If you’ve seen any of the trailers for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, you will have heard little snippets of the soundtrack. You already know how extraordinary it is.
Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer James Newton Howard has done an exquisite job. As you’d expect him to – James has worked on some serious classics, including The Hunger Games franchise, The Dark Knight, Snow White and the Huntsman and Pretty Woman.
We are thrilled to be able to play you one of his new songs. It’s the opening track to the movie and it’s really something.
As you’ll hear, the song starts out with a familiar tune. One that’ll make you shiver with nostalgia: a few bars of 'Hedwig’s Theme', and we’re swept into the new main title track for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Like the movie, it’s epic, dramatic, playful and beautiful. And it’s right here:
James spent seven months writing the Fantastic Beasts soundtrack. For this particular track, as well as Newt Scamander’s theme, he sat down at his piano and just played until it came.
‘You hear the main theme song of the movie play when the main crew arrive at the MACUSA the first time and various other times,’ he tells me. ‘You hear this haunting kind of theme. If you had to say what is the theme for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for now and in the future, it would be that theme. I wrote it on my piano because I believe that if that kind of thing is going to be good, it should be done that simply.’
The standard soundtrack is 72 minutes of new music by James, including songs called ‘There Are Witches Among Us’, ‘Gnarlak Negotiations’ and ‘Newt Releases the Thunderbird’.
The deluxe edition, also available on 18 November, is nearly 100 minutes long, with 26 songs. That second album includes songs like ‘The Demiguise and the Lollipop’, ‘I’m Not Your Ma’ and ‘Kowalski Rag’ – all of which seem like they might be clues, if you’re trying to piece together as much information about the film as you possibly can before it comes out.
The Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them soundtrack is now available for preorder from Amazon and iTunes. The track list is as follows:
1. Main Titles - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
2. There Are Witches Among Us / The Bank / The Niffler
3. Tina Takes Newt In / Macusa Headquarters
4. Pie or Strudel / Escaping Queenie and Tina’s Place
5. Credence Hands Out Leaflets
6. Inside The Case
7. The Erumpent
8. In The Cells
9. Tina and Newt Trial / Let’s Get The Good Stuff Out / You’re One of Us Now / Swooping Evil
10. Gnarlak Negotiations
11. The Demiguise and The Occamy
12. A Close Friend
13. The Obscurus / Rooftop Chase
14. He’s Listening To You Tina
15. Relieve Him of His Wand / Newt Releases The Thunderbird / Jacob’s Farewell
16. Newt Says Goodbye to Tina / Jacob’s Bakery
17. End Titles - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Deluxe: Bonus – Disc 2
1. A Man and His Beasts
2. Soup and Leaflets
3. Billywig
4. The Demiguise and The Lollipop
5. I’m Not Your Ma
6. Blind Pig performed by Emmi
7. Newt Talks To Credence
8. End Titles Pt.2 - Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
9. Kowalski Rag
We caught up with James at Abbey Road Studios for one of his recording sessions for the film. We will bring you that interview soon, here on Pottermore. Until then, enjoy this track on repeat.