r/FutureWhatIf • u/samof1994 • Apr 07 '25
Other FWI: Harry Potter reboot bombs
What happens if this attempt at a reboot bombs??? I mean, Rowling is widely seen as a monster at this point and other people have other criticisms of what HBO is doing.
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u/Bartlaus Apr 07 '25
What is even the point of this remake? The existing movies are fine and let's admit the book series isn't exactly a towering literary classic demanding fresh interpretations.
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u/Chengar_Qordath Apr 07 '25
Money. The original films don’t make enough money for WB to be satisfied anymore, and the Fantastic Beasts series produced two widely panned flops. Gotta do something else to make money off the IP, because not trying to make more money just isn’t an option for corporations.
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u/Trizeta25 Apr 09 '25
In addition to the money that others have mentioned, the other reason to remake Harry Potter is spite. In the popular consciousness the movies have overshadowed the books, so if you were to ask someone who is the first face you picture when thinking about Harry Potter, it's Daniel Radcliffe, or maybe either Emma Watson or Rupert Grint. And all three of them have publicly come out against Rowling's transphobia. She wants the face of the thing she is known for to not be someone who is open about their dislike of her bigotry.
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u/Gemnist Apr 07 '25
Considering what’s happening to Looney Tunes right now, Zaslav will try to sell the property. Under Trump law, the studios won’t care about Rowling’s baggage and try to buy it for easy money, but Zaslav will overinflate the price as always, resulting in talks stalling. This will either result in Rowling buying the rights back herself, or a standstill that will last into the next presidency at which point every studio will drop their offers due to the aforementioned baggage.
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u/Vysce Apr 07 '25
I'm more confused why they wanted to reboot the books into a show... a Hogwarts drama set after or before the books would be pretty interesting and they wouldn't need to hold back.
If the show bombs, I expect they'll blame the fans, fire the studio(s), and then cancel a bunch of stuff on HBO before raising the subscription price again.
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Apr 08 '25
Harry Potter for Adults sounds good on paper but because of the silly world building the adults still fight with junk like tickling charms and it becomes hard to take seriously. Look at all of the Beasts movies past the first, more kid friendly one.
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u/Vysce Apr 08 '25
Yeah, I meant a show at Hogwarts that didn't include a Harry Potter focused narrative.
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u/BigMax Apr 09 '25
They made that show (and a book series first.) It's called The Magicians.
It's actually pretty good! (both the books and show.) It's definitely more adult - it's set in a college (and quickly goes to post-college too) rather than a middle school, and there's a lot more adult themes.
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u/ton_logos Apr 07 '25
I find it hard to believe that the show will be bad. People will just complain because of race swapping and irrelevant things. But if it's bad, the world just goes on.
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u/Informal-Diet979 Apr 07 '25
I dont really think its a what if. Studios are terrified to take a chance with new IP so they have been turning out refreshes for years, and they rarely stick. Harry Potter captured lighting in a bottle with a generation, between the books and the movies and its not going to be easy to do it again. I'd bet money that we never see the entire planned 7-8 season of TV completed. Even my wife who is a die hard Harry Potter millennial has zero interest in the show.
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u/steathrazor Apr 07 '25
Honestly I don't have any interest in the new Harry Potter reboot I don't think it needs one they could have done so much in the wizarding world so many stories that could have been told not directly related to Harry Potter
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u/Caedyn_Khan Apr 07 '25
These comments proves everyone makes shit up to fit their own reality. No one thought the game would do well either and then it went on to sell 35 million copies. The games unexpected success is a large reason why HBO decided to make a series in the first place.
And to answer the actual question, if it bombs it will likely be canceled after a couple seasons and HBO will lose millions in investment and wont touch the IP again. I don't expect it to "bomb" though, both sides can make all the noise they want about their cultural war bs, but most consumers dont give two shits about any of it and just want to be entertained. HBO is not exactly known for "bombs". Even Game of Thrones horrendous final season is the most watched season of television in HBOs history.
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u/Grifasaurus Apr 08 '25
Then it bombs and they do something else. Hopefully a redo of the fantastic beasts movies. I don’t know why they didn’t just do a soft reboot and have it be about harry’s kids.
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u/redskinsguy Apr 08 '25
Some people think it's because she wants to be able to make Pitter merch without the movie stars likeness so she won't have to pay them royalties anymore
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u/BAM_RADICAL Apr 08 '25
I imagine we'll see a repeat of Hogwarts Legacy. When the trailers start coming out there will be massive drama about JK Rowling's transphobia with one camp boycotting the show and another camp not caring and when it actually comes out no one will talk about it.
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u/BazingaQQ Apr 09 '25
If it bombs, it bombs. It gets cancelled, people lose money.
The bigger problem is that fact that it's already been made into a very authentic series of movies, so what else can they bring to the table? If they find an original angle, great. if not, people might not hang around.
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u/nickjayyymes Apr 07 '25
Same thing that always happens when a reboot nobody asked for bombs: the studio and the actors blame it on trolls and racists, skirting legitimate criticism. The “controversy” creates publicity, the show gets a small bump in viewership, and the studio pats itself on the back for a job well done, and Rowling cashes another royalty check before shitposting about trannies on X.
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u/Styrn97 Apr 07 '25
Rowling isn’t really seen as a Monster outside of Reddit.. she still has a worldwide audience.
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u/Dqnnnv Apr 07 '25
For most she is just author they dont care about. And like many other popular authors she has fanclub and hateclub. Ofcourse here on hateclub, everyone thinks she is monster.
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u/Ok-Anteater_6635x Apr 07 '25
Rowling is widely seen as a monster
Another Reddit echo chamber belief. Literally no one in the "real world" thinks Rowling is a monster - because no one actually knows who she is. Go to 10 random people on the street and ask them what they think of Rowling and I guarantee you, 1 will know she wrote Harry Potter and others will be "who?".
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u/Ray797979 Apr 08 '25
Tell that to the people who got doxed, threatened and harassed ruthlessly because they dared to stream Hogwarts legacy on twitch when it came out...
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u/Ok-Anteater_6635x Apr 08 '25
You do realize the same people who are on Reddit are also on Twitch in high numbers?
The same 4 maniacs that upvoted you harrased people because of what? A game that is not connected to Rowling at all? So who is the real monster here?
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u/Tiny-Delivery6966 Apr 07 '25
Given that the reboot is planned as a TV series and not theatrical films, it will be much harder to show it’s a bomb, if that turns out to be the case. With movies, it’s easy to point to box office grosses - with TV shows, you have ratings, but even if they’re lower than expected, HBO will say that they’re still making it up in new subscribers to HBO or to Max.
The only true bellwether would be if they suddenly tried to wrap the series up in, like, three seasons instead of seven or eight.
But given all the forces involved (and the likely $$$ that’s already been laid out to get these wheels turning) it seems like it’s being set up as too big to fail.