HBO Max will lose all eight of the Harry Potter movies at the end of August.
From August 31, the original octet will leave the streaming service, marking the second time in three years that the adventures of the boy wizard have left the platform.
For those in the US, the only place to stream the movies for the foreseeable future will be on Peacock, which began streaming all eight films at the start of July. The Fantastic Beasts movies, however, will remain on HBO Max, as will the cast reunion that aired at the start of 2022.
When HBO Max first launched in May 2020, it boasted the full Harry Potter collection, but only for a few months, with Peacock snaring exclusive rights later that year. HBO Max secured the movies once again in September 2021, but only for a year, and now they’re flying back to Peacock.
While the Harry Potter series and its larger universe were made by Warner Bros. – the parent company of HBO Max – the origins of this deal date back to 2016, when NBCUniversal struck an exclusive agreement with Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution for US broadcast and cable rights to the whole Wizarding World franchise, which runs until 2025. The deal was reported to be worth a colossal $250 million.
The move comes at a crunch time for the franchise. 2022’s latest instalment, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, grossed just over $405 million worldwide to become the lowest-grossing film in the Wizarding World franchise. Despite plans being in place for a further two movies based in the series, Warner Bros. executives have been tight-lipped about its future.
While it’s easy to see that Warner Bros. executives may be done with Fantastic Beasts, the studio’s commitment to the Wizarding World remains strong.
In fact, over the weekend, reports emerged in Deadline (opens in new tab) claiming that David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery (who has been overseeing a brutal regime of cost-cutting that has seen the likes of The Time Traveler’s Wife and period drama Gentleman Jack canceled), met with Potter author J. K. Rowling. That meeting, it is suggested, was about a Harry Potter TV spin-off.
Reports on a Potter TV show have been bouncing around for a couple of years now, but there’s been no details on what kind of story could be told. Rowling retains a huge amount of creative control over the franchise, and Warner Bros. can’t do anything without her sign-off.
There are always rumors about the possibility of adapting Rowling and Jack Thorne’s hugely successful stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, for the screen, and it might be easier to adapt something that’s already proven successful than create a whole new spin-off. But who knows what Rowling and Zaslav have cooked up? Whatever happens, we’re sure there’s a lot more to come from the Wizarding World.
Johnny Depp only starred in a handful of scenes in the Harry Potter spin-off franchise, Fantastic Beasts, but he was a large part of it. The actor played the series’ antagonist, Gellert Grindelwald, in The Crimes of Grindelwald. But, after his intense performance as the genocidal wizard, a British publication reported he was a “wife-beater” to his ex-wife Amber Heard, he was dragged off the series by Warner Bros.
Last year, it was announced Mikkelsen was taking his place as the legendary sorcerer. Fans of both Fantastic Beasts and Depp were not convinced he would be able to take over the role convincingly, and the actor himself has opened up about what went on behind the scenes.
When Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts streamed on HBO Max on January 1, there was one noticeably missing member of the creative team: J.K. Rowling, the writer of the novels the movie series was based on. However, according to a new interview with Rowling, she wasn’t iced out of the special — it was her choice to not participate. Tl;dr: they didn’t fire her, she quit.
Or, more specifically, when asked about why she didn’t appear, on yesterday’s (August 29) episode of The Graham Norton Radio Show Podcast, Rowling explained she felt she didn’t need to do the special because it was more about the movies, than the books.
“Yeah, I was asked to be on that and I decided I didn’t want to do it,” Rowling said, as reported by CNN. “I thought it was about the films more than the books, you know, quite rightly. I mean, that was what the anniversary was about.”
To paraphrase a member of The Brady Bunch: Sure, Jo.
For those of you who have been living under a whomping willow, Rowling has come under fire in recent years for multiple — some might say, non-stop — anti-trans statements, that she has repeatedly tried to paint as “I’m just saying” type tweets and essays. Members of the Harry Potter cast have publicly spoken out about her statements, including Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Harry himself, Daniel Radcliffe, who published an essay with The Trevor Project, stating that “transgender women are women.”
