@fantasia Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is releasing on HBO Max this December (Christmas?) 2026.

However, won't this new HP version be also competing against the Warner Brothers series, finished after the release of VDT. HP is a more secular sort of series than is the case with any of the Narnia chronicles, and I understand there has been also some difficulties with this new production after the actors of the earlier version parted ways with JKR over UK politics. Though I'd be interested in the comparisons, I do sympathise with your point of view, when I'm more interested in MN, now, than in a HP rehash. 

JK Rowling's last book in her septet, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was finished in January, in 2007, whilst she stayed at the Balmoral Hotel in Princes Street, Edinburgh,  but the film series went from November, 2001 to 2011, when the last book was filmed in 2 parts. 

Though I see Chronicles of Narnia, & the HP series as being comparable in some ways, I'm not surprised when in 2001, these sorts of films coincided with 9/11, and when the values expressed in both series, to a greater or lesser extent, also aligned with Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings. 

I remember when Prince Caspian was originally supposed to release in December 2007, the same month as the Golden Compass. Everyone was super worried that Prince Caspian's boxoffice would be damaged by competing with another major fantasy film.

In the end Caspian moved to May 2008, and both films ended up under-performing. I can't help but wonder whether PC would have been better off staying in the Christmas season release window - the added cultural conversation surrounding two fantasy movies would likely have been better for both movies. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say. 

Anyway, I'm even less worried about this scenario, since we are essentially talking about two streaming releases - both of which go out on Christmas Day, the one day of the year when you have a captive audience at home eager to watch family friendly films with everyone. An entire two week period for many as well.

There isn't any competition for Cinema Screens, there isn't as much competition for people's time as they don't have to leave the house, and the cost of watching two streaming services for most people will be minimal, especially when compared to the cost of two cinema trips.

Overall, there's maybe a slight downside if Harry Potter ends up monopolising the cultural conversation, but given that we have the Avengers Vs Dune 3 showdown at the cinema screens just a few weeks prior, I think the narrative will undoubtedly become about both properties, not just one 

@icarus   I remember when Prince Caspian was originally supposed to release in December 2007, the same month as the Golden Compass. Everyone was super worried that Prince Caspian's box office would be damaged by competing with another major fantasy film.

Yes, the Golden Compass was the first part of Philip Pullman's anti-established church, anti-C.S. Lewis trilogy called His Dark Materials, and instead of having a LOTR film at Christmas then LWW, we had this "Golden Compass" instead. The now long retired minister we had at the time wanted to dissuade us seeing the movie or reading that series, so, of course, I saw the film & read the book, when for professional reasons, I don't believe in banning books unnecessarily, especially for religious reasons*. When JKR has been in a political stoush because of her firmly held principles, I can see this new series having some similar problems, this time from a different, and possibly noisier & more influential part of UK society, instead. 

But never mind, Golden Compass, in particular, the book it was based on, was far too involved and far too "anti" for my taste, even if Nicole Kidman did play a part in the film. I've never seen since any plans to film either The Subtle Knife or the Amber Spyglass, the other two volumes of that series. In Australia & possibly NZ & Canada, the cinemas like to release lovely children's movies on Boxing Day, 26th December, to complete the trio of the start of the Sydney - Hobart yacht race, cricket of course, as well as the Christmas film releases. The previous December, in 2006, Eragon was the Boxing Day special, another fantasy movie just as bad as Golden Compass, & again, without any sequels filmed that I know of. The villainess of the movie was played by Nicole Kidman, but her villainess wasn't nearly as villainous a character as the White Witch played by Tilda Swinton's tempting of Edmund with Turkish delight in LWW.

In my opinion, Walden/Disney was right to defer the release of Prince Caspian to 2008. It wouldn't have done to have PC competing against Golden Compass.

*Remember Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses? That book had a fatwa against it, issued by the recently deceased Ayatollah Khameini, whose opinion was that the book was deadly sacrilegious. Now, I can't say truly whether he was right or wrong, having never felt inclined to read it, but I've heard from professional colleagues who allege they did read the book, that they found the book somewhat boring and tedious to read. All the Ayatollah did with his fatwa was to make a book famous that deserved to moulder unused in library stacks & eventually be deleted out of the sheer lack of the interest he provoked by making such a song and dance over it.    

HBO has already begun marketing with a series about the crafting of the show streaming starting on the first of April that I am sure will be long running in the lead up to the premiere, like the Game of thrones behind the scenes series, Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic is streaming April 5 on HBO Max. Let’s face it, everyone knows the plot, but they just want to spend time in the world. Therefore, I assume Netflix will soon share news on Narnia soon.

https://youtu.be/0TsRwfhgeYc?si=eJusUALpP6tEIovA

I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the movies, though I remember how very popular they were, having an older sister and a couple of cousins who were fans of the franchise. It wasn’t anything that really grabbed me, maybe because I was more into The Hobbit and Narnia books back then.

I guess that the new Narnia movie is going to have some competition with new Harry Potter HBO series, much like the Walden films kind of did with the Harry Potter movies back then. But who knows if this new version of Harry Potter will have the same magic, or if it will just be another bland cash grab like so many remakes these days.

Locking this thread as it's no longer relevant.