The stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is reportedly getting a movie adaptation.
On February 15th, Simon Boyle of the British tabloid newspaper revealed that higher-ups at Warner Bros. are hoping to replicate the box-office success of the original Harry Potter film series with a new movie set in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.
Insiders told The Sun that senior executives at Warner Bros. had started developing Harry Potter and The Cursed Child into a new film franchise.
“Warner Bros. are [sic] currently looking at how to bring The Cursed Child to the big screen,” a source said. “It has been in their sights since the play proved to be so popular in the West End. It [just] went onto the backburner for a while because there was so much work going on with the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
While the Fantastic Beast film series has been commercially successful overall, having collectively grossed $1.8 billion across three films, its most recent installment, 2022’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore only earned $407 million at the worldwide box office against a production budget of $200 million.
“A line has been temporarily drawn on that for now, especially given its lackluster performance,” said the source of Fantastic Beasts. “So it’s full steam ahead when it comes to developing The Cursed Child.
This isn’t the first time that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been reported about getting a film adaptation. Back in July 2016, speculations about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child heading to the big screen surfaced after Warner Bros. applied to purchase the rights to the stage play.
Who will be in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child film series?
While the project is currently in “very formative stages,” the source pointed out that “the dream would be to have major stars returning, including Daniel Radcliffe, but that is still incredibly far off.”
The source added: “Everyone who works within the Harry world wants Daniel to be back, but first they have to iron out the plan for how many films it will be, a reworked script, and budgets.”
In September 2022 during an interview for his comedy film The Lost City, The New York Times asked Radcliffe if he would be ready to return to his role as Harry Potter. The actor replied that he was not interested in it at the moment, suggesting that he’s not completely closing his doors for the possibility of reprising his iconic role sometime in the future.
Who will direct the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child film series?
There’s currently no director attached to the project, but in November 2021, Chris Columbus, the director of the first two installments of the original Harry Potter film series, expressed interest in directing a film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, with the intent of having the main cast members reprise their roles.
“I would love to direct The Cursed Child,” Columbus told Variety when asked if he thinks there will be more Harry Potter movies after Fantastic Beasts. “It’s a great play and the kids [Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, etc.] are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine.”
How many Harry Potter and the Cursed Child movies will there be?
The Sun’s source said that “the hope at the moment is that The Cursed Child could be made into two films – both which would pack as much punch, if not more, than the stage show.”
About Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Written by Jack Thorne, based on an original story he co-wrote with J. K. Rowling and John Tiffany, the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It follows Harry Potter, now Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and his son, Albus Severus Potter, who is about to attend his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
There have been seven productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child around the world: West End, Broadway, Melbourne, San Francisco, Hamburg, Toronto, and Tokyo. All productions, except for San Francisco, are still running.