Of note, Rowling was included in the special in archival footage from 2019, though did not appear in new sequences that reunited the cast and crew, 20 years later. On the other hand, the author did attend the world premiere of the third Fantastic Beasts movie (which she wrote the script for), and has recently released a new novel under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, that reportedly details a YouTube creator who is doxxed for anti-trans statements.
Despite the eerie similarities to Rowling herself, the author swears that it’s all a coincidence.
“I had written the book before certain things happened to me online,” Rowling also told Norton, as reported by Rolling Stone. “I said to my husband, ‘I think everyone is going to see this as a response to what happened to me,’ but it genuinely wasn’t. The first draft of the book was finished at the point certain things happened.”
One might perhaps start to think that Rowling is good at creating fictional narratives — at least, when it comes to her own life.
Sean McConville is madly packing 200 bags of Lego bricks. It’s a big week: he’s preparing to open a second venue for his four-month-old store this weekend.
As McConville explains, Lego is hot property. The 49-year-old’s unique Kensington shop, Brickville, trades and sells second-hand and discontinued Lego. It’s been a success, drawing people from across Melbourne keen to purchase rare figures or to offload or swap their old haul.
Lego can be a lucrative, albeit unusual, investment. One 2021 study found that the value of retired Lego sets grew an average of 11 per cent a year – faster than gold, stocks and bonds.
McConville had always loved Lego, but it was in times of crisis that he and his family found comfort in the familiar bricks.
Some millennials are still waiting for their Hogwarts letter more than two decades after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released in the United States. The book topped the New York Times bestsellers list, and its sequels were enormously popular too. But not everyone raced to join Dumbledore’s Army. The book that launched a media empire also held the top spot on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most banned or challenged books from 2000 to 2009.
Initially, most of the concerns over J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world were religious. Father Daniel Reehil, the pastor of St. Edward Church School in Nashville, Tennessee, sent parents an email claiming that “the curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.” Therefore, he explained, the school was removing the book from its library. Christian parents in Minnesota, Michigan, New York, California, and South Carolina issued demands for the series to be exorcized from their school libraries too. Even Pope Benedict XVI weighed in on the controversy, writing in 2003 when he was still a cardinal that the books “deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly.”
While these concerns diminished over time, new ones originated from the other end of the political spectrum, and Rowling remains She Who Must Not Be Named. In December 2019, the author was lambasted for supporting Maya Forstater, an infamous trans-exclusionary radical feminist. “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill,” Rowling tweeted, triggering outrage from trans activists and their allies.
Separating Rowling from her work—which has earned her nearly $1 billion—has been a challenge for Potterheads. A few have gone as far as hosting book-burning parties or lighting their copies of Harry Potter books aflame on TikTok.
For different reasons, many progressive millennials and traditional Christian parents share a disdain for the series. But perhaps that’s the mark of a great story—everyone can find cause both to love it and to hate it.
According to People’s source, Rowling “will not make a personal appearance in any new content for the special.” This news comes after Rowling went under fire for a slew of anti-transgender statements made, starting in June 2020 and continuing over time. Although she denied that her views on feminism were transphobic, she penned an essay on her controversial opinions in a lengthy post shared to her website a few days after appearing to target trans people in a flurry of tweets.
The three lead actors of the film series — Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint — have all spoken out against Rowling’s remarks about the trans community. Radcliffe published an essay with The Trevor project, sharing that “transgender women are women.”
“Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I,” he wrote at the time.
Along with the main trio and the first movie’s director, other folks returning for the special include Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, Ian Hart, and more.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will air on HBO Max on Jan. 1. Scroll up to watch the trailer for the reunion special.
Teenagers these days will never understand the glory of sneaking out after curfew, crashing a ride with your friends, and heading to the most coveted event of the week: a polka party. Remember the good old days? In the new trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,a young Al Yankovic (David Bloom) faces the wrath of his parents for going against their word and being, well, weird.
The Roku Channel biopic will trace the very early days of Al Yankovic’s weirdness—as in, everything that gave him the nickname “Weird Al.” But we’ll also get plenty of adult Weird Al (Harry Potteralum Daniel Radcliffe) on the rise in pop culture. We even get a glimpse of Weird Al’s shoddy college apartment, the spot where the musical mastermind first developed his groundbreaking idea for a new genre.
