Hbo Max Losing All Eight Harry Potter Movies In August
Expelliarmus redux!
HBO Max is, once again, saying goodbye to the octet of original Harry Potter fan-favorite movies.
More from Variety
As of Aug. 31, all eight Warner Bros. titles will be leaving the streamer: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2.
In the U.S., fans of the Wizarding World can stream the eight Potter movies on NBCUniversals Peacock, which added them to the service as of July 1.
The Harry Potter film franchise has bounced between HBO Max and Peacock over the last two years illustrating the power of enduringly popular titles to attract and retain subscribers amid the ferocious competition among streaming services.
When HBO Max launched in May 2020, it featured the eight Potter flicks. But they were gone after a 90-day window, flying over to Peacock that fall. Then HBO Max snared the rights back as of September 2021 but that was evidently only for a 12-month term, and the Boy Who Lived has now returned to Peacocks nest.
Hbo Max Is Losing The Harry Potter Movies To A Major Streaming Rival
The boy who lived, will live somewhere else
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 Harry Potter Movies Have Bounced Between Hbo Max And Peacock For A While Now The Game Continues
In the streaming wars, every piece of territory counts, and the Harry Potter movies represent some very valuable real estate. Warner Bros. produced the eight films, so youd figure theyd have a permanent home on HBO Max, the streaming service operated by Warner Bros. Discovery. But the movies have been bouncing between HBO Max and Peacock for a while now. At the moment, theyre available on both services, but soon enough, youll only be able to watch the adventures of Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the latter service.
Per Variety, as of August 31, all eight Harry Potter movies thats Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2 will leave HBO Max and only be available on Peacock, where theyve been streamable since July 1. So you have another month and change to enjoy them on multiple platforms.
Why, you might ask, cant HBO Max keep a hold of these things? It has to do with deals Warner Bros. made before HBO Max really took off. Back then, the company didnt anticipate needing to use the Harry Potter movies to draw people to its own proprietary streaming service, and so made deals with other companies to lend them out. Now that streaming is the name of the game, its surely kicking itself over those decisions.
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What happens in between? Potter will be continue to be available on Syfy and USA, via cable subscriptions. But it wont be found on any streaming services, part of an ever-growing mass of films currently in limbo, some relatively obscure, some famous. TV critic Mike Ryan recently wrote of his own failed hunt for Cocoon, once a box-office smash, but now lost somewhere in the red tape of rights ownership with no complete explanation for why it cannot be found.
At least the Harry Potter moves are being publicly covered, via the monthly missives from Warner and NBCUniversal detailing whats going and coming from their services. We can thank Netflix for these updates, a legacy of its Silicon Valley approach to content management. Netflix didnt seem to think such information was necessary once users highlighted a few favorites, the algorithm would do all the work or so the thinking went. That gave rise to an entirecottageindustry of Netflix-centric sites that exist solely to tell you what to watch and where to find it.
This led to Netflix eventually releasing a monthly list of whats coming and whats going, which other companies now dutifully replicate. But the technocrat anti-customer-service mindset remains, leaving it up to the ever-more frustrated consumer to work out whats available when and who owns what and where it all is at any given time, if it is even available at all.
How Much Are The Licensing Fees
The eight-part adaptation of the Harry Potter books is reportedly the highest-grossing film series of all time.
The value of the Harry Potter franchise may have surpassed $25 billion, writes Sucharita Ghosh for IP Leaders.
Not only did the franchises success make a billionaire of its author, it has also created huge revenues from license and rights holders through commercial exploitation of various intellectual property rights.
In 2016, NBCUniversal acquired television and digital rights to all eight Harry Potter movies for a nearly seven-year period, from July 2018 to April 2025. It cost them $250 million.
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When Does Harry Potter Leave Hbo
The Harry Potter movies returned to HBO Max in September 2021 for a 12-month period. This means subscribers have until August 31, 2022, to binge-watch them.
All three Fantastic Beasts movies, however, will remain on the platform likewise, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts, which features interviews with stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson and director Chris Columbus, will continue to be available to stream.
Meanwhile, anyone with a subscription to Peacock has been able to stream them since July 1 this year.
