Recent history has shown that very few franchises are truly ever over for good, with Hollywood having successfully weaponized nostalgia and used it to inject flagging brands with a new lease of life. Based on the grim prognosis for the Fantastic Beasts series, a live-action adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child could be the only way to save the big screen Wizarding World.
The third chapter of Newt Scamander’s planned five-film story dropped off the top of the domestic box office after just three days, and that was after a soft $43 million opening. Reviews have been trending slowly downwards, too, and it looks as though critics and audiences are making it abundantly clear that they’re quickly losing interest in the magical universe.
With that in mind, exhibition and theatrical analyst Jeff Bock revealed to The Wrap that the best way for the property to restore former glories would be to reunite the original cast and bring The Cursed Child to life.
“There’s still a lot of directions that Warner could take Wizarding World in the long-term, but right now they need to get back to what people like most about it, and that’s Harry. 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.”
A lot of fans would agree with that sentiment, but the obvious deal-breaker is the reluctance of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint to return to the well. The trio aren’t ruling it out eventually, but it won’t be happening anytime soon.
Either Warner Bros. plows forward with two more Fantastic Beasts movies, throws a pile of cash at the OGs to make The Cursed Child, or it reboots Harry Potter from the ground up as a possible HBO Max series and associated spinoffs, because we all know the boardroom isn’t giving up on one of its most lucrative cash cows.