Harry Potter: Warner Bros. Rebrands Wizarding World

Warner Bros. Discovery has cast a Transfiguration spell over the Wizarding World. Fan site The Rowling Library noticed that the official Wizarding World website, which launched as Pottermore.com in 2011, now redirects to HarryPotter.com. The website, a joint venture between Pottermore Ltd. and Warner Bros., has been operating as WizardingWorld.com since 2019.

The Wizarding World logo — an open book with wands as its “pages,” each representing characters from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchises — has been in use since 2018. But now the rebranded site is under the umbrella of the lightning bolt-shaped Harry Potter logo from the books and film series.

According to The Rowling Library, Wizarding World Digital’s latest newsletter mentions the “HPHQ” (Harry Potter Headquarters), and “The Wizarding World Team,” which publishes features, news stories, games, and other activities on the website, has been replaced with “The Harry Potter Editorial Team.”

The site also hosts a free-to-join Harry Potter Fan Club and contains content related to the Wizarding World, “The magical universe that encompasses Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and an expanding range of characters, stories, experiences and products derived from them, as well as new projects inspired by this magical universe.”

Warner Bros. did not respond to ComicBook’s request for comment about the rebranding.

Besides the eight-movie Harry Potter saga and the Fantastic Beasts trilogy, Warner Bros. has expanded the Wizarding World franchise with the hit Hogwarts Legacy video game, the Broadway play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed areas at Universal’s theme parks in California, Florida, Japan, and China. A Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic expansion, themed to 1920s wizarding Paris from Fantastic Beasts, is set to open as part of the Universal Epic Universe theme park in Orlando in 2025.

It’s unclear what the rebrand might mean for the Fantastic Beasts series. In 2016, before Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them released, author and series screenwriter J.K. Rowling announced a five-movie plan for the prequel series set decades before the events of Harry Potter.

But the spinoffs failed to cast the same spell as the original film series and have seen diminishing returns: 2016’s Fantastic Beasts‘ global gross was $814 million, while 2018’s The Crimes of Grindelwald earned $655 million, and 2022’s The Secrets of Dumbledore finished its run as the lowest-grossing Wizarding World film with $407 million. Later that year, it was reported Warner Bros. had no Wizarding World films in development despite Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s announcement that the company would have “a real focus on franchises” like DC, The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Harry Potter.

“We haven’t done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years,” Zaslav said during a 2022 earnings call (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 released in 2011). “The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of the profits of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures over the last 25 years. A focus on the franchise… the movies that have brands that are understood and loved everywhere in the world.” The original Harry Potter saga grossed $7.7 billion over eight movies between 2001 and 2011.

While there may not be another Harry Potter movie, Warners announced in 2023 an order for the first-ever Harry Potter TV series. The HBO Original series is described as a “faithful adaptation” of Rowling’s seven-book series, with Rowling serving as executive producer. HBO, in association with Warner Bros. Television, is currently casting actors for the series from showrunner and executive producer Francesca Gardiner (Succession) and executive producer and director Mark Mylod (Game of Thrones and The Last of Us).

“The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years,” Warners said in a press release announcing the series order. “Each season will bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and cherished films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.”