HBO Max is once again losing all of the Harry Potter movies as they move back to another streaming platform. The eight-film series adapted from the seven books by J.K. Rowling was wildly popular throughout its run, becoming one of the biggest movie franchises of all time by grossing billions of dollars around the world. HBO Max even held the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special earlier this year, which reunited the golden trio of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson with other cast members and original director Chris Columbus to discuss the movies.
All eight Harry Potter films were available on HBO Max when it launched in May 2020, but left after 90 days and moved to Peacock. HBO Max managed to get the rights back in September 2021, and additionally has all three Fantastic Beasts movies, which take place in the Wizarding World before Harry's time. The movies' switch in 2020 to NBCUniversal’s Peacock came around the time of Rowling’s controversial statements on transgender people, but the streaming platform confirmed the Harry Potter films' removal was related only to licensing terms. Now those terms have resulted in another switch.
As Variety reports, the Harry Potter films are once again moving from HBO Max to Peacock. All eight movies are currently available on both services, but August 31 will mark the last day they are present on HBO Max. After that day, only Peacock will be able to stream the Boy Who Lived's adventures. However, the three Fantastic Beasts films will remain on HBO Max for the time being.
The arrival of the Harry Potter franchise is certainly a boon for Peacock, which has been trying to find its footing in an increasingly crowded streaming landscape. However, the constantly shifting platforms represent a frustrating aspect of streaming, where movies don't seem to stay in one place for very long. There could be many Harry Potter fans without Peacock subscriptions who are frustrated by this change. Based on what's come before, though, it seems likely that Harry and his friends will make their way back to HBO Max in the future.
Although HBO Max seems to have - at least temporarily - lost the battle for the Harry Potter movies in the war for streaming platform supremacy, it remains a giant with a wide variety of new and old content. However, it is nice for Harry Potter fans to have all eight films on a platform with a free tier option like Peacock, compared to HBO Max’s $14.99 a month. HBO Max still has the reunion and Fantastic Beasts, and the possible development of a Harry Potter television show could also be enough to soothe those disappointed by the movies' departure.
Source: Variety