Fantastic Beasts' Thunderbird Covers Empire Magazine

Next month, Warner Bros. will see if there's still magic left in that old wand of theirs when they [...]

By Jay Jayson

Next month, Warner Bros. will see if there's still magic left in that old wand of theirs when they release Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a film set in the Harry Potter universe but takes place many decades before the original film series.

In the film, magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) heads to America to study magical creatures that inhabit the country, and one of those magical creatures is the Thunderbird, which is featured on Empire's subscriber-only cover and will go on sale Thursday, October 27.

The Thunderbird is a giant, magical bird that is held in high regard. So much so, that one of the four Houses at America's Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is named after the creature. "The Thunderbird is a large, regal avian creature native to the arid climate of Arizona," Fantastic Beasts visual effects supervisor Christian Manz told EW. "Its head is similar to that of an eagle or, in the wizarding world, a Hippogriff. Its multiple powerful wings shimmer with cloud-and sun-like patterns and their flapping can create storms. Thunderbirds can also sense danger."

Fantastic Beasts Empire subs

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an all-new adventure returning us to the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling. Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) stars in the central role of wizarding world magizoologist Newt Scamander, under the direction of David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter blockbusters. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them also stars Katherine Waterston (Steve Jobs, Inherent Vice) as Tina; Tony Award winner Dan Fogler (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as Jacob; Alison Sudol (Dig, Transparent) as Tina's sister, Queenie; Ezra Miller (Trainwreck) as Credence; two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (In America, Sweet and Lowdown) as Mary Lou; Oscar winner Jon Voight (Coming Home, TV's Ray Donovan) as Henry Shaw, Sr.; Ron Perlman (the Hellboy films) as Gnarlack; Carmen Ejogo (Selma) as Seraphina; Jenn Murray (Brooklyn) as Chastity; young newcomer Faith Wood-Blagrove as Modesty; and Colin Farrell (True Detective) as Percival Graves.

Warner Bros. Pictures has slated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for worldwide release in 2D and 3D in select theatres and IMAX on November 18, 2016.

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