That means all eight Harry Potter movies will have been available on two of the biggest streaming platforms in the US for two full months, by the time they leave HBO Max.
Analysis: Would Disney Plus Let Harry Potter Go
One thing we’ll always give Disney Plus credit for is that they hold onto their big movies. Disney Plus is where you watch the Star Wars movies in order, it has nearly all of the , all the Pixar movies and so on. And they’ve never allowed any to slip from their grip.
Meanwhile, this is yet another instance of the Harry Potter films which are Warner Bros. Pictures films leaving HBO Max. And this service seems like it should be the permanent home for the films, as it is under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella. Maybe some people don’t associate this film series with the studio, and therefore the streaming service, but it’s certainly odd to see them part ways .
As noted above, films leave streaming services all the time, but one would have thought Warner would see Harry Potter as an important part of HBO Max. The only reasonable solution is that Peacock probably made a compelling offer for exclusivity, which will begin once the films leave at the end of the month.
If the Harry Potter films come back to HBO Max and why wouldn’t they? we expect they’d return for the eventual HBO Max and Discovery Plus merger, as the two are meant to become a mega-service sooner or later.
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Who Is In The Cast Of The Harry Potter Series
The series is said to be still in development at HBO Max. No writers are attached to the series yet, so no actors are either. Whether or not any of the cast members of the Harry Potter films will reprise their roles in the series will depend entirely on the show’s story and their own willingness to return to the universe. But let’s be honest, what else do Rupert Grint or Tom Felton have going on these days?
Heres Whats New On Hbo And Hbo Max In November 2022
The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 2 and Shaq debut on the platform alongside the streaming debut of Dont Worry Darling
Warner Bros. Pictures
November has arrived and so has a new slate of releases on HBO and HBO Max, including The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 2 premiere on Nov. 17, the debut of a four-part docuseries capturing the life of basketball legend Shaquille ONeal on Nov. 23, and the streaming debut of Dont Worry Darling on Nov. 7.
The latter stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles and is a psychological thriller directed by Olivia Wilde .
The well-received See How They Run will also be available on the streaming service beginning Nov. 1 after the mystery comedy led by Saoirse Ronan and Sam Rockwell first played in theaters.
As we shift from spooky season to winter, get into the holiday spirit with classics like Christmas Dream and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, while finding new favorites like the new sequel film A Christmas Story Christmas, which follows now-adult Ralphie as he returns to Cleveland street, A Christmas Mystery and Holiday Harmony.
Film fanatics will also be happy to learn that HBO Max will now carry all eight films in the Harry Potter franchise and the entirely of the Star Trek movie series.
See the full list of whats new on HBO and HBO Max in November 2022 below.
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This Explains Why Harry Potter Is Leaving Hbo Max But Not Why It Arrived In The First Place
As Variety explains, when HBO Max launched in May 2020 including all the Harry Potter movies, that was a three-month carve-out on streaming rights the studio had sold to NBCU.
The same outlet reported elsewhere that NBCU had inked a deal as early as 2016 locking up TV and digital rights to the movie franchise.
But HBO Max chief content officer Kevin Reilly said during a speech at a Television Critics Association event in January 2020 that his platforms launch would likely involve the Harry Potter movies, despite NBCU holding the relevant licenses.
Lets just say, he said, you cant have our experience without having Harry Potter be a part of it.
Nevertheless, Variety described the arrival of the Harry Potter movies on HBO Max as a surprise.
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If youre looking for the The Boy Who Lived on HBO Max, youre out of luck. The streamer, which was home to the Harry Potter film collection, is constantly flip-flopping with Peacock to share the rights to the fantasy film series.
With so much back-and-forth, its hard to keep up with where, exactly, Daniel Radcliffe and crew are hanging out these days. Thankfully, an iconic film series like Harry Potter is always available to stream somewhere.
Looking to watch Harry and his friends take down He Who Should Not Be Named? Heres what you need to know about Harry Potter and HBO Max, including where you can find all of the Harry Potter films right now.
