ton of related Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them content.

The movie takes place in New York City during the early 20th century. The site has articles about how the Wizarding World in America is governed. It also covers the founding of the largest magical school in the country. Look for cool stuff to read in the Written by J.K. Rowling section.

Before Fantastic Beasts, Get Your Ticket on Your iPhone

While you’re on your iPhone or Android device, be sure to purchase your movie ticket. You can do so using your iPhone and credit card.

The most popular of the apps that allow you to purchase movie tickets anywhere is Fandango. It’s available on iPhone and Android. If you think that your theater won’t have a massive turn out, you can use Google or Bing to check show times in your area too.

Play Fantastic Beasts Cases

Maybe you don’t have the time to watch the movies, or prefer gaming in your spare time. Fantastic Beasts Cases from the Wizarding World lets you investigate some of the mysterious happenings of Ministry of Magic and more. It’s a hidden object game, and it ties into the world of Harry Potter and the American witches and wizards that you’ll meet in the films. Fantastic Beasts Cases is available on iPhone and Android.

Before Fantastic Beasts, Watch Newt Scamander’s Pro-Hufflepuff PSA

Eddie Redmayne says that he’s a proud member of Hufflepuff House in a new Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them MTV video available on YouTube. It’s a pretty impassioned plea; of the four houses at Hogwarts School, Hufflepuff is the least respected of them all.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjmJDM5pRKbUlVIzDYYWb6g?v=Vso5o11LuGU

If you haven’t seen it already, it might be a good idea to check out the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie trailer that’s been circulating YouTube and other video apps for weeks now. The trailer really does set the tone for the upcoming film.

While you’re enjoying Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, remember to keep on the lookout for things that fit into the larger Potter universe and characters you might have already heard of. Warner Brothers has confirmed that Albus Dumbledore will make an appearance in the films at some point. Expect the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them characters to stick around for a while too. Originally there were three movies coming.

We now know that Warner Brothers has plans in place to expand the trilogy to a five film series.