Warner Bros. Discovery just had their third quarter earnings call and during that presentation CEO David Zaslav talked about how he wants to put the focus back on established properties like DC and Harry Potter.

Zaslav stated that they need to focus on franchises in response to one media analysts question about how content will be different under him.  He said:

“We’re going to have a real focus on franchises. We haven’t had a ‘Superman’ movie in 13 years. We haven’t done a ‘Harry Potter’ movie in 15 years. The DC movies and the ‘Harry Potter’ movies provided a lot of the profits of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures over the last 25 years. So a focus on the franchise — one of the big advantages that we have, ‘House of the Dragon’ is an example of that, ‘Game of Thrones,’ taking advantage of ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Lord of the Rings,’ we still have the right to do ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies. What are the movies that have brands that are understood and loved everywhere in the world?”

He also made sure to include J.K. Rowling in regards to Harry Potter:

“Outside the U.S., most in the aggregate, Europe, Latin America, Asia, have 40% of the theaters that we have here in the U.S. and there is local content. And so when you have a franchise movie, you can often make two to three times the amount of money that you make in the U.S., because you get a slot. And a focus on the big movies that are loved, that are tent poled, that people are going to leave early from dinner to go to see — and we have a lot of them. Batman, Superman, Aquaman, if we can do something with JK on ‘Harry Potter’ going forward, ‘Lord of the Rings,’ what are we doing with ‘Game of Thrones’? What are we doing with a lot of the big franchises that we have? We’re focused on franchises.”

They have had a continuation of “Harry Potter” with the Wizarding World “Fantastic Beasts’ series. But those films started out relatively strong and have seen a steep box office decline.

Then there’s the charge to cancel Rowling for her perceived transphobia over tweets she made in regards to women saying things like:

‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020

If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020

The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020

The tweets have led to calls for boycotts on Harry Potter IP, books, games, etc. While some take offense a lot of others do not and even more don’t even know about the tweets to begin with.

Now Warner Bros. Discovery is looking for content and looking for money and the CEO is publicly listing her and ‘Harry Potter’ as a franchise worth their time.

It could be great news for ‘Harry Potter’ fans and ‘Wizarding World’ fans.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!

Source: Variety