British media conglomerate Sky Group filed a lawsuit on Friday against US-based Warner Bros. studio over the rights to film a new TV show based on the Harry Potter books, court documents show. Sky claims the studio has repeatedly breached an agreement that gave it the right to co-produce shows alongside Max, formerly HBO Max, a streaming service owned by Warner.
Sky reached a co-production deal with Warner back in 2019, when the studio was owned by the telecoms holding AT&T. The agreement stated that Warner was to annually offer to Sky four Max shows to co-fund, co-produce, and then distribute exclusively to Sky viewers in the UK and other European countries.
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Sky claims that Warner has failed to deliver on the deal after it broke away from AT&T and merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in 2021. In its lawsuit, Sky further accused Warner of intentionally excluding it from the new hit series.
“Warner’s reason for refusing to honor its obligations to Sky could not be more clear. Warner has chosen to keep the Harry Potter Series for itself and make the blockbuster Series the cornerstone of its own Max rollout in Europe,” it stated. The company added that being excluded from the franchise would cost it hundreds of millions of dollars “at the very least” in lost revenue.
“The loss of the opportunity to partner in the funding and production of the wholly unique and irreplaceable Harry Potter series cannot be completely or adequately quantified,” the media giant complained, noting that the value of the Harry Potter brand has been “estimated to be worth at least $25 billion.”
Sky now demands reimbursement for the damages allegedly caused by Warner’s breach of its obligations. It also wants the Harry Potter series “immediately submitted” for co-production under the deal.
A Warner Bros. spokesperson on Friday slammed the lawsuit as a “baseless attempt” by Sky “to try and gain leverage” in talks for content distribution after their current agreements ends in late 2025.
“We know HBO branded shows are critical to Sky… that Sky is deeply concerned about the viability of its business were it to lose our award-winning content,” the spokesman stated.
Warner announced plans for its Harry Potter series in April 2023. The author of the franchise, JK Rowling, would act as executive producer. Casting for the series has already kicked off, and production will reportedly start next April. The show does not currently have a release date.