The Harry Potter movies were all based on J.K. Rowling's novel series of the same name, but what books are the Fantastic Beasts movies adapted from? Since the first installment was published in 1997, the Harry Potter novels have become a global phenomenon, and are currently the best-selling book series of all time. The success of the movies is not to be sniffed at either, with the final film in the original Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 grossing over $1 billion. As such, Harry Potter spinoffs were inevitable, and the first spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, was released in 2016, five years after the final Harry Potter movie.
Although the popularity of the franchise still dwarves most movies, the box office numbers of Fantastic Beasts 3 indicate that interest may be waning slightly. As a result, another Fantastic Beasts sequel is yet to be green lit, and looks more unlikely than ever. But are there more Fantastic Beasts books that the movie needs to adapt? The Harry Potter series consisted of eight movies adapted from seven books, but what about Fantastic Beasts?
There is in fact, only one Fantastic Beasts book, simply named Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling (although the cover often also says "By Newt Scamander"). First published in 2001, it's a supplementary book to the main series, and the real world physical manifestation of a copy of Harry's textbook of the same name, which is first mentioned in the first Harry Potter novel. It's a didactic book on Magizoology (the study of magical creatures) and contains information on over 85 magical species. Some of these beasts were seen in the Harry Potter movies, like the Hungarian Horntail dragon, and others are seen in the Fantastic Beasts movies, such as the Niffler that Newt Scamander owns and calls Teddy.
Since the Fantastic Beasts book is not a novel, the events of all the Fantastic Beasts movies are merely inspired by the contents of the book. The writer of the textbook, Newt Scamander, is the protagonist of the movies. While Newt is a Magizoologist in the movies, his involvement in the Global Wizarding War between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald is not mentioned or hinted at in the book. The Wizarding War storyline from Fantastic Beasts 3 indicates how far detached the movies become from the source material. The first entrance into the spinoff series had a greater interest in the fantastic beasts from Newt's book. Since then, the Fantastic Beasts movies have raised the stakes of the original, and included more connections to the mainline series, meaning that the Fantastic Beasts movies now have very little in common with the book. This digression from the source material may be an explanation for why the reviews of the Fantastic Beasts movies have declined. As evidenced by Game of Thrones, without the source material to adapt, writing stories in magical and complex cinematic worlds is no easy task.
As previously stated, there are no more Fantastic Beasts books to adapt, and it looks like the movie series could be at an end. If more movies are to arise from the Wizarding World, they could be adapted from the franchise's other supplementary books. Among them are The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the storybook from which the Three Brothers myth in the Deathly Hallows originates, and Quidditch Through The Ages, which (alongside the Fantastic Beasts book) raised approximately $21 million through sales for UK charities. More recently released works include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and three e-books called Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists; Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies; and Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide.