Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has a score by James Newton Howard. Now you can listen to the first track, which incorporates “Hedwig’s Theme”!
Pottermore has a wonderful Friday surprise for Harry Potter fans: The first piece of James Newton Howard’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them soundtrack. Listen below:
The main titles clearly betray the movie’s Harry Potter origins, and Newton Howard is evidently trying to hook audiences with the familiar notes of John Williams’ “Hedwig’s Theme,” which opened all eight Harry Potter movies.
But this is a different story with a different soundscape, and the track soon moves away from Harry Potter in favor of something more whimsical, fantastical, and grandiose. It turns downright forceful before transitioning to a lighter, quirkier, almost romantic piece that sounds like it could be Newt’s character theme. What do you think?
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, in a brand new Wizarding World story by J.K. Rowling. It takes place in New York City in 1926, as we discover what happens when Newt accidentally lets a crop of magical beings loose in the city.
Related: Will Dumbledore help Newt Scamander fight Fantastic Beasts’s Grindelwald-inspired enemy?
The movie is directed by David Yates, who also helmed the final four Harry Potter movies. James Newton Howard is new to Harry Potter, but sci-fi/fantasy fans will recognize his name from The Hunger Games series, The Dark Knight, and diverse classics like The Sixth Sense, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Space Jam.
There’ll be two versions of the soundtrack available on November 18: The 72-minute version, and the Deluxe edition, which is 100 minutes long and features 26 songs. (Our favorite track title so far is definitely “Newt Releases the Thunderbird.” Can you say Pokémon?!)
Fantastic Beasts also stars Katherine Waterston, Colin Farrell, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler and Carmen Ejogo. The movie premieres on November 18, 2016.