20 years later, and Harry Potter streaming is still too complicated

Harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone (Where philosopher’s Stone, depending on your location) was released in theaters 20 years ago today. He kicked off the eight-film adaptation of the hugely popular children’s book series, which ended with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ten years ago in 2011.

At that time, the Potter the movies have become a magnet for the marathon, driven in large part by fan-favorite Freeform (not ABC Family) broadcasts. ABC actually reclaimed the rights to the series just weeks after the first movie hit theaters, would have spent around $ 140 million be able to broadcast the first two films.

The network spent the next decade collecting the broadcasting rights for the remaining films as they were released, culminating in the beginning of the deathly hallows part 2 in winter 2013. Freeform would spend the next half-decade regularly airing the full Potter saga on weekends, especially during the holidays (which didn’t particularly matter).

Unlike most large properties, Harry potter has spent most of its two decades of existence unavailable on streaming services, aside from brief stints at HBO. It was a relic of an old era of pre-internet movies, where TV rights and DVD sales were the priority the day after box office revenue, and the idea of ​​Netflix as a streaming service. was just a glimmer of thought in Reed Head of Hastings.

Image: Warner Bros

It all ended in 2016, however. Disney’s rights to ABC were due to expire at the end of 2017, and the Potter franchise was suddenly an extremely valuable chip for Warner Bros. to license anyone who was willing to pay the price. The rights were split, with NBCUniversal securing the cable rights to SyFy and USA (and its digital platforms) for around $ 250 million, with streaming going to sister company Warner Bros. HBO.

Timing here is also essential. 2016 was years before AT&T bought Time Warner, the creation of WarnerMedia, or the announcement that the new brand company would form its own streaming service, which would ultimately be called HBO Max.

In 2021, having fan-favorite streaming content is essential, a lesson that has been proven time and time again by expensive rights purchases for things like Seinfeld Where Office. But this lesson was much less clear when Potter’s rights were last suspended. And now with NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia the two trying to get their own streaming service off the ground, having the Harry Potter movies to recreate those rose-tinted memories of ABC Family weekends has become more important than ever.

The result is a dizzying tussle between the two services that has seen the Potter films bounce back from Peacock to HBO Max and return every few months since the two services launched in April and May 2020.

At the time of publication, the series is available on the two platforms (for now), but with the NBCUniversals deal not expiring until 2025, there’s a good chance Potter will continue to move through the complex licensing maze for the next several years.

So where does all of this leave a Harry Potter fan who is just looking to be able to excessively stare at the wizard boy on a weekend quirk? Well, you can try to find out where the Potter rights are in any given month. (There is no shortage of sites on the internet looking to cash in on SEO games to try and answer this question.) You can admit defeat and pay both HBO Maxs $ 14.99 per month and Peacock Premiums $ 4.99 per month. months to ensure a consistent Potter proofread.

But I would suggest cutting the Gordian knot of terrible licensing deals altogether and pulling a card from the networks book: just like ABC, NBC, or HBO, just buy a copy of the movie from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu or whatever. or the digital retailer of your choice. Damn, buy a Blu-Ray, if you have room for the discs and something to watch them.

Harry Potter movies support the Movies Anywhere digital locker system, so if you buy them on a platform, you can sync them with virtually any major service. The purchased copies, unlike Peacock and HBO Max, offer 4K resolution and Dolby Vision HDR. And the films are regularly on sale. (At the time of publication, there is a large discount of $ 59.99 on the eight-movie series on Google Play, iTunes, and Vudu for the 4K versions.)

Plus, once purchased, the movies are actually yours (or at least, as much yours as any digitally purchased movie, which is best you can hope for in 2021) for a marathon on the go. head whenever you want.

Streaming was meant to be the big answer to cable’s capricious schedule, promising a world where any movie could be watched whenever you want. But Harry Potter is the perfect Storm of Fighting Marks where the easiest solution is to just give up completely.