BREAKING NEWS: Quentin Tarantino To Direct Harry Potter Reboot!

News has come filtering through today that Quentin Tarantino’s next film following The Hateful Eight will be a reboot of the beloved young adult franchise Harry Potter series, as a spaghetti western, with the first film in the shared universe to be entitled Harry Potter Vol. 1, and to be released exactly 365 days from now.

JK Rowling recently gave a press interview a few hours ago where she believed that it was “the right time” for a reboot, granting such an “legendary” director the permission to take what many view as their favourite young adult series of novels into a new era, and in an exclusive interview with The Times, she claimed that “there was no better director for the task than Quentin Tarantino. I have recently watched Pulp Fiction for the third time and have came to a conclusion that yes, Harry Potter needs to be more like that.”

It is as of yet unknown as to what the age rating will be for Harry Potter Vol. 1, but given Tarantino’s history of films, it will most likely earn the 18 rating certificate. Whilst some have worried that this will mean that the primary audience of the Harry Potter films will be too young to see Harry Potter Vol. 1, JK Rowling wanted to assure fans that “Quentin knows what he’s doing,” and “It’s in the right hands.”

Due to the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The WB have decided that they want their own Cinematic Universe to spin out of Harry Potter, Vol. 1. Their plan is to release a main instalment in the Harry Potter movies every other year, with a tie-in exploring certain characters in the films that could not receive as much screentime as they would in the movies. The release date for the next few films in the Harry Potter Universe is labelled as follows; with A-List directors such as Michael Bay also listed for roles in these films. Quentin Tarantino will direct all of the main events.

Harry Potter Vol. 1 (April 1, 2016) directed by Quentin Tarantino

Harry Potter: Filch and Furious (April 1, 2017) directed by Michael Bay

Harry Potter Vol. 2 (April 1, 2018) directed by Quentin Tarantino

Harry Potter: The Ministry Has Fallen (April 1, 2019) directed by Roland Emmerich

Harry Potter: Vol. 3 (April 1, 2019) directed by Quentin Tarantino

Harry Potter: 2 Filch 2 Furious (April 1, 2020) directed by Michael Bay

Harry Potter Vol. 4 (April 1, 2021) directed by Quentin Tarantino

As of this time, only the first four Volumes have been released to the public with confirmed dates, and the three respective spinoffs that will take place during these films have been revealed as well. Filch and Furious is the first of these spinoffs and will hit in 2017, and directed by Michael Bay, it will explore the origin story of Argus Filch, the much mistreated Hogwarts caretaker, in his pre-Hogwarts years as an urban street-racer. Director Michael Bay has expressed his love for the project, and also opened talks with the studio which currently owns the rights to the Transformers films in an attempt to create a ‘shared universe’, where Filch will do battle with both Autobots and Decepticons. Negotiations are ongoing.

After Vol. 2, Roland Emmerich, Independence Day and White House Down director, will helm Ministry Has Fallen. Emmerich believes that there wasn’t enough explosions in the original Harry Potter films so has decided to “make things a bit more exciting,” by taking a group of Death Eaters into the Ministry and forcing a young Auror on his first day at the Ministry of Magic to step up and defend it from a “terrorist attack.” Emmerich aims to “do Die-Hard in the Harry Potter 'verse,”  full of more explosions, and gung-ho patriotism than ever before. Bill Pullman is expected to play the "President" of the Magical Community, reprising a similar role from another Emmerich film, Independence Day. 

Then, the third spinoff movie, will return the focus on Filch and his ongoing adventures with the Autobots and Decepticons in America, and be once again, directed by Michael Bay. Negotiations are ongoing as to who will take the part of a younger Filch, but Shia LaBeouf, Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson have all been listed as potential candidates. The Auror who will play the protagonist in Ministry Has Fallen has already been announced in a separate interview as Will Smith.

Meanwhile, some of the casting for the core Quentin Tarantino movies has been revealed as well, on the director’s official twitter account. Wanting to “cast older actors in the roles,” and presumably not risk using young, unknown actors in favour of more established stars, Tarantino has the core trio pencilled down already. Daniel Radcliff will be replaced by frequent collaborator Samuel L. Jackson as Harry Potter (Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained ), Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained) as Ron Weasley, and Uma Thurman (Kill Bill) as Hermione Granger. Bruce Willis has been announced to play the role as Albus Dumbledore, and Christopher Waltz will take the role as the villainous Lord Voldemort, with Walton Goggins, fresh off his role as Boyd Crowder on FX’s hit TV series Justified, will play Potter’s rival, Draco Malfoy. Goggins will be joined by fellow Justified star, Timothy Olyphant, who plays Severus Snape, Malfoy’s mentor. The final confirmed casting will see Zoë Bell star as Minerva McGonagall.

Filming will start in America’s Deep South, with Tarantino wanting to continue the trend of making Spaghetti Westerns, following the highly successful Django Unchained and the upcoming The Hateful Eight. Despite the original films and the source material taking place entirely in England and Scotland, Both Tarantino and Rowling agreed that it was time for a change, with Tarantino saying that “audiences do not want to see the same shit over and over. Let’s do something fresh.”