June 2022 will mark the 25th anniversary of the publication of the first “Harry Potter” book in the U.K., and the franchise is still going strong — well, sort of. “Harry Potter” is undeniably an incredibly popular franchise, with regard to the seven primary books, eight films based on those books, a Broadway play and now three (and counting) “Fantastic Beasts” films. The “Harry Potter” film franchise is the third-highest-grossing franchise of all time, and books, games and toys from “Harry Potter” stores made about $15 billion total since the release of the franchise. Despite its success, now is the perfect time for the “Harry Potter” franchise to retire and ride off into the sunset.
Artistically, it seems as though the franchise has run its course. While the seven original books, released from 1997 to 2007, are all classics, and even the initial eight films, released from 2001 to 2011, were also met with positive reviews and great box office success, the franchise has started to peter out in recent years. The franchise had a brief period of dormancy from 2012 to 2015, as there were no major films or books released during that period. However, in 2016, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” both a stage production and written play, and the film “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” were released.
The year 2016 is critical to understanding “Harry Potter” history because it marks the beginning of the end, so to speak. All prior major “Harry Potter” films and books were centered around Harry’s time at the wizarding school Hogwarts, when he was between the ages of 11 and 17 years old. On the other hand, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is set 19 years after the original storyline, and the “Fantastic Beasts” films are set decades before. This break from the traditional “Harry Potter” time span is representative of the franchise wanting to expand further and become an ongoing piece of media that transcends any individual medium.
While it is certainly possible for a franchise to expand and grow into a juggernaut that dominates multiple entertainment mediums — take the Marvel franchise with films and television — “Harry Potter” has failed to stick the landing. Starting with “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the play was met with positive reviews from critics, but to say it divided the fans would be putting it mildly. The play was particularly divisive, as many fans even ventured as far as to call the story “fan fiction” and do not believe that the story deserves to be a part of the “Harry Potter” canon. In particular, the way that the story uses Time-Turners has been heavily criticized for contradicting their previously established mechanics and since all of the Time-Turners were said to have been destroyed. The failure of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” to please fans is something that will continue to be a problem with the “Fantastic Beasts” films.
The first film in the new series, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” was met with mostly positive reviews, achieving a critical score of 74 percent and audience score of 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. However, its sequel, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” was unable to find similar success. It has a Rotten critical score of 36 percent and only slightly higher fan score of 54 percent. This failure is reflected in the box office performance of the film, as it is the lowest-grossing “Harry Potter” film, both domestically and internationally. The newest “Fantastic Beasts” film will release on April 15, 2022, but given the diminishing returns of the last two films, it is probable that “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” will continue the trend of these films grossing less and less as time goes on and the fan base becomes more disinterested.
Another problem that the “Harry Potter” franchise is facing is a social one, as creator J.K. Rowling has faced a lot of backlash recently for her comments about the transgender community. Rowling has gained notoriety for her numerous transphobic Twitter rants and her book “Trouble Blood,” which features a man who dresses as a woman in order to kill other women. Many actors from the “Harry Potter” films, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, have all spoken out against Rowling in support of the trans community. Going deeper, fans have also gone back to the original “Harry Potter” books and found similar problems, such as the racist portrayal of Cho Chang, Dumbledore letting Harry be physically and emotionally abused by his family and the house elves supporting their own slavery. Unfortunately, Rowling is still set to write and produce all of the upcoming “Fantastic Beasts” films, despite the controversy surrounding her.
Rowling is not the only person associated with the “Harry Potter” franchise to face controversy, as actor Johnny Depp has also found himself in hot water recently. Depp portrayed Gellert Grindelwald in the first two “Fantastic Beasts” films, but will be replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in all future projects. Depp was fired from the franchise after losing a libel case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, regarding domestic abuse allegations. While the details of the case are murky, it is clear that “Harry Potter” is facing more than its fair share of negative publicity with Rowling and Depp.
The “Harry Potter” franchise is one of the most successful literary and film franchises of all time, but now is the time for it to finally hang up the reins and revel in its success. Since 2016, every piece of “Harry Potter” media and news has been divisive, either for its quality or for social controversy. After the newest “Fantastic Beasts” film is released in April, the franchise really needs to call it quits before irreparable damage is done to the reputation of the franchise as a whole. Although, it may already be too late for that.
Eli Engler is a freshman majoring in chemistry.