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Warner Bros. Discovery CEO wants more Harry Potter movies if J.K. Rowling agrees

By Kevin Fraser

Posted 3 years ago

It’s hard to believe that the Harry Potter series concluded more than a decade ago with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Sure, the franchise continued with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but that series has exhibited diminishing returns with each installment. Despite that, the franchise continues to be a major money maker for Warner Bros. Discovery. During the studio’s Q3 earnings call, President and CEO David Zazlav brought up the possibility of doing more Harry Potter movies.

During the call, David Zaslav emphasized that Warner Bros. Discovery will have a “real focus on franchises” moving forward, and more Harry Potter movies could be a part of that. “We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13 years,” Zaslav said. “We haven’t had a Harry Potter movie in 15 years. The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of the profits for Warner Bros. … over the past 25 years.” The executive added that he’d like to see more from the franchise, “If we can do something with J.K. [Rowling] on Harry Potter going forward.” Although Rowling has become something of a controversial figure in recent years, she is still very much the shepherd of the franchise, and it’s hard to imagine anything happening without her involvement or blessing.

There had previously been some talk of Harry Potter content being developed for HBO Max, but David Zaslav doesn’t seem to be a fan of spending money on direct-to-streaming movies. “We learned what doesn’t work: And this is what doesn’t work for us based on everything that we’ve seen: Direct to streaming movies,” Zaslav said. “So spending a billion dollars or collapsing a motion picture window into a streaming service; the movies that we launch in theater do significantly better and launching a 2 hour 40 minute movie direct to streaming has done nothing for HBO Max in terms of viewership, retention, or love of the service.” He added: “You focus on the big movies, the tentpoles that people are going to leave home, leave early from dinner to see.“

About the Author

Kevin Fraser

News Editor

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Favorite Movies: Alien, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, read more Braveheart, The Bridge on the River Kwai, City of God, Cloud Atlas, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Edge, The Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Godfather Parts I & II, Goodfellas, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Magnificent Seven, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Prestige, Prisoners, Psycho, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rear Window, The Shining, Sorcerer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, There Will be Blood, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Zodiac

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