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Opinionwe Want To Hear What You Think Please Submit A Letter To The Editor
Viewers need time to make this mental switch. If the landscape remains stable for the next five to 10 years and contracts continue to streamline, users will eventually speak of content via brand as if it were the natural order of things. But it doesnt have to be, though current government policies make no sign of stopping it. But until then, viewers will find themselves in an ever-growing morass of titles flowing from one streaming service to the next, until the new world of entertainment finally settles.
Ani Bundel is a cultural critic who has been writing regularly since 2010. Her work can also be found at Elite Daily and WETA’s Telly Visions, where she also co-hosts “Telly Visions: The Podcast.”
All 8 Harry Potter Films Are Now On Hbo Max
That’s it. That’s the tweet. All of the Harry Potter films are available in one place, for one monthly price
If you’re looking to sit down with the kids and watch the Harry Potter films, there’s now only place place to do so. And it’s not Netflix. It’s not Prime Video. It’s HBO Max .
All eight films from The Sorcerer’s Stone to The Deathly Hallows Part 2 are now on HBO Max.
While it was a bit of a surprise to see the entire catalog on HBO Max on Day 1, it also wasn’t conjured completely out of thin air. WarnerMedia execs had said they were trying to get the rights to the films, previously held by NBCUniversal. And it turns out, they did.
So you don’t have to hunt for Harry Potter any longer. It’s all right there on HBO Max, in HD.
The full slate of films breaks down thusly:
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
HBO Max, by the way, is the streaming service owned by WarnerMedia that houses all the legacy HBO content as well as new HBO Max exclusives. It also is where you’ll find all kinds of other content from Warner Bros., TNT, CNN, TBS, TCM, the D.C. Universe, and more.
HBO Max costs $14.99 a month and is available on most major platforms.
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How To Watch Every Harry Potter Movie Online
You can stream every Harry Potter film with a youll need to have a Peacock Premium, Peacock Plus, or HBO Max subscription. Peacocks streaming service starts at just $4.99 a month, and you can binge all eight movies with unlimited streaming, along with the streamers other series and movies like Halloween Kills .
Why Do The Harry Potter Films Keep Moving
The main reason seems to be because of deals made before either HBO Max or Universal had streaming services.
In 2016, the TV rights for the films were set to expire after being held by ABC for many years. At that time, the rights were divided, with NBCUniversal getting cable rights to show the films on SyFy and USA, while HBO bought the streaming rights to have the films on its HBO Go / HBO Now platforms.
Crucially, though, the NBC deal also allowed the films to appear on the SyFy and USA digital platforms. This essentially means that each service has a claim to the digital rights to the films, explaining why they keep moving around.
This is something that looks likely to continue. The NBC deal doesn’t expire until 2025, meaning that things are not likely to change for a few years.
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Why Is Harry Potter Leaving Hbo Max
The reason the Harry Potter movies are leaving HBO Max is, unfortunately, and boringly, to do with licensing.
Screenrant notes that the octets original switch from HBO Max to NBCUniversals Peacock streaming service came around the same time Harry Potter author J K Rowling .
However, it adds that HBO confirmed that the reason the Harry Potter films left its streaming platform was related only to licensing terms.
HBO held the licenses to stream parts one through eight of the franchise for a 90-day period from May 2020 to September 2020, but they returned in September 2021.
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The Harry Potter case is unique in that its a relatively recent franchise whose path has been easy to track. The films, produced by Warner Bros. since the first movie debuted in 2001, were leased to Disney for the TV rights. Warner can still get a lot of money for the franchise long after it has left theaters by licensing it for the small screen. The movies wound up on ABC Family and proved so popular that the channel became famous for Harry Potter Weekend.
When the contract with Disney was close to expiring, in 2016, NBCUniversal stepped in and outbid the House of Mouse, gaining the rights to the rebranded Wizarding World Weekends, on Syfy and USA, through 2025.
As HBO Maxs debut date grew closer, Warner executives openly bemoaned this decision and the inability to get Potter back for another five years. Articles ran as little as a week before HBO Maxs launch explaining to fans why Harry Potter would not be among the streamers offerings.
But then, surprise! On launch day, all eight films showed up. Clearly, there was some last-minute behind-the-scenes deal for Warner to get its own product back, though no one would give details.
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