Since quite some time ago, the future of the Harry Potter franchise has been shrouded in mystery. This uncertainty has been maintained primarily by the immense popularity of the original books and films, as well as by tangential new initiatives such as spin-offs and video games. But, it appears like Warner Bros. is working to finalise the contract, which means that the Harry Potter revival that fans have been hoping for is finally becoming a real possibility.
David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros., announced his plan to capitalise on major franchises by expanding their scope the year before. He stated that we are going to place a significant emphasis on franchises. It’s been a whole decade since the last Superman movie came out. Since the last Harry Potter film was made, 15 years had passed. In the past 25 years, a significant portion of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures’ revenue came from the DC Extended Universe films as well as the Harry Potter film franchise. A concentration on the franchise, then, is one of the major benefits that we enjoy; House of the Dragon is an illustration of this, as are Game of Thrones, taking advantage of Sex and the City, and Lord of the Rings; we still have the right to produce Lord of the Rings films. Which films have established themselves as brands that are recognised and cherished in every region of the world?
Zaslav continued by saying, “When you have a franchise movie, you can sometimes make two to three times as much money as you make in the United States, because you get a place in the franchise.” And an emphasis on the big movies that are loved, that are tentpoles, that people are going to leave early from dinner to go watch — and we have a number of those — as well as the movies that are tentpoles. What are we going to do with Game of Thrones, Batman, Superman, and Aquaman? If we can work out a deal with J.K. Rowling to continue the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, what are we going to do with Game of Thrones? What are we planning to do with the majority of the significant franchises that we currently own? We are concentrating on business franchises.”
The claims that were published by Bloomberg suggest that the reboot series would most likely be moving to HBO Max, and that this new production will be directly based on the source material. It is believed that Warner Bros. are extremely near to finalising this big transaction, despite the fact that HBO Max has not yet spoken on the ongoing discussions over the development of the project.