What Makes “Tarzan” and “Fantastic Beasts” Similar?

And no, it’s not just the fact that they’ve got the same director. Although, of course, that helps.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as we all know, is due to be released this November and is being directed by David Yates, who is also the director behind several of the Potter films. But Fantastic Beasts isn’t the only big film project that Yates is involved in this year.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Yates explains more about why he thinks upcoming film The Legend of Tarzan has its similarities with Fantastic Beasts.

What’s fascinating about Fantastic Beasts is that it’s really about this creature within, and both Tarzan and Fantastic Beasts have this theme, really. Tarzan’s trying to control and deal with this primal ferocity that he has within him and balance his civilized self with the wildness that exists. And ultimately, in Fantastic Beasts, there’s a character [who] we discover has something within them also. They have a sense of wildness about them.

His love for the Potter universe was one of the reasons Yates committed to the Tarzan project, he further explains.

Potter, for me, it was such a delicious universe to be in because it had humor and drama and magic and extraordinary animals and creatures, so it was a really rich universe to play in. And it was really hard to find something that was as much fun, frankly, as that.

You can read more here.

The Legend of Tarzan is due out this July 2016, and Fantastic Beasts will be released in November 2016.

What do you think? Do you think these two projects have their similarities? Will you be seeing Tarzan as well as Fantastic Beasts this year? Let us know in the comments!