KH Studio is a YouTube channel that constructs trailers for movies and TV shows that don't actually have trailers yet, or that don't exist altogether. For instance, the other day, the channel uploaded a trailer for a fake movie called Harry Potter: Return of the Dark Lord. The "trailer" remixes clips from other movies — including the Harry Potter films, Max's Harry Potter reunion special and completely unrelated movies like The Sorcerer's Apprentice — together with AI-generated video snippets to give the impression that it's a trailer for a brand-new film about Harry, Ron, Hermione sending their kids off to Hogwarts. But again, this movie doesn't exist. You can watch the trailer above.
The About page for HK Studios says that the channel creates "concept trailers" that align with YouTube policies. "These are derivative works as defined by the United States Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. § 101, and as such, may find protection from copyright claims under the doctrine of fair use," they claim.
I can't say for certain whether those claims would hold up in court, but I can say that these fake trailers seem to tick off more people than they please. The trailer for Harry Potter: The Dark Lord Returns has 10k dislikes to around 3k likes. That sort of lop-sided ratio is pretty common (though not universal) no matter where you look, whether it's the studio's fake trailer for Stranger Things season 5, their fake trailer for Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey, or their fake trailer for a new Twilight movie that doesn't exist.
While HK Studios does admit on its page that these trailers aren't real, it's pretty clear some people aren't getting the message and walking away angry. And I don't think saying you make "concept trailers" in your About Page is enough to dismiss all of those people. I think a disclaimer at the top of every trailer could help, or even changing the name of the channel to "Fake Trailers" or something. Why leave room for ambiguity?
Anyway, while there's no new Harry Potter movie in the works so far as we know, HBO is working on a new TV show based on the original books. There's no trailer for that yet, but I somehow I think one might turn up on HK Studios anyway.
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