Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has expressed his desire to get more Harry Potter movies for the company if something works out with author J. K. Rowling in future.
This is what Zaslav said during an investor’s call on Thursday, “We’re going to focus on franchises. We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13 years. We haven’t done a Harry Potter 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 Harry Potter franchise grossed over $7.7 billion at the global box office from 2001-2011. Then, Rowling’s Wizarding World expanded with three Fantastic Beasts films. The first entry, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), was a critical and commercial success, earning more than $814 million worldwide. However, the franchise crumbled under the weight of its magic after the first FB film. The last two instalments (The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore) are nothing more than complete disappointments.
‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ barely crossed the $400 million mark during its box office run. This scenario has complicated things for WBD as the studio has not yet commented on the possibility of completing the five-movie arc. Also, Rowling’s fame has taken a hit in recent years after being accused of transphobia. Undoubtedly, Zaslav has to deal with a lot of problems before even thinking about getting more Harry Potter films. Stay tuned for more updates.