“My whole life, all I’ve wanted is to make up new words to a song that already exists,” he says. Cue “My Bologna,” a hammy knockoff of The Knack’s “My Sharona.”
As if things couldn’t get any better, as Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) leverages Weird Al’s career into new heights, he’s spotted by a certain famous talk show host: Oprah Winfrey, played by none other than Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson.
There’s also a quick run-in with Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood), who begs Weird Al to do a parody of one of her songs. In the trailer, in fact, Weird Al seems to confirm his mythical relationship with the popstar, fooling around with Madonna during their very first interaction. Their relationship quickly devolves in the trailer, leading Weird Al into some dark alleys full of bad decisions.
If the film’s first trailer hinted at a buff, sexy (?) side of Weird Al, this new one doubles down on the idea. Not only is Weird Al furiously making out with MADONNA, he’s also stripping on stage, burning cigarettes into the hands of music execs, and just being attractive in the oddest (one might say weirdest) ways possible. There are a lot of feelings to be felt in the short two minutes and 50 seconds we’ve been given in this new trailer.
Silicon Valley’s Eric Appel directed and wrote the biopic alongside Weird Al himself, who has been posting updates since the film was announced earlier this year. In just a few weeks, Weird: The Al Yankovic story will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
After its grand debut, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will premiere on The Roku Channel (of all places!) on November 4.
Warner; Fantasy; Box Office $ 95.85 million;
$34.98; $39.98 Blu-ray; $49.98 UHD BD;
Rated ‘PG-13’ for some fantasy action/violence.
Stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, William Nadylam, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, Mads Mikkelsen.
The third “Fantastic Beasts” movie will be of most interest to hardcore “Harry Potter” fans but won’t warrant much more than a casual glance to the majority of viewers.
Continuing the storylines from the first two “Fantastic Beasts” films, Secrets of Dumbledore finds the villainous Grindelwald scheming with corrupt forces within the hierarchy of the wizarding world in the early 1930s to clear his name of any crimes so he declare himself a candidate to lead the International Confederation of Wizards.
That Grindelwald is now played by Mads Mikkelsen highlights a couple of controversial casting choices that loom over the film. Mikkelsen is fine in the role, having replaced Johnny Depp, who was forced to step away due to legal troubles relating to his marriage to Amber Heard. Yet one of the central characters remains being played by Ezra Miller, whose own bizarre PR nightmares have been lighting up entertainment news channels as of late.
Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), knowing Grindelwald’s plan to declare war against the Muggles, the non-magical side of humanity, recruits a team led by franchise regulars such as Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his brother Theseus (Callum Turner), and their Muggle pal Jacob (Dan Fogler) to prevent his election. Dumbledore himself cannot move against Grindelwald directly since the two were once lovers who made a blood pact to prevent one from attacking the other.
Given the worldwide stakes and wizarding politics involved just raises more questions about why these “Potter” prequels are still focused on Newt and his circle of friends instead of, say, Dumbledore himself. But since they continue to carry the “Fantastic Beasts” title, Newt’s adventures they shall remain, and the screenplay (from “Potter” creator J.K. Rowling herself), endeavors to populate the screen with as many “fantastic beasts” as it can. Central to the storyline this time is a mythical Chinese deer-like creature called a qilin (pronounced like “chillin’) that can peer into a person’s soul and detect their goodness. Grindelwald wants to capture one that he can manipulate into convincing the world’s magic users that he is most worthy to rule them.
This then makes Newt, as the world’s leading magizoologist, an ideal choice for uncovering Grindelwald’s plan. Naturally, he spends most of his time trying to free his brother from a German magic-prison, while Dumbledore confronts Credence (Ezra Miller) about his true heritage as a member of the Dumbledore family.
The new creatures for the film are inventive and realized with some dazzling visual effects, but at this point it seems like these films just conjure up random creatures to give them whatever abilities are needed to either move the plot along or create a funny scene.
While Rowling allegedly had five of these prequel movies planned, this third one wraps up enough of the ongoing storylines just in case diminishing box office returns don’t convince the studio to move ahead with the final two.
The Blu-ray includes five deleted scenes totaling just over seven minutes, mostly offering more world-building but not necessary for the plot.
