In the latest round of streaming service musical chairs, theHarry Pottermovies are heading to a new home. NBCUniversal has announced that the original eight movies in the beloved franchise will be making their debut on Peacock in October. The service launched last month and will be getting a major boost this fall from the Wizarding World.
The Sorcerer’s Stone,The Chamber of Secrets,The Prisoner of Azkaban,The Goblet of Fire,The Order of the Phoenix,The Half-Blood PrinceandThe Deathly Hallowsparts 1 and 2 will all be available on Peacock. The company says the movies will be available for a six-month window into 2021. It’s expected that the series will come and go over time, which has become increasingly common for streaming services in recent years. Frances Manfredi, president ofcontent acquisition and strategy at Peacock, had this to say in a statement.
“The Harry Potter franchise is beloved by people of all ages and represents the caliber of quality entertainment customers can expect to find on Peacock. We’ve built aworld-class collection of iconic movies and shows, and we will continue to expand the film library with treasured titles from NBCUniversal and beyond that will surprise and delight Peacock customers time and time again.”
With that, WarnerMedia cut a short term deal so that theHarry Potter movies could be available on HBO Max at launch. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s likely Warner Bros. would not have made the deal, asHarry Potteris one of the crown jewels of the studio’s empire. But the Chosen One will now be shifting over to Peacock. The difference with Peacock is that it has a free tier, which is ad-supported. Most premium streaming services do not offer a free plan. It costs $4.99 for premium, ad-supported and $9.99 per month without ads.
It does not appear thatFantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemorFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwaldare part of this deal. They could, however, make their way to Peacock at some point down the line.Harry Potterremains one of the most successful movie franchises of all time. Including theFantastic Beastsspin-offs, the series has earned more than $9.2 billion at the global box office. This news was previously reported byThe Hollywood Reporter.
