The trailer for Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is here
The new special will debut on HBO Max on January 1
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The full trailer for Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is here. In it, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and other members of the Harry Potter cast revisit the sets of the eight-film series and reminisce about their filming, 20 years after the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in 2001.
The special also includes other cast members Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Ian Hart, Toby Jones, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch. Also participating in the special is producer David Heyman and filmmakers Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will hit HBO Max on January 1, and air on TBS and Cartoon Network later in the year.
Notably absent from the list of participants is author and creator J.K. Rowling, who has been using her social media presence for years to spread virulent transphobia. Last year, Radcliffe wrote an essay deriding Rowling’s horrific views, and Grint, Watson, and Wright all followed suit. Many trans people and their allies were upset when these actors decided to be involved in the anniversary project, since everything Harry Potter ultimately benefits its creator, even if she’s not shown on screen.
Meanwhile, the Harry Potter content machine keeps churning. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is set to hit theaters on April 15, 2022, and Rowling co-wrote the screenplay. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child reopened on Broadway, with other productions happening worldwide. Plus there’s the multiple theme parks, and a brand new Harry Potter flagship store in New York City.
And just last week, Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff told The Hollywood Reporter, “We would love to develop more original Harry Potter series, and we regularly talk to J.K. Rowling and her team.” Fans have to decide for themselves whether they can separate the art from the artist, but it seems pretty clear that as long as Harry Potter is still making money, Rowling will continue to profit.
60 Comments
they truly are a charismatic trio, and seem all pretty well adjusted for child stars. which makes me think Disney must have provided a certain level of awful/unsafe working environments to a lot of its child actors.and yah, fuck rowling, I hope they take a moment to acknowledge that during the special.
The fuck the shot at Disney for? Most of the horror stories you hear are from 60s-80s sitcom child actors or from whichever Corey is in the news. Oh, and vile garbage from fanboys who didn’t touch a female breast with consent until they were 19 deciding to take their lack of knowledge of the clitoris out on Jake Lloyd.
is this mickey mouse himself? Lohan, Spears, Simpson, Lovato, Gomez, Efron, Carter, etc. all seem to have battled or continue to battle a lot of demons after Disney, just seems like maybe they are more exploitive as a studio.
Meh, a few crackwhores are going to show up in any job. Things can seem however they like to you, but that isn’t proof of exploitation.
“a few crackwhores are going to show up in any job”
If you’re saying that the types of systemic abuses that often lead to mental health and substance abuse disorders aren’t limited to the entertainment industry, then you are correct. I bet that’s not what you’re saying, though.
Uh, none of those people you listed have ever blamed any of their issues on Disney. And Lovato is just desperate for attention since she can’t seem to stop blowing lines.
you sound pretty desperate in your gross views on things.
What if it is more of an America problem than a child actor problem….
I mean, if you’re going to have a go at someone for making claims without evidence, maybe don’t make wild and ultimately irrelevant assumptions about people’s sexual experiences just because you don’t like them.
Spoken like someone who has some “Kill yourself, Jake and Ahmed” posts in his AOL message board history
Well, no, I’ve never told anyone to kill themselves, because I’m not a prick, but making wild, baseless accusations seems fun to you, so whatever helps.
Hasn’t Radcliffe been upfront about battling alcoholism?
Yeah, I think he quite understandably found himself overwhelmed by getting shot into the entertainment stratosphere, and unhealthy drinking was part of that. Props to Radcliffe for coming out the other side.
The success of their casting continues to amaze me. I know the diligence they did on how parents, older siblings, etc. aged was extensive but to not have a dud among the entire cast is pretty amazing. The fact that none is a washed-up mess making convention appearances for a little cash even more so.
Honestly, I’m kind of disappointed in Grint, Radcliffe, and Watson for doing this.
I just with they would completely wash their hands of Harry Potter because of how impossibly toxic Rowling has become.
I’m disappointed too. They should have all refused to take part if JK wasn’t allowed to take part because of a couple of hairy knuckle dragging trannies.
You’re a real piece of subhuman garbage.
The movies were 1/3 of their lives, it’s hard to just drop that and pretend like it never happened. I can’t blame them for doing this.
2/3
The film production lasted from the ages of 11-21, and they’re all about 31/32 now. That would be 1/3.
Plus, Rupert Grint’s ice cream truck doesn’t restock itself.
I hear he isn’t even a real red head.
Spent his earnings on hair dye.
you really want them to say fuck you to all the friends they made working on these films that made them the household names that they are just because the author has some bad opinions?would you also turn down seeing your friends and family just because they’re getting together at your racist uncles house? just don’t watch it if you don’t care, these movies still mean a lot to the fans and actors despite the shitty tweets of the creator. I’m certain you take money from people you don’t 100% see eye to eye with.
Really easy to give back someone else’s money, isn’t it? They did the work and they earned the salary. If they want to cash a bit more on a glorified appearance fee, more power.
Daniel Radcliffe is worth 94 million POUNDS. That’s what, ~$160 million? When faced with the avenue that gave you ~$160 million you get on your knees and suck that God damn dick if it asks you to.
They can’t; drugs are expensive.
