In news that sent the Internet into spastic fits of pure joy, JK Rowling announced that she’ll be screenwriting a series of new Harry Potter movies based around “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them”, one of her offshoot books (along with “Quidditch Through The Ages” and “The Tales of Beedle The Bard”).

Not only will this mark JKR’s screenwriting debut, it will be the first time that the Potterverse is provided with new canon storylines and characters via film, instead of through the books. The movies vs. the books is an ongoing argument that we won’t rehash here when it comes to plot and character differences, but I think we can all agree that these new films will be held up as canon – especially since the movies will take place decades before the Golden Trio were even born, bringing us a whole new cast of characters to meet.

This new development brings a serious question into the wizard rock world – will bands write songs based on the movie events, and even more importantly, will new material bring about the creation of new bands?

It’s been joked online that perhaps some “retired” bands will re-form to release new music, now that there will be new material to cover. But if you look at the wizard rock explosion of 2007, it was all inspired by the events of Deathly Hallows, as well as fans expressing their love for the completed series in musical form. Perhaps the new movies will inspire a new generation of fans to pick up a guitar, fire up Garageband, and release some music via BandCamp or YouTube.

Of course, it goes without saying that there’s still plenty of wizard rock, and new wizard rock at that, being released and played right now. Although the frantic pace of 2007 may never be matched, there are still bands touring, playing shows and conventions, and releasing fantastic new music. You can’t deny, however, that the first major release of new canon material since Deathly Hallows will be an inspiration to wrock all around.

So we wanted to put this question out to both wrock fans and wrock bands – do you think the new movies will inspire you to create songs based on new characters, relationships, and events? Will the books always be your canon? Will bands be created around the new material and cover those subjects only in their songs, possibly bringing about an entire second generation of bands? Let us know your thoughts below!