The Harry Potter movies once served as Warner Bros.' biggest franchise, with many blaming its success on the DCU not being a priority for the studios at the time. Still, it's been a very long time since the final movie was released back in 2011. Since then, we've had a prequel/spin-off courtesy of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, though that's proven to be something of a let-down.
While Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was undeniably fun, the sequels were a major decline in quality, with not even the level of damage control in the latest instalment doing much to put the troubled series back on the right track. We're supposed to be getting at least two more movies to conclude this story but, as expected, that no longer seems to be the plan.
Both The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore were box office disappointments, and the new regime at Warner Bros. Discovery forging ahead with those sequels...well, it wouldn't be the smartest of business decisions for the frugal CEO David Zaslav.
In a report from Variety (via SFFGazette.com), it's established that despite Zaslav's recent comments about potentially returning to the Harry Potter franchise, "There are no active discussions currently with Rowling about developing another 'Harry Potter' movie."
In fact, "There is also currently nothing in 'the Wizarding World' in active development at Warner Bros., inclusive of both the 'Harry Potter' franchise and 'Fantastic Beasts' IP." That just about closes the door on Fantastic Beasts 4, meaning we're unlikely to ever see how the battle between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald ended.
We're sure the Harry Potter franchise is a well Warner Bros. will return to sooner rather than later, though what form that will take is impossible to say. There continue to be rumblings about a big screen adaptation of The Cursed Child, though the original cast doesn't appear to be in any rush to reprise their iconic roles.
Stay tuned to SFFGazette.com for further updates.