'Fantastic Beasts' given a Chinese makeover

One of the six Chinese-style posters promoting the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. [Photo/mtime.com]

A Chinese artist inspired by traditional painting methods has created posters to promote 3D film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The magical animals appear in a traditional Chinese circular fan pattern, and are painted using techniques similar to the meticulous brushwork style of traditional gongbi.

The posters were created by Chinese artist Zhang Chun, and given as gifts to the cast, as well as the director and producer, during their promotional tour last week in Beijing.

The Chinese-style posters portray six magical animals created by author J.K. Rowling, including occamy, demiguise, swooping evil, niffler, thunderbird and bowtruckle, who travel in Chinese landscape, resembling the rare animals from China's mythological collections Shan Hai Jing (Classics of the Mountains and Seas).

Fantastic Beasts, a Harry Potter related franchise, grossed $75 million in North America, topping the box office, and made $218 million globally in its first week.

The film, produced by Warner Bros and written by J.K. Rowling, will be released on the Chinese mainland on Nov 25. Director David Yates revealed that there will be a mythical creature from Chinese legend in the sequel. Many fans have speculated that it will be dragon, but J.K. Rowling has denied that.