HBO’s 'Harry Potter' Series Finds Its Young Leads, But When Will J.K. Rowling Sell the Rights to WB?

Happy Wednesday, folks!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day Weekend. Mine could’ve been better, but I got to play basketball, grab some Calic bagels with a buddy, play an NBA-themed game of Monopoly with two of my favorite kiddos, and watch the back half of Season 4 of Hacks, which was terrific.

A fifth season is inevitable, given the finale, and that’s no spoiler, as HBO Max just announced an official Season 5 renewal late on Tuesday night.

There are a lot of folks out there who think that Apple’s The Studio is the show to beat for Best Comedy Series at the Emmys, largely because Seth Rogen generates a lot more heat on social media than Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, but I think Season 4 of Hacks has that Emmy in the bag, as that show features much better, richer writing with deeper characters.

The two shows are both showbiz satires, but they have very different goals, and Hacks is simply more Emmy-worthy. Period.

Having said that, it sounds like I really need to watch Season 2 of The Rehearsal, which ignited social media over the weekend. Instead, I watched Fear Street: Prom Queen, which I liked thanks to some choice gore, even if I found the movie to be too predictable as a whodunit.

Elsewhere, the box office was on fire this past weekend, as Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch posted the highest Memorial Day Weekend gross in history (beating Top Gun: Maverick). Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning posted the highest three-day opening in the franchise's history with $79 million, which was right in line with projections.

The real difference between these two movies, however, is their budgets, as Lilo & Stitch was relatively cheap as far as Disney blockbusters go, while The Final Reckoning is one of the most expensive movies ever made, with numerous reports pegging the budget at roughly $400 million, and that’s before marketing costs.

Speaking of Mission: Impossible, it turns out that Christopher McQuarrie is merely consulting on the script for Top Gun 3, which is still being written by Ehren Kruger. Studio insiders also insist McQ isn’t being paid $5 million, though I’m sure he didn’t come cheap…

Tonight, you’ll read about the young stars of HBO’s new Harry Potter series and why it’s inevitable that J.K. Rowling will sell the rights to this IP sooner rather than later. Plus, a review of Karate Kid: Legends starring Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, and… Joshua Jackson???

There are also items about the financial fate of Marvel’s Thunderbolts, Neon’s award-winning Cannes bounty, Richard Linklater’s return to Netflix, Mark Ruffalo’s return to the MCU, the cease-and-desist that WB sent out regarding an old DC movie, a couple of reunions between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, as well as Ezra Miller and Lynne Ramsay, plus Kevin Spacey’s latest directorial effort and my thoughts on the trailer for the new Garrett Hedlund crime thriller.

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