“The scar had not pained him for nineteen years. All was well.” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

The Harry Potter series ended with a bang in the summer of 2011. It’s hard for me to think that the release was more than two years ago already, when I remember it better than what I had for breakfast.

Now, the tables have turned. “Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ into a film,” said author J.K. Rowling in a recent interview. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a novella-like encyclopedia of the magical beasts that appear throughout the Harry Potter books. Now, an entire film will be made of the encyclopedia (which doesn’t even total 100 pages) and its author.

Yes. I think the encyclopedia was an interesting addition to the wizarding world when Rowling published it a few years ago. No. I don’t want another Harry Potter film–not even a prequel. I believe this is simply a money-making scheme on Warner Bros. part; what kind of movie can you make out of “GNOME: The gnome is a common garden pest found throughout northern Europe and North America…”?

I am aware that the prequel, set 70 years before Harry and his friends actually take on Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts, will tell the story of the encyclopedia’s author, Newt Scamander. I am aware that this new adventure’s setting is New York City. Still, that does not make me happy.

I believe I can still be a die-hard Harry Potter fan, and yet not celebrate a new film (or film series, as it will most likely become), just as I was not a happy camper when I found out that both film adaptations for The Hobbit  and Mockingjay  would be split into multiple parts. Once again, I believe this is a get-rich-quick scheme on the part of the studios.

I still plan on seeing the film. However, as Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe did, I think I will have to bow out of the production excitement.