It might be time for Warner Bros. Discovery, and the millions of wannabe Hogwarts students out there, to face up to an uncomfortable truth: the Harry Potter franchise is tainted. Thanks to creator J.K. Rowling’s outspoken transphobia, it’s impossible for any Wizarding World project to enjoy a stress-free release and reception. Just look at the Hogwarts Legacy debacle, with even highly positive reviews being drowned out by ongoing controversy surrounding the game.
Luckily for the studio, and anyone willing to give another similarly themed franchise a shot, however, Warner Bros. has the rights to another charming magical fantasy saga about a boy wizard — and now would be the perfect time to finally translate that into live-action. Surprisingly, the potential for WB to save face after Harry Potter‘s downfall rests with James Gunn and his shiny, new DCU. That’s because the property in question is The Books of Magic, the cult favorite comic book from none other than Neil Gaiman.
Originally a four-issue miniseries published in 1990-1991, which later spawned many spinoffs, The Books of Magic follows Timothy Hunter, a young boy who discovers he’s destined to be a powerful wizard and so is taught all about magic and mysticism by some of the greatest sorcerers in the DC universe, like John Constantine and Zatanna. Given that Timothy is also a dark-haired bespectacled kid who has a dead mom and an owl for a pet, DC readers have long suspected Rowling cribbed some of her concepts from Gaiman’s lesser-known work.
Just a few months ago, in the wake of Gunn taking over DC Studios with Peter Safran, Gaiman touched on the possibility of a Books of Magic movie, telling fans that it’s up to the studio whether such a thing ever happened. Traditionally, it’s easy to see why WB has never done anything with the IP — why would they, when they had the far more popular Harry Potter universe to play with? Now, though, turning Books of Magic into a multimedia franchise must be seeming a whole lot more appealing.
Gaiman’s creation has none of the negative associated bad air that Harry Potter does these days and it’s even connected to WB’s other jewel in the crown, the DC universe — plus, Gunn’s already proven he has room for the stranger, supernatural side of the comics. e.g. Creature Commandos. The studio can keep limping on with the Wizarding World if it wants, or it could do the smart thing — from both a commercial and a creative standpoint — and bring some other magical books to life.
