Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is apparently keen to make more Harry Potter films despite the recent uproar over author J.K. Rowling's anti-trans comments.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Zaslav said the company is going to "focus on franchises," during an investor call Thursday.
"We haven't had a Superman movie in 13 years," he said. "We haven't done a 'Harry Potter' in 15 years. The DC movies and the 'Harry Potter' movies provided a lot of the profits for Warner Bros. ... over the past 25 years."
After noting that the studio still owns the theatrical rights to "Lord of the Rings," Zaslav then reportedly said he would like to see more "if we can do something with J.K. on 'Harry Potter' going forward."
The executive's remarks come after Rowling sparked an uproar over a magazine headline in 2020.
Responding on Twitter to an article that used the phrase "people who menstruate" in the headline, Rowling wrote, "'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"
Her tweet set off a firestorm of criticism from a number of other celebrities, including Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed Harry Potter in the films; Emma Watson, who portrayed Hermione Granger; and Eddie Redmayne, who stars in Rowling's "Fantastic Beasts" franchise.
"To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished," Radcliffe said in a statement released through The Trevor Project, "I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don't entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. ... And in my opinion, nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much."
In the time since, Rowling has repeatedly made polarizing statements about trans women and has said she has been threatened with violence because of her views.
Ralph Fiennes, who played Lord Voldemort in the film adaptations of Rowling's books, called the abuse she has received for her opinion "disgusting" and said he understands where she is coming from in an interview last month with the New York Times Magazine.
"The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it's appalling," Fiennes said. "I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women.
"But it's not some obscene, uber-right-wing fascist," the actor continued. "It's just a woman saying 'I'm a woman and I feel I'm a woman and I want to be able to say that I'm a woman.'"
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