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Harry Potter & The Desperate Movie Studio

David Zaslav may want more Potter hits, but he has more than a few obstacles—franchise challenges, sequel blues, a complicated and semi-cancelled talent—in front of him. And Zaz needs Rowling more than she needs him.

JK Rowling
Rowling alone created one of the singular pieces of intellectual property of all time, so no matter how much value Warner Bros. brought to the asset she gets to control and leverage the I.P. as she chooses. Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
November 14, 2022

I know I wasn’t alone in chuckling when the new Warner Bros. Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav announced on an earnings call last week that he’d really like to do “something with J.K. on Harry Potter going forward,” noting that his film executives “haven’t done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years.” You don’t say! one rival exec texted, echoing a few calls I got from others on the Warners lot. People are terrible.