The Harry Potter movies have bounced between HBO Max and Peacock for a while now. The game continues.
In the streaming wars, every piece of territory counts, and the Harry Potter movies represent some very valuable real estate. Warner Bros. produced the eight films, so you’d figure they’d have a permanent home on HBO Max, the streaming service operated by Warner Bros. Discovery. But the movies have been bouncing between HBO Max and Peacock for a while now. At the moment, they’re available on both services, but soon enough, you’ll only be able to watch the adventures of Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the latter service.
Per Variety, as of August 31, all eight Harry Potter movies — that’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2 — will leave HBO Max and only be available on Peacock, where they’ve been streamable since July 1. So you have another month and change to enjoy them on multiple platforms.
Why, you might ask, can’t HBO Max keep a hold of these things? It has to do with deals Warner Bros. made before HBO Max really took off. Back then, the company didn’t anticipate needing to use the Harry Potter movies to draw people to its own proprietary streaming service, and so made deals with other companies to lend them out. Now that streaming is the name of the game, it’s surely kicking itself over those decisions.
Eventually the movies will probably make their way back to HBO Max where Warner Bros. Discovery surely hopes they’ll stay for good, but for now, the situation changes as readily as the wind.
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