HBO - Harry Potter

I wish they'd get a move on with the Last of Us reboot.

Time to make some more shit kid actors rich as fuck.

I'm always amazed when anyone over the age of 35 gives a toss about Harry Potter. Fully aware there's a younger generation who very much do, but it still feels weird when adults are enthusiastic about Potter beyond fleeting nostalgia.

Kind of surprised HBO are keen to keep the Potter cash machine rolling rather than let it fade given the controversy. There are so many other things they could reboot.

Well, if you are 40 now then you'd have been 14 when the first book came out, and 28 when the last movie came out.
And the books and movies were almost an annual event for those 14 years of your youth, so it's not really surprising that you'd have nostalgia for them (if you liked them).

Especially as the books were trumpeted as something that was for adults as well, so even if you were 50 it wouldn't be that weird for you to have started reading the books at age 24.

I'm probably more surprised that young kids these days are familiar with them.

Given the sales of Hogwarts Legacy, I'm not surprised HBO want the lovely cash, but I am a bit surprised they're planning to just straight up remake the books, given how iconic the movies and the actors in those roles were.

It's true that the 'school life' nature of the books does make them pretty good fodder for a YA-type tv show (i mean, school based dramas are a big thing), and the later books would probably have enough to flesh out whole seasons. It's just the recasting.
Though I guess I did say that I thought the younger generation wouldn't be familiar with the originals..

Why does a company want to make money though, why everyone? Can anyone explain why a company would like to make money?

I've always known the series was big, but I don't think I really appreciated just how global it was until I went to LA last year. I did the WB tour and there was a lot of pieces focusing on Potter in the museum sections. Friends was the biggest presence, but Potter was a close second. Then going to Universal and seeing the Hogsmead area of the park that was clearly THE draw to go there for a lot of people. For a franchise where the last 3 cinematic releases have been critically panned and seen as box office failures, it was surprising to see just how much good will it still had 12 years after its last real success (I guess there is the stage play, which presumably people like, even if it seemed to not do well critically).

I wonder if Hogwarts Legacy was being used as a litmus test as to whether they could go ahead with adding more to the franchise. I don't think it was massive surprise that it ended up being one of the biggest games of the year, but timing on this announcement does seem likely that the decision to go ahead with a TV series was connected to the game release.

Same. 
There's a Harry Potter Tour opening down the road from us in Tokyo this year. 
Universal Studios Osaka's Hogsmead Area is one of the biggest draws. 
One of the huge shopping areas in Tokyo has a bunch of Harry Potter themed areas. 

But I'd kinda assumed Fantastic Beasts and its age had taken the shine off... and I was clearly mistaken. 

Oh, it's on HBO?

That should guarantee plenty of people pirate it.

I get that it IS big, I'm just surprised it's appeal is as broad as it evidently is, given personal experience.

I was 13 when the first book came out and first tried to read it the following year age 14 after a glowing recommendation from a younger cousin.  At that age I already felt too old to engage with the characters and lost interest.  Harry and co were just kids and at 14 I was more interested in teen-angst stuff.  Teenagers tend to aspire to emulate what older kids are doing rather than look backwards to preteen.  I can't really recall any particular book series I was into at that awkward age (point horror was perhaps even a little earlier?), but TV habits were stuff like Buffy and Dawson's Creek.

I have tried reading them again since, and I also bought the audiobook as I like Stephen Fry and definitely feel like I'm missing out, but I still didn't get it.

So in terms of it becoming a phenomenon, I guess I'm just surprised they managed to generate all that momentum from what was likely U11s and their parents who were reading the books to them.  It's quite impressive it's become this massive global thing with broad appeal.


Someone compared Potter to Star Wars, but I don't think that really holds as all the main characters in OG Star Wars were young adults. There was a lot more for anyone aged 10 up to grab onto. In the reboot I wonder if they skip them straight to mid to late teens for this reason, or make it 'darker' to broaden appeal.

Maybe I need to give it another go.  Will certainly watch the first episode.

Your fingers were up so many different lovers they were too cramped and tired to turn the pages of a book

I remember in my first year of uni my girlfriend dragged me to see the first Harry Potter film. I didn't think much of it, and was massively into The Lord of the Rings at the time.

Now, I'm quite fascinated by Harry Potter. I'm going purely off the films here, but the world building, concepts, and even the names of things are absolutely fantastic. It's just such a well realised, elegant concept.

What fascinates me is how little JK Rowling did with it, story-wise. Harry started as the popular kid and finishes as the popular kid. It seems crazy to me that Rowling didn't leverage the "new loner kid at school" angle, and the bullying and everything else that goes with it, which Harry has to overcome. As a consequence, the overall story just seems frivolous, fanciful, and hollow. Maybe the books are different.

I think only Snape had a character arc to speak of, which is fine I suppose, but it took a lot of films to get there.

Is he popular with other kids at the start? I thought he was the weird one people don't like because of his special mark.

"Has it got a special mark? I can't take it without a special mark?"

Never read the books but the whole thing is forever tainted by the cunty views of the author now.
I bought the game for my daughter’s birthday last week but paid more than I could have got it new for so I could get it second hand from CEX, a teeeeeeeeennnyyy protest.
Yeah, CEX are selling it for £5 more than you can buy it online 🧐

I've been wondering why I never caught on to the books or even the films as a youngster. I was always aware of them, but was just never bothered enough to check them out.
I loved fantasy at the time, so surely could've just checked a book out of the library.
Tried watching the films for the first time this year and gave up after 5 of them. They're utter shit, with the adult cast being the only saving grace.

A series with young actors who can actually act might interest me, though.
This is clearly HBO trying to fill a GoT gap, so kind of curious to see how it pans out.