Well, well, well, what do we have here? It just so happens all eightHarry Pottermovies are currently available to stream on the newly-launched HBO Max service. After months of hype, HBO Max has finally landed, offering tons of movies and TV shows from every branch of the WarnerMedia family for us to begin binging on ASAP.
As we here at Collider discovered on Wednesday morning, all eightHarry Pottermovies are among those very bingeable offerings. This revelation also flies in the face of a report we posted less than 24 hours ago, which utilizes quotes from HBO Max Content ChiefKevin Reillywho toldBusiness Insiderin a recent interview thatnone of theHarry Pottermovies would be availableto stream on HBO Max any time soon. Reilly stated HBO Max was still trying to get the rights back to theHarry Potterfranchise hopefully by 2025, the date NBCUniversal’s ownership to the franchise’s streaming rights would expire. The HBO Max exec then went on to say,
“I’ll just say there is active engagement around that discussion. In terms of the marketplace, there’s a lot of opportunities for horse trading. The marketplace is shifting, with the impact of COVID and different companies launching different services, and it creates a lot of opportunities for horse trading. We’re seeing that across the board.”
One important piece of information missing from Reilly’s chat with Business Insider is when this interview was conducted. If we knew, it might shed some light on how HBO Max now has the ability to air all of theHarry Pottermovies. Did a deal come together last-minute? Did Reilly makes these comments a month or two ago and a deal took shape between then and now? Your guess is as good as mine. But thisHarry Potternews seemingly represents a victory for WarnerMedia, who have been working to regain streaming rights to various major IPs, with this franchise being a particularly notable holdout.
But, at any rate, you and I can now say, “AccioHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” to HBO Max and we’re sorted. And, in addition to watching all of theHarry Pottermovies on HBO Max, a Wednesday morning report fromThe Hollywood Reporterconfirms NBCUniversal still has retained the rights to air the movies on its linear channels. This meansHarry Pottermovies could still be shown on NBCU channels like SYFY and USA.