Eh if it’s an outside production it’s not necessarily financially benefiting Rowling in any way (and it’s hard to say it would motivate people to watch the films more when they’re on TV all the time) I don’t see the problem in them talking about their experiences on the films.
Would it really be so bad if we all just forgot Harry Potter was ever a thing?
It’s clearly still very important to you.
I don’t see how that’s clear
Forgetium Potterosa or whateverthefuck
I was just trying to think of anything truly unique or novel Harry Potter added to the pop cultural landscape, and those funky Latinized spell names are all I could come up with. And how valuable is that, really? I say just be gone with all of it. Give kids Lord of the Rings when they ask for wizard-type stuff. I haven’t read it but I don’t think it has any swearing or fucking in it or anything.
I don’t think you can overlook how that series got a lot of kids into reading, and specifically longer novels. When Goblet was released people claimed kids weren’t going to read a 600+ page book and couldn’t have been more wrong.
Sure, but how many of those kids would ever read a book that didn’t have X-Men powers in it?
I’d like to think the conversion rate to non-fantasy was better than 0%!
This. Whatever else you want to say about Harry Potter, you can’t deny the impact those books had on getting kids to read. Now we just have to hope that generation of kids eventually discovered much better books.
The joyous discovery of reading becomes a life long passion. Books.
Give kids Lord of the Rings when they ask for wizard-type stuff. This is the worst take ever. Lord of the Rings is dense, violent, and (most of all) outdated. Plus there is only 2 wizards.Harry Potter works because it is a Fantasy World that focuses on ONE group of people, the human analog of witches and wizards. LOTR tries to weave elves, trolls, dwarves, ents, hobbits…LOTR may have given a bunch of nerds a place to feel safe from the real world, but Harry Potter gave every kid in a generation that space; and that’s why until the millenials are dead it will stick around.
A. I’m sure J.R.R. Tolkien was pretty racist.
B. Lord of the rings is about ancient heroes in a foreign realm. Harry Potter is about an ordinary, present day kid just like the target audience.
C. You are free to forget about Harry Potter if you like. People are also free to like it.
Mass amnesia is always concerning.
Nope, maybe as its because I was an adult when they came out , but the books were just lame copies of the kind of stuff Margret Mahy and Diana Wynne Jones were doing years before hand. And the movies were fun (plus they started the careers of a lot of great young actors) and an excuse to give every actor in Britain and Ireland a job for a while , but no great shakes.And that’s before Rowling decided to double down on angering about 75% of the internet.
Simple answer: Yes, extremely.
Come on people. Did we not learn our lesson after Return to Oz?
Kiss your mother with that mouth! Return To Oz kicks ass and more franchises should have taken risks like that.
Okay, fine, but we all agree that Returning to the Planet of the Apes was a bad idea, right?
Return to Oz is damn near perfect.I only say “near” because they didn’t get a chance to do a couple of sequels. The Baum books (and the later ones by Ruth Plumly Thompson) are pretty innocuous and everything works out in the end and is happy… but on the way there? A ton of weird villains and odd, creepy societies and desperate situations. Return to Oz had all that in spades, with the added attraction of a Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) much closer in age and demeanor than Judy Garland.[Also, hey – it didn’t turn out to be a dream. Seriously, in the musical? nothing is going to stop Mrs. Gulch from showing up again and killing Toto. She’s still alive and still has that paper from the sheriff. A simple line like “oh, I’m glad you’re awake, Dorothy, the only person who died in the tornado was Mrs. Gulch. Her house fell on her!” would have solved at least one of the narrative problems in that movie…
Blah this all feels like brand management so people might be interested in that Fantastic Beast thing.
> members of the Harry Potter cast revisit the sets of the eight-film series“Here’s the green screen where I fought that monster. And here’s the green screen where we pretended we were in the Great Hall…”“Ooh, that one is especially green!”“It is. And here’s the empty warehouse where we shot the Winter Ball dancing scenes…”
So is HBO Max’s new thing just spending millions of dollars to reunite casts of things you liked years ago to sit and exchange politely banal memories?
Also DC movies.
It’s one of their things yeah.
Looks better than the new fantastic beasts trailer. Not that this is a high bar.
“Fans have to decide for themselves whether they can separate the art from the artist, but it seems pretty clear that as long as Harry Potter is still making money, Rowling will continue to profit.”
NOW HERE’S THE TRAILER!
Reading the list of directors behind the Harry Potter films it is striking how much more talented Alfonso Cuaron is to the rest. No surprise Prisoner of Azkaban is the best film in the series. I’m assuming its success led to the making of Children of Men, making it the best thing to come from Harry Potter.
Will the special dare to tackle Daniel Radcliffe’s turbulent on-set behaviour after the Potter films?
Harry Potted.
Blerg I’m probably going to watch this. I’ve been trying to stay away from HP stuff since Rowling showed her bigotry, but this trailer poked me right in the heart strings. I hope they had Oldham and Bonham Carter (the two non-Maggie Smith actors with the least number of fucks to give) interview together. I wanna hear some hot goss about the adult supporting actors.
I would want two thing out of a reunion like this, one of which I apparently won’t have and one of which I can’t: Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman.
I can’t wait for this. I’ll always love the movies (and the books), and take any opportunity I can for more content.