The end of July 2020 marks the birthday of the character, Harry Potter, and the author behind him, JK Rowling. And for fans of the film franchise, it also means there isn’t much time left to watch the movies on HBO Max. Did Rowling’s recent comments on social media lead to this? This is what we know.
JK Rowling is the author of the ‘Harry Potter’ books
Rowling is best known for writing the novels that inspired the movies. Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (or The Philosopher’s Stone in his native UK) was his first published work and quickly became an international phenomenon at the turn of the century, and beyond.
The author followed the book with six sequels: 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 Princeand Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
What role did you play in turning books into movies?
RELATED: ‘Harry Potter’ Creator JK Rowling Almost Played A Significant Role In Film Series
Not long after Rowling published the first novel in the series, Warner Bros. bought the rights to the film. As I continued writing, the films went into production, always just a couple of years after the book’s release. Rowling reviewed all the scripts and consulted in various ways.
Despite this, she was not credited as a producer in the first six films. It was not until The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2 that she received that distinction. For the spin-off Fantastic beasts and where to find them and its subsequent sequels, Rowling has both writer and producer credits.
All seven movies are available to stream on HBO Max, for now.
RELATED: HBO Max has all the ‘Harry Potter’ movies, but Roku and Amazon viewers still unhappy with Streamer
Both HBO and Warner Bros. are under the larger WarnerMedia umbrella. The conglomerate joined the streaming game with a new service, HBO Max, released in May 2020. Due to a license agreement with NBCUniversal, it was initially thought that the Harry Potter Films would not be available.
Fortunately, WarnerMedia was able to reach an agreement. When the streaming service launched, all eight movies (plus the second of the two Fantastic beasts fees) were available to view. However, as of August 25, 2020, they will no longer be there, according to Variety.
Rowling’s views have nothing to do with it.
The publication specified that the movies are coming out of HBO Max due to “standard license terms.” But given Rowling’s prevalence in the news cycle, it’s understandable to assume that she’s to blame. The author has spent a lot of time on Twitter lately sharing her views, and some have said she is “canceled.”
In June 2020, after tweeting about the issue of transgender people, Rowling published a divisive essay titled “TERF Wars.” Dialogue on social networks continued to increase. Rowling then signed “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” for Harper’s Magazine, which further fueled the conversation.
