Warner Bros. Discovery is still pushing for an adaptation of the play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
According to Puck News, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has reportedly planned on revitalizing the Harry Potter franchise by adapting The Cursed Child into a film and marketing it as a sequel, since the play takes place after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
While these plans have not been officially confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery, this report comes after Zaslav's comments wherein he stated that the studio has not "done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years" during a Q3 earnings call on Nov. 3. "We're going to have a real focus on franchises...We haven't had a Superman movie in 13 years," he said. "We haven’t done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years. The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of the profits of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures over the last 25 years."
Zaslav's comments did not take into account the Fantastic Beasts franchise, which was originally intended to have five movies. However, based on the poor box office performance of the third film, The Secrets of Dumbledore, Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly no longer developing further films in the franchise.
Will The Cursed Child Head to the Big Screen?
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set after the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and follows Albus Potter, Harry Potter's son, as he attends his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Written by Jack Thorne with a story by series author J.K. Rowling, The Cursed Child is running on London's West End, Broadway, and recently opened in Toronto.
While casting for a possible Cursed Child film has not been discussed, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has already stated his disinterest in returning to the franchise at the moment. "I’m never going to say never, but the Star Wars guys had like 30, 40 years before they went back," Radcliffe said in March. "For me, it’s only been 10. It’s not something I’m really interested in doing right now."
According to industry analysts, the Harry Potter franchise needs to return to its roots in order to survive following the subpar box office performance of the third Fantastic Beasts film. "Whether it's a Cursed Child adaptation or something else, the next project should be something closer to the books that builds an appetite for a spinoff that can really branch out the way the first Fantastic Beasts did," said Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is currently running on Broadway, the West End, Toronto, Melbourne, and Hamburg.
Source: Puck, via Screen Rant