The bulk of the extras are nearly an hour of behind-the-scenes featurettes, consisting of 10 different videos that might do a better job of explaining what is happening in the movie than the movie does on its own.
The seven-minute “Dumbledore Through the Ages” looks at the character’s history throughout the “Wizarding World” films, while the eight-and-a-half-minute “The Dumbledore Family Tree” examines Dumbledore lineage, and the four-minute “A Dumbledore Duel” looks at the making of a battle between Albus and Credence.
The five-minute “Newt in the Wild” looks at the film finding ways to return the character to his roots of studying and helping magical creatures, while the six-and-a-half-minute “Even More Fantastic Beasts” looks at how the creatures in the film were brought to life.
“The German Ministry of Magic” is a five-minute featurette about the production design for a key location in the film, while the five-minute “The Candidates’ Dinner” looks at the filming of a sequence there, while the five-minute “Erkstag Jailbreak” focuses on the prison set.
The six-minute “The Magic of Hogwarts” offers the cast and filmmakers a chance to opine on the chance to revisit the iconic Hogwarts school for wizards as seen in the other films.
Finally, the six-minute “Battle in Bhutan” focuses on crafting the climactic confrontation between all the characters.
On the fun side, “Magical or Muggle” is a four-and-a-half-minute game in which the cast members get to guess if a nonsensical term refers to something magical or not.
Rounding out the extras is “The Secrets of ‘Cursed Child,’” a five-minute promotional featurette about the “Harry Potter” stage production that serves as a sequel to the books and is the movie adaptation most “Potter” fans want at this point, rather than more “Fantastic Beasts” installments.
In the 4K combo pack, all the extras are on the regular Blu-ray, not the UHD disc.
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It was 25 years ago when Bloomsbury Publishing founder Nigel Newton gave a manuscript of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, who was then an unknown writer, to his daughter Alice, who would describe it as one of the best books that kids can read.
Twenty-five years later, it is one of the biggest selling novels of all time after capturing the hearts and imaginations of children around the world.
“I gave it to Alice who took it upstairs … We had the chapters up to Diagon Alley at that stage,” Newton told Reuters.
“She kind of floated down the stairs an hour later saying: ‘Dad, this book is better than anything you’ve shown me.'”
Sunday marks 25 years since Rowling’s first book about the magical world of witches and wizards was published.
Rowling had faced rejection until Bloomsbury took her work on with an advance of 2,500 pounds ($3,070). Her story went on to become a massive hit around the world, spawning a whole series of books and a huge film franchise.
One of the first-ever copies of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, is held by a staff member at Bonhams auctioneers, ahead of the Fine Books, Manuscripts, Atlases and Historical Photographs sale in London, Britain, March 27, 2019. (REUTERS Photo)
“Did we know that it would sell over 500 million copies by the summer of 2022? No, but we did know that it was a great piece of writing,” Newton said.
“It was children and not their parents who were the original adopters of this book. It was a complete grassroots phenomenon.”
Those children would wait for hours in front of bookstores for the latest installments of Harry’s adventures, which culminated with 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
For some, like Jacqueline Hulbert, now 23, it also helped them to enjoy reading.
“It was just phenomenal. It was nothing like I had tried to read before because the story was gripping enough that I wanted to keep trying to read it,” Hulbert said.
“Because unbeknownst to muggles (those lacking magical powers in the books) and like everyone we know there was like this hidden world in plain view, almost.”
The image of Harry in front of the Hogwarts Express, the train taking him to the famed magical school, is one of the most recognizable book covers in children’s literature.
It was done by author and illustrator Thomas Taylor in his first work commission. Taylor, then 23 and working in a children’s bookshop, had dropped off a sample portfolio depicting dragons at Bloomsbury.
“A few days later … the phone rang and it was (publisher) Barry Cunningham from Bloomsbury asking me whether I’d like to do the cover art for a new book by a new author no one had heard of,” Taylor, known for the “Eerie-on-Sea” children’s books, said.
“And so I was pretty excited so I said yes. And of course, I had no idea what it would go on to become.”
Follow the forest light trail and discover illuminated moments from the Wizarding World!
NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Following a massively successful UK run, Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment in partnership with Thinkwell, Unify and Fever, have announced that Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience will illuminate New York this fall. The breathtaking light trail will be open starting October 22 for Wizarding World fans of all ages to enjoy at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park. The spacious state park is situated in Westchester County, approximately 40 miles north of NYC.
Harry Potter A Forbidden Forrest Experience (PRNewsfoto/Fever)
Tickets will be available for purchase starting Thursday, August 18, but fans who sign up for the waitlist will unlock exclusive access.
Inspired by the iconic Forbidden Forest and featuring beloved moments from the Harry Potterand Fantastic Beasts series, mesmerizing lights will transform the landscape into a magical outdoor trail. Visitors will discover some of their favorite moments from the Forbidden Forest, encounter magical creatures such as Hippogriffs, centaurs, unicorns, and Nifflers, and practice casting their very own spells.
Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience is an adventure for the whole family and promises a wonderful time for fans of all ages, giving them the opportunity to delve into the magic of the wizarding world in a whole new way. Visitors will step into a themed village at the end of the trail where they can enjoy delicious food and drinks, and shop exclusive products and more. An unforgettable evening lies ahead!
The outdoor experience was created by Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment in partnership with leading entertainment discovery platform Fever, award-winning theatrical designers and experiential creators, Thinkwell, and their partners, global experience design and delivery agency Unify.
Ticket prices start from $25 for children and $36 for adults, and will be available on Fever’s marketplace. You can read more about the experience and sign up for the ticket waitlist at www.hpforbiddenforestexperience.com/westchester.
About Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment (WBTE), part of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Brands and Experiences, is a worldwide leader in the creation, development and licensing of location-based entertainment, live events, exhibits and theme park experiences based on Warner Bros.’ iconic characters, stories, and brands. WBTE is home to the groundbreaking global locations of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, WB Movie World Australia, and countless other experiences inspired by DC, Looney Tunes, Scooby, Game of Thrones, Friends and more. With best-in-class partners, WBTE allows fans around the world to physically immerse themselves inside their favorite brands and franchises.
About Wizarding World In the years since Harry Potter was whisked from King’s Cross Station onto Platform nine and three quarters, his incredible adventures have left a unique and lasting mark on popular culture. Eight BlockbusterHarry Potter films based on the original stories by J.K. Rowling have brought the magical stories to life and today, the Wizarding World is recognised as one of the world’s best-loved brands. Representing a vast interconnected universe, it also includes two epic Fantastic Beasts films, (the third releasing in 2022), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the multi-award-winning stage-play, state-of-the-art video and mobile games from Portkey Games, innovative consumer products, thrilling live entertainment (including four theme park lands) and insightful exhibitions.This expanding portfolio of Warner Bros. owned Wizarding World experiences also includes Harry Potter New York – a brand new flagship store, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, and the Platform 9 3⁄4 retail shops.The Wizarding World continues to evolve to provide Harry Potter fans with fresh and exciting ways to engage. For the worldwide fan community, and for generations to come, it welcomes everyone in to explore and discover the magic for themselves.
About Thinkwell Thinkwell Group is a global experience design and production agency with studios and offices in Los Angeles, Montréal, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi. For the past 20 years, Thinkwell’s multi-disciplinary team has created compelling experiences for a wide range of clients and brands around the world. Thinkwell has extensive experience in the strategy, planning, design, and production of award-winning theme parks, brand intellectual property attractions, events spectaculars, museums exhibits, expos, and live shows.
About Unify Unify Productions is a full service experience design and production agency, based in the UK. Our team has worked extensively across multiple disciplines of entertainment, from international sporting events, award winning festivals, global ceremonies, stadium touring and Expos. Unify works with global brands, rights holders and partners to realize world class guest experiences and entertainment formats.
About Fever Fever is the leading global live-entertainment discovery platform, helping millions of people every week to discover the best experiences in their cities, with a mission to democratize access to culture and entertainment in real life. Through its platform, Fever inspires users to enjoy unique local experiences and events, from immersive exhibitions, interactive theatrical experiences, festivals, to molecular cocktail pop-ups, while empowering creators with data and technology to create and expand experiences across